OPEX: Options Expiration Dates, Calendar & Trading Guide

Below you’ll find the complete 2026 options expiration calendar (equity, index, and VIX), a breakdown of how markets behave around OPEX, and how to use SpotGamma’s Gamma Exposure (GEX) and HIRO indicator to trade it.

A downloadable CSV of all expiration dates from 2020 to 2026 is available here.

2026 Options Expiration Calendar

Standard equity and index options expire on the third Friday of each month. VIX standard expiration falls on the Wednesday that is 30 days before the next month’s SPX expiration (see explanation below). The last trading day for expiring VIX contracts is the Tuesday before settlement.

Sources: CBOE (cboe.com), OCC (optionseducation.org). VIX expiration rules per Macroption.

2026 Irregular VIX Expiration Dates

In addition to the irregular monthly VIX expiration in May (above), the following weekly VIX expirations fall on Tuesdays rather than their standard Wednesday in 2026:

• March 3, 2026 (Tuesday) — Good Friday holiday falls on April 3, shifting the corresponding April weekly SPX expiration to Thursday.
• June 2, 2026 (Tuesday) — July 3 is a Friday exchange holiday, shifting the nearby SPX weekly expiration to Thursday.
• November 24, 2026 (Tuesday) — Christmas Day falls on a Friday.
• December 1, 2026 (Tuesday) — New Year’s Day falls on a Friday.

What Is OPEX? Options Expiration Explained

OPEX — short for options expiration — is the date after which an options contract no longer exists. Every options contract has a defined life. At expiration, the contract either has value (it’s in the money and will be exercised or assigned) or it doesn’t (it expires worthless).

There are several expiration cycles active at any given time:

• Daily (0DTE): Options expiring the same day they’re traded. SPX and SPY 0DTE volume now accounts for roughly half of all SPX options traded on a given day.
• Weekly: Every Friday (excluding the third Friday of the month). These weeklies have grown rapidly since their introduction in 2005.
• Monthly: The third Friday of each month — the largest expiration by notional open interest. Also called standard OPEX.
• Quarterly: The third Friday of March, June, September, and December — these are triple-witching months where index futures and index options also expire simultaneously.
• LEAPS: Long-dated options expiring in January of the following year or further out. These have their own OPEX cycle.

The monthly OPEX is the most structurally important because it concentrates the largest amount of open interest at a single moment — which means the largest amount of dealer-hedging gamma rolls off the board simultaneously.

Why Does VIX Expire on a Wednesday (30 Days Before SPX)?

This is one of the most common sources of confusion among options traders — a VIX expiration that doesn’t match the equity expiration it tracks.

The VIX is designed to measure the market’s expectation of S&P 500 volatility over the next exactly 30 calendar days. To calculate VIX, the CBOE interpolates between two SPX option expirations to derive a constant 30-day implied variance. When VIX futures and options settle, they do so to a Special Opening Quotation (SOQ) — a value calculated from SPX options that have exactly 30 days left to expiry at that moment.

Those target SPX options expire on the third Friday of the following month. Count back exactly 30 days from the third Friday, and you almost always land on a Wednesday. That Wednesday is VIX expiration.

Holiday exceptions follow a strict rule: if a Friday exchange holiday shifts SPX OPEX to Thursday, VIX expiration shifts 30 days earlier to Tuesday. This is why May 2026 VIX expiration is Tuesday May 19, not Wednesday — Juneteenth (June 19) is a Friday exchange holiday, pushing June SPX OPEX to Thursday June 18, which puts VIX settlement on Tuesday May 19.

The last full trading day for expiring VIX futures and options is always the day before settlement (typically the Tuesday before the Wednesday SOQ). After the close of the last trading day, no more trading in expiring VIX contracts.

How Gamma & Dealer Hedging Behave Into Expiration

Understanding OPEX as a calendar event is the beginning. Understanding what it does to the options market structure is what separates profitable traders from ones who get chopped up every month.

Gamma Spikes as Expiration Approaches

The gamma of an at-the-money option increases exponentially as expiration nears. In the final 2–3 days before monthly OPEX, the gamma of near-the-money strikes can be 5–10× its level from two weeks prior. This matters because dealers who are short options (as they typically are in a standard market-making book) must delta-hedge more frequently and more aggressively. Each price tick triggers a larger hedging response.

SpotGamma’s Gamma Exposure (GEX) model quantifies exactly this — it shows the net dollar gamma dealers hold at every strike. Into OPEX week, watch for GEX to become more concentrated at a small number of strikes as the rest of the open interest burns off. The strikes that survive to Thursday/Friday of OPEX week are the ones that drive price action.

Max Pain and the Gravitational Pull Near Expiration

Max pain is the strike price at which the total value of all outstanding options — both calls and puts — is minimized at expiration. Because dealers and market makers are net short options, maximum option decay occurs at this price. As expiration approaches, price often drifts toward max pain as hedging adjustments collectively pull the market to the strike where the least premium survives. This is not a guaranteed outcome, but it’s a reliable probabilistic tendency, especially on Friday of OPEX week when gamma is very high and vol is compressed.

The OPEX Week Volatility Pattern

Options expiration week has a characteristic volatility shape:

• Monday–Tuesday of OPEX week: Gamma concentration begins to tighten. Markets often range-trade in positive gamma environments as dealers provide liquidity from both sides.
• Wednesday (VIX expiration): VIX futures and options settle in the morning via SOQ. This can cause intraday dislocations if positioning heading into settlement is extreme.
• Thursday: The last full trading day for most monthly equity options. Large positions are closed, rolled, or exercised — volume typically spikes. Overnight positioning into Friday can be aggressive.
• Friday (OPEX): Open interest collapses as contracts expire. Positive gamma from expiring contracts evaporates, which can release suppressed volatility heading into the following week. OPEX Friday itself is often quieter in the AM but can see sharp moves after 2 PM ET as ITM contracts are exercised and dealers rapidly unwind hedges.

IV Crush at OPEX: What It Is and How to Avoid Getting Hurt

IV crush is the rapid drop in implied volatility that follows a known event. Into any major known date — earnings, FOMC, OPEX — option buyers bid up premium to hedge against uncertainty. Once the event resolves, that uncertainty disappears and implied vol drops sharply, destroying the time-value component of options that were bought before the event.

At OPEX, IV crush happens in two ways:

1. Event-driven crush: Any macro event landing on or near OPEX (e.g., CPI print on OPEX week) inflates IV in the days before. After the print, IV drops — often even if the market moves against you.
2. Structural OPEX crush: At expiration itself, all the time value in expiring options collapses to zero regardless of moneyness. Traders who buy near-dated options into OPEX without a large enough move in the underlying will often see a net loss from theta decay and IV compression even when their directional bet is partially right.

How to use SpotGamma’s data here: The GEX model shows you the strikes where dealer-hedging demand is highest. If price is pinned near a large call or put wall on OPEX Friday morning, that’s a positive-gamma compression setup — market makers are actively dampening moves. Buying options in this environment means buying into the worst IV/theta profile. The HIRO indicator will show you whether options order flow is confirming or fading the directional move — use it to time entries on OPEX Friday rather than entering on the open.

Triple Witching: March, June, September, December OPEX

Triple witching occurs four times per year — on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December — when three contract classes expire simultaneously:

1. Stock index options (e.g., SPX, NDX)
2. Stock index futures (e.g., ES, NQ)
3. Individual stock options

The simultaneous unwinding of these positions drives extraordinary volume. Average volume on triple-witching Fridays is typically 2–4× a normal Friday. The market often sees choppy, non-directional movement in the morning as large institutional desks balance expirations, followed by a directional move in the afternoon.

From a GEX perspective, triple-witching months have the largest absolute gamma rolloff — meaning the structural dampening effect on volatility that had been building for weeks disappears all at once. The Monday after a quarterly OPEX (especially if it coincides with a large negative-gamma regime) can produce outsized moves in either direction. Historically, these “post-OPEX Mondays” after quarterly expirations in bearish regimes have produced some of the sharpest single-day S&P 500 moves in the past decade.

How to Trade Around OPEX With SpotGamma Data

SpotGamma was built specifically to give traders the dealer-positioning data that makes OPEX navigable rather than random. Here’s the workflow:

Step 1: Check GEX on Monday of OPEX Week

Open the GEX dashboard at the start of OPEX week and identify the key strikes. Where is the largest call wall? The largest put wall? What is the gamma flip level? These three numbers set the structural boundaries for the week. Price is likely to gravitate toward the strike with the highest open interest (max pain) by Friday’s close.

Step 2: Watch GEX Concentration Tighten Wednesday–Thursday

As options expire and are rolled off throughout the week, GEX concentrates into fewer, heavier strikes. By Wednesday, the remaining open interest map is cleaner and more predictive than it was Monday. The strikes still holding large OI on Wednesday afternoon are the ones that will drive Friday’s pin.

Step 3: Use HIRO for Real-Time Confirmation on Thursday–Friday

The static GEX map tells you where dealers need to hedge. The HIRO indicator tells you what they’re actually doing in real time. On OPEX Thursday and Friday, HIRO call vs. put delta gives you a live read on whether institutional positioning is defending the GEX levels or breaking through them. A HIRO breakdown through a heavy put wall on negative-gamma Thursday is one of the highest-conviction setups in the GEX playbook.

Step 4: Size the Post-OPEX Regime Change

After expiration clears, the structural gamma supporting the prior week’s range is gone. The first full trading session after OPEX often reprices risk — particularly in quarters where the prior-month GEX regime was strongly positive (suppressive). The largest post-OPEX breakouts historically occur after months when the market spent the prior two weeks in an unusually tight positive-gamma range, and then all that hedging demand rolls off simultaneously.

VIX Expiration Rules: The Full Explanation

VIX futures started trading on the CBOE in March 2004. VIX options launched in February 2006. The expiration schedule has been consistent since the monthly cycle completed in October 2005. Weekly VIX futures began July 23, 2015; weekly VIX options followed on October 8, 2015.

The Standard Rule

VIX expiration = the Wednesday that is exactly 30 calendar days before the third Friday of the following month’s SPX options expiration. Both VIX futures (standard and mini-VIX) and VIX options share this same expiration date. Expiring futures cease trading at 8:00 AM Chicago / 9:00 AM New York on the settlement date. Expiring options cease trading at the close of the regular trading session the day before settlement.

Exception Rule: Holiday Shifts

VIX expiration shifts when holidays intervene:

• Friday exchange holiday → VIX shifts to Tuesday (SPX OPEX shifts to Thursday; count back 30 days = Tuesday). This happens every year because of Good Friday.
• Wednesday exchange holiday → VIX shifts to Tuesday (VIX would normally settle on the holiday Wednesday, so it moves one day earlier).

Historical Irregular VIX Expirations (Selected)

Source: CBOE; Macroption VIX Expiration Calendar (macroption.com). Full history 2004–2025 available at that link.

Frequently Asked Questions: OPEX & Options Expiration

What is OPEX in options trading?

OPEX (options expiration) is the date on which an options contract ceases to exist. For standard U.S. equity and index options, monthly OPEX falls on the third Friday of each month. On that date, in-the-money options are automatically exercised or assigned, and out-of-the-money options expire worthless.

When is the next options expiration date in 2026?

Monthly options expiration dates in 2026: Jan 16 · Feb 20 · Mar 20 · Apr 17 · May 15 · Jun 19 · Jul 17 · Aug 21 · Sep 18 · Oct 16 · Nov 20 · Dec 18. All fall on the third Friday of the month. See the full table above for VIX expiration dates.

Why does VIX expire on a Wednesday, not a Friday?

VIX measures expected S&P 500 volatility over the next 30 calendar days. VIX futures and options settle to a Special Opening Quotation derived from SPX options that have exactly 30 days to expiry. That target SPX expiration is the third Friday of the following month, so counting back 30 days almost always lands on a Wednesday. Holidays can shift this to Tuesday — see the rules section above.

What is IV crush at OPEX?

IV crush is the rapid drop in implied volatility that occurs after a known event — such as earnings or OPEX — resolves. Into expiration, option premiums are inflated by uncertainty. Once the date passes, that uncertainty is gone and implied volatility collapses, destroying time-value in options regardless of the underlying’s move direction.

What is triple witching?

Triple witching occurs on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December, when stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options all expire simultaneously. Volume on these days is typically 2–4× a normal Friday, with elevated intraday choppiness in the morning and directional resolution in the afternoon.

How does gamma change into options expiration?

As expiration approaches, gamma spikes sharply for at-the-money options. Dealers short gamma must hedge more aggressively with each price tick — amplifying intraday moves near heavily-concentrated strikes. SpotGamma’s GEX model quantifies this effect and shows which strikes carry the largest dealer gamma heading into any given OPEX.

What is the difference between monthly and weekly OPEX?

Monthly OPEX (the third Friday) is the largest expiration by notional value and includes all standard equity, ETF, and index options. Weekly OPEX occurs every non-monthly Friday and has grown significantly with the rise of 0DTE trading. Weekly expirations carry less notional gamma but still produce measurable intraday dealer-hedging effects.

How do I use SpotGamma to trade around OPEX?

SpotGamma’s GEX model updates daily and shows the exact strikes where dealer hedging is concentrated. Into OPEX week, watch for the call wall and put wall to tighten as open interest burns off. The HIRO indicator tracks real-time options order flow and confirms or contradicts the static GEX setup as expiration nears. The options profit calculator can help you model the IV-crush impact on any specific trade.

Related SpotGamma Resources

• Gamma Exposure (GEX): The Complete Guide — how GEX is calculated and what it tells you about dealer positioning
• How to Trade GEX: A Practical Playbook — setups for OPEX week and the 0DTE GEX playbook
• HIRO Indicator — real-time options order flow for intraday OPEX confirmation
• 0DTE Options Explained — same-day expiration strategies and risk
• Options Profit Calculator — model P&L across expiration scenarios

Last updated: July 2026. Expiration dates sourced from CBOE and OCC. VIX expiration rules verified against Macroption historical records. This page is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. View full risk disclosure.