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Triple witching dates 2026 and 2027

Triple witching lands on the third Friday of March, June, September and December. In both 2026 and 2027, the June date moves to Thursday, because that Friday is Juneteenth.

Beginner guide · 6-minute read · Updated 2026-11-01

The triple witching dates

Here are the triple witching dates for 2026:

And for 2027:

Sources: infomemo.theocc.com and infomemo.theocc.com.

As of November 2026, the next one is Friday, December 18, 2026. After that comes Friday, March 19, 2027.

Look at June in both years. It's a Thursday: June 18, 2026 and June 17, 2027.

Why June moves to Thursday

Monthly options expire on the third Friday of the month. In 2026 the third Friday of June was June 19, which is Juneteenth. In 2027 it's June 18, which is the day the market observes Juneteenth (the real date falls on a Saturday). The stock market is closed both days.

The rule for that case: Third Friday of the month; if that Friday is an exchange holiday, the last trading day/processing moves to the Thursday before. The OCC (the Options Clearing Corporation, which stands behind every listed US option) says options with a Juneteenth expiration are processed on the business day before, using that day's closing prices.

So the June options trade for the last time on Thursday. Their final price is Thursday's close.

Some calendars still put June's date on the Friday. In 2027 that Friday, June 18, is a market holiday. If your plan or your calendar app says Friday, fix it now.

One caution for futures traders. The dates above are the options expirations. Index futures follow their own exchange's rules. We haven't confirmed the futures' June dates, so check the exchange (CME for the big stock index futures) before you plan around them.

What triple witching is

Triple witching is the quarterly expiration day. Three kinds of contracts come due together:

1. Stock options, the ones on single companies and ETFs.
2. Stock index options, the ones on indexes like the S&P 500.
3. Stock index futures.

Some people call it "quadruple witching," counting one more contract type. Same days.

It's not a different kind of expiration. It's the regular monthly expiration in March, June, September and December, when more contracts end at once. Big funds close or roll huge positions, and index changes are often timed around the same days. So trading volume is usually heavy, especially in the last minutes before the close.

Heavy volume isn't a direction. Nobody can tell you which way the market goes that day, and you don't need to know.

What it means if you sell options

If you sell covered calls or cash-secured puts, triple witching is just your expiration day with more people in the room. A few things are worth knowing:

• Your contract ends at that day's close. Whether you're assigned depends on where the stock closes, not on how busy the day was.
• A stock near your strike can swing either side of it in the final minutes. That's Pin risk: you may not know until the next morning whether you own the shares.
• The bid-ask gap can change fast. If you plan to close or roll, doing it earlier in the day often gets a steadier price.
• June ends a day early. Your plan, your broker cutoff and your calendar all move to Thursday.

Our options expiration calendar has every monthly date, not just the quarterly ones.

A worked example (hypothetical)

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

You own 100 shares of a made-up company, Granite Rail, bought at $50. In May 2027 you sell one June Covered call with a $52 strike and collect $1.00 a share, or $100.

Your plan: "On Friday the 18th, I'll roll it out to July." But the June options' last day is Thursday, June 17. The call expires worthless on Thursday. Friday the market is closed. Over the long weekend the company cuts its forecast, and Granite Rail opens Monday at $46.

The rows below $52 are Monday's open, after the call has expired. The math at $46: the shares are worth $4,600, down $400 from $5,000. The $100 premium cuts that to −$300.

The premium was yours either way. What you lost was the day you'd planned to act on. You had no new call working over the weekend, and no chance to decide anything on Friday.

How to plan around triple witching

• Put all eight dates in your calendar now, with June on the Thursday.
• Check what else is in the week. In 2027, the March and September triple witching dates land two days after a Fed decision. All of it is on our economic calendar 2027, and the FOMC meeting dates page has the meetings.
• Count your days. The days to expiration calculator and the next market events countdown show how close the next one is.

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