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FOMC meeting dates 2027 (and the rest of 2026)

The Fed's rate-setting committee meets eight times in 2027, two days each time. The decision comes at 2:00 p.m. ET on day two, and four of the meetings bring the dot plot.

Beginner guide · 7-minute read · Updated 2026-11-01

The 2027 FOMC meetings

The FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meets eight times in 2027. Each meeting lasts two days, and the decision comes out on day two:

Source: federalreserve.gov. The Fed announced these dates in September 2025. It calls each one tentative until it's confirmed at the meeting before.

Now line each decision day up with the monthly options expiration that comes next:

Look at March, June, September and December. Each dot-plot decision lands inside an expiration week or the week before it. If you sell monthly options, those four decisions sit right inside your trade.

The rest of 2026

One FOMC meeting is left in 2026: December 8–9, with a decision on Wednesday, December 9. It's a dot-plot meeting. Here's the full 2026 list:

Source: federalreserve.gov.

What happens on decision day

The times are the same at every meeting: Statement 2:00 p.m. ET on day 2; Chair's press conference 2:30 p.m. ET.

• 2:00 p.m. ET: the statement. The committee posts its decision on the target rate and a short statement explaining it. Prices can move within seconds.
• 2:30 p.m. ET: the press conference. The Fed Chair answers reporters' questions. Markets often move again here, sometimes the opposite way.
• At dot-plot meetings: the Fed also posts each official's forecasts, including the Dot plot, a chart of where each one expects rates to go. These four meetings (March, June, September, December) tend to get the most attention.

About three weeks later, the Fed publishes the meeting's minutes, a fuller record of the discussion.

In the days before each meeting, Fed officials stop giving speeches about policy. People call it the "blackout." It's why the week before a meeting can be quiet on Fed news.

Want the meeting explained step by step? See FOMC meeting explained.

What an option seller does around a Fed meeting

You can't know what the Fed will do. You can decide, before you sell, whether your trade should live through it.

1. Check if the decision is inside your trade. Compare the decision day to your expiration. The table above does it for every monthly in 2027.
2. Expect the option price to reflect it. Implied volatility (how big a move the market is pricing in) often rises before a known event and drops after it. That's IV crush. A seller can collect a bit more before the meeting, because the risk is real.
3. Size for the move, not the hope. If a big move after 2:00 p.m. would hurt, sell a smaller position or a strike further away.
4. Or step around it. Pick an expiration that ends before the decision, if the stock has one. Or wait until after 2:30 p.m. to open the trade.

None of these is right every time. Each one is fine when you choose it before the meeting, not during it.

A worked example (hypothetical)

Here's a made-up case, an illustration, not a trade idea.

In late November 2027 you sell one cash-secured put on a made-up bank, Lakeside Bank, trading at $32. The strike is $30. You collect $0.60 a share, or $60. The put expires Friday, December 17, so the December 8 Fed decision sits inside the trade.

At 2:00 p.m. on December 8, the statement surprises the market. Bank stocks drop. Lakeside closes at $27 on expiration day, and you're assigned 100 shares at $30.

The math at $27: the shares are worth $2,700 but cost $3,000. That's −$300. The $60 premium makes it −$240.

The Fed's choice wasn't the mistake. The trade was sized as if the meeting wasn't there. If a −$440 result at $25 is more than you'd accept, the time to see that is before you sell.

Where the other dates fit

Fed meetings rarely come alone. In 2027, the September decision comes the day after CPI and two days before triple witching. June's comes the day before CPI.

• CPI release dates for the inflation report.
• Triple witching dates and the options expiration calendar for expirations.
• Stock market holidays 2027 for closed days.
• The economic calendar 2027 has them all on one page.
• The next market events countdown shows the days until the next meeting.

Questions