Does earnings fall before my option expires?
One date can undo a month of premium. Type in three dates and see if the earnings report lands inside your option's life, before you sell.
How it works: it finds the first trading session where the stock can move on the news. A report before the open moves the stock that same day. A report after the close moves it the next trading day. If that day comes on or before your expiration, the option runs through earnings. A report after the close on expiration day still counts, because the option's owner can choose to exercise for a short time after the bell. Trading days skip weekends and the regular US market holidays, like Thanksgiving and Good Friday. Rare one-off closures aren't in it. If the time isn't confirmed, it checks both.
Why one date can undo a month of premium
Earnings is the one day a stock is most likely to jump. A 2% stock can gap 10% overnight. Option buyers know it, so they pay more for options that run through the report. That fat premium looks like a gift. It isn't. It's the price of taking the gap. If the stock falls through your put's strike, you buy shares far above the new price. If it rips past your call's strike, your shares get called away and you miss the move. After the report, the extra premium drains out fast. Traders call that IV crush. In the wheel strategy, the simple rule is to stay out of the way.
Check the date every time you sell
Earnings dates move. A company can confirm, change or push a date back. Look it up on the company's investor page the day you sell, and again before you roll. Rolling to a later date is the classic way to walk into a report by accident. If the report sits inside your window, pick an earlier expiration, or wait and sell after the news is out. More in checking the earnings date before you sell and what to do when earnings land inside your expiry.
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