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Which expiry should I pick for a cash-secured put?

Most sellers pick an expiry 30 to 45 days out for a cash-secured put. That window gives a useful premium, decays at a steady pace, and leaves room to adjust. Before any of that, check whether earnings fall inside it.

Options guide · 7-minute read · Updated 2026-10-26

The default: 30 to 45 days

Open the Options chain and you'll see expiries every week, sometimes every day. The usual choice for a cash-secured put sits 30 to 45 days away. That's the monthly expiry, or the weekly closest to it.

Why there? Three reasons:

• The premium is big enough to be worth the cash you lock up.
• Time decay is steady, not yet frantic.
• If the stock drops, there's time to close or roll before expiry forces a decision.

It's a habit, not a law. But it's the habit most of the wheel strategy runs on.

What theta does to the choice

Theta is the amount an option loses each day just from time passing. For a put seller, that loss is your gain. The premium you sold melts toward zero as expiry nears, and you keep what melts.

Theta isn't even. An option 45 days out loses a little per day. The same option with 7 days left loses a lot per day. The curve bends hard in the last two weeks.

That bend is why the 30–45 window exists. You collect the premium while decay is still slow, then close around 21 days when it's picked up speed. The last week's fast decay comes with fast risk too: a small move in the stock swings the option hard. Our theta decay guide shows the curve.

Comparing the windows (an illustration, not a trade idea)

XYZ at $50. You'd buy at $45. Here's roughly what a $45 put pays at different expiries, for a stock with ordinary volatility:

The per-week number looks like it favours short expiries. But every row needs the same $4,500, every row carries the full assignment risk, and the 7-day row makes you decide 52 times a year. More decisions, more fees, more chances to be caught by a bad week.

Now watch what the choice costs when the stock falls. You sell the 45-day $45 put for $1.30. Three weeks in, XYZ drops to $42.

A 7-day put would have had no "day 24." It would have been assigned or expired before you could react. The longer window gave you a choice. It didn't give you a profit.

The earnings check comes first

Before you look at theta or premium, look at the earnings date. If it falls before the expiry you're considering, the stock can gap through your strike overnight, and nothing about the expiry choice will matter.

Most chains show the date. Nasdaq's earnings calendar and the company's investor page confirm it. If earnings is inside the window, either pick an expiry that ends before it, or accept you're selling a put through a coin flip. The page on cash-secured puts before earnings shows what that gap looks like in numbers.

The same goes for the Ex-dividend date on a dividend stock, though for puts it matters less than for calls.

Shorter or longer than the default

Weekly puts (7 days or so) pay less per trade but more per year on paper, with far more decisions and far less time to react. They suit people who watch the market daily and are fine with frequent assignment. See weekly cash-secured puts.

Monthly puts are the default for a reason: one decision a month, a real premium, and time to manage. See monthly cash-secured puts.

Two or three months out pays more per contract but ties the cash up longer, decays slowly at first, and spans more earnings dates and news. Most sellers only go there when the nearer months pay too little to bother.

A simple way to pick

1. Find the earnings date. Rule out any expiry that crosses it, unless you've decided to take that risk on purpose.
2. Pick the monthly expiry 30 to 45 days out, or the closest weekly.
3. Check the bid and the Open interest at your strike. If the market there is thin, try the standard monthly date, which is usually the most traded.
4. Note the date you'll review it, around 21 days left, and what you'll do if the stock has fallen.

Questions