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Options expiration calendar 2026 and 2027

Standard monthly options expire on the third Friday of each month. When that Friday is a market holiday, they expire on the Thursday before. In 2026 and 2027 only June moves.

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

The monthly expiration dates

Standard monthly options on US stocks and ETFs expire on these days in 2026:

And in 2027:

Sources: infomemo.theocc.com and infomemo.theocc.com. The OCC (the Options Clearing Corporation, which stands behind every listed US option) publishes the official yearly schedule. Its full 2027 schedule wasn't out yet as of October 2026, so the 2027 list is worked out from the rule below and the NYSE's 2027 holidays.

As of November 2026, two monthly dates are left this year: November 20 and December 18.

The rule behind every date

The rule is short: Third Friday of the month; if that Friday is an exchange holiday, the last trading day/processing moves to the Thursday before.

In practice:

1. Find the third Friday of the month.
2. Check the holiday list. If the market is closed that Friday, the last trading day moves to Thursday.
3. That's your last chance to trade the contract. Its final price is set at that day's close.

Good Friday sometimes causes this move. It doesn't in 2026 or 2027. In 2026 Good Friday is April 3, the first Friday. In 2027 it's March 26, the fourth.

Why June is a Thursday both years

Juneteenth is the one holiday that hits a third Friday in both years.

• 2026: June 19 is the third Friday and Juneteenth. The June options expire Thursday, June 18.
• 2027: June 19 falls on a Saturday, so the market closes on Friday, June 18, the third Friday. The June options expire Thursday, June 17.

The OCC says options with a Juneteenth expiration are processed on the business day before, using that day's closing prices. For 2027 it notes the contract's listed date may still read June 18, even though trading ends June 17. So read your broker's notice, not just the date printed on the contract.

June is also a quarterly month, so these are triple witching dates too.

Weekly and daily options

Monthly options are only part of the picture.

• Weekly options: many stocks and ETFs also list options that expire every Friday. The same holiday rule applies. A weekly that would expire on Good Friday, or on a Friday the market closes for July 4th, moves to Thursday.
• Daily options: a few of the biggest index products list an expiration on every trading day, Monday to Friday.
• Half days: a weekly that expires on the day after Thanksgiving stops trading at the early close: 1:00 p.m. ET, or 1:15 p.m. for some eligible options. See stock market half days.
• LEAPS: long-dated options, usually expiring in January, a year or more away. They follow the same third-Friday rule.

Not every stock has weeklies. Look at the expiration dates in your Options chain to see which ones exist.

VIX expiration dates 2026

VIX futures and options run on their own schedule. Each one settles on a Wednesday, 30 days before the third Friday of the following month. If that Wednesday or that Friday is a holiday, it moves to the business day before the Wednesday.

The 2026 VIX settlement dates:

Source: cboe.com.

See May? It's a Tuesday, May 19. That's because the matching Friday, June 19, is Juneteenth. VIX settles in the morning, to a special opening price.

For 2027 we give only the rule. Cboe hadn't published its 2027 calendar when I checked, so work each date out from the rule above, and confirm on Cboe's settlement page.

A worked example (hypothetical)

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

On Monday, May 24, 2027 you sell one put on a made-up stock, Summit Outdoor, in the June monthly. The strike is $40. You collect $1.50 a share, or $150. You count "25 days to Friday the 18th."

It's really 24 calendar days to Thursday, June 17, and only 17 trading days, because of the Memorial Day holiday on May 31. That's less time than you thought.

Two weeks in, the stock drops hard. You don't want the shares, so you buy the put back.

The math at $4.00: buying the put back costs $400. You collected $150. That's −$250.

The miscount didn't cause the drop. But it changed your plan. You'd built the trade around a Friday and a number of days that weren't real. Counting trading days, not calendar days, gives you the true picture. The days to expiration calculator and the trading days calculator do the counting.

How to use this calendar

• Before you sell, find the real last day. Third Friday, then check the holidays on stock market holidays 2027.
• List what's inside the trade. Fed meetings, CPI and jobs reports are all on our economic calendar 2027. The FOMC meeting dates page shows which expirations sit right after a Fed decision.
• Know the next one. The next market events countdown shows the days until the next expiration.

This is the same habit behind the wheel strategy: pick the expiration on purpose.

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