What Time Do Options Expire: Trading Hours and Expiration Day Cutoffs
· 6 min read
Standard U.S. equity options stop trading at 4:00pm Eastern on their expiration date, and many ETF options, with SPY and QQQ as common examples, keep trading until 4:15pm Eastern. After trading ends, the contract is either worthless or gets exercised and assigned. The deadline for telling your broker what you want to do with a position is set by the broker, and it is often earlier than people expect, so check your broker’s rules before expiration day arrives.
I’m Jake, and the closing bell is only one of several clocks that matter on expiration day. Here are the times that apply and a simple plan.
When options start trading
Equity options open for trading at 9:30am Eastern, alongside the regular stock session. That is true on expiration day as much as any other day. If you hold a contract that expires today, you can trade it from the open, which matters because the choice between closing early and waiting is available all session, not only near the end.
Some products trade outside those hours, and some begin earlier or run later than standard equity options. Index options and certain other products can follow different schedules, so check the contract specifications for the exact product you hold rather than assuming the stock-option clock applies.
When options stop trading
For standard equity options, the last chance to trade on expiration day is 4:00pm Eastern, matching the close of the regular stock session. Many ETF options carry a slightly longer day and trade until 4:15pm Eastern. SPY and QQQ options are commonly cited examples, but not every ETF follows this pattern, so confirm the details for the specific symbol.
This is the last time to trade the contract itself, meaning to buy it, sell it, or close the position in the market. It is not the same thing as the deadline for giving your broker instructions about exercise, which is a separate matter covered below.
Last time to trade versus the exercise instruction deadline
Here is the distinction that catches people. The market may let you trade until 4:00pm or 4:15pm Eastern, yet your broker may require exercise instructions, or requests to not exercise, earlier than that. Each broker sets its own cutoff, and it can differ by account type, by platform, and by whether you submit through an app, a website, or a phone call.
I am not going to quote a specific broker cutoff here, because I would be guessing and the rules change. What I can say is that you should look up your broker’s expiration day policy ahead of time, write the time down, and treat it as your real deadline. If you plan to act on exercise at all, submitting well before that time leaves room for a slow platform or a rejected request.
Which date options expire on
Expiration happens on a specific calendar date, and for many weekly and monthly contracts that date is a Friday. When a Friday is an exchange holiday, expiration generally moves earlier in the week, often to the preceding trading day. The option chain on your platform lists the exact date for every contract, and that listed date is the one to trust.
A calendar reminder set a few days before the date is cheap insurance. Holiday-shortened weeks are a common place to be caught off guard, since the expected Friday may not be a trading day at all.
What happens after the final bell
Once trading ends, an option that is out of the money typically expires worthless and disappears from your account. An option that is in the money is a different story. Typically, if a contract is in the money by at least a small amount, it is exercised automatically unless you instruct otherwise. The exact threshold and treatment depend on the product and your broker, so confirm with your broker how automatic exercise works for your account.
Automatic exercise has real consequences. A long call that is exercised means you end up buying shares, and a long put that is exercised means you end up selling shares, which requires the cash or the shares to be there. If you are short an option, you can be assigned and required to deliver the other side. Know what you hold before the last day.
The risk of waiting until the last minutes
The final minutes of expiration day can be unfriendly to anyone relying on a precise fill. Bid-ask spreads on near-the-money contracts can widen, prices can move quickly as the underlying shifts by small amounts, and platforms can lag when many people are clicking at once. A quote that looked fine a moment ago may be gone by the time your order reaches the market.
Time decay also does its heaviest work in these hours, so contracts that are close to the strike can swing between worth something and worth nothing on small moves in the stock. That is exactly where waiting turns a planned decision into a rushed one.
Illustrative example only, with round hypothetical numbers and not a real trade or a recommendation: suppose you hold one call that was bought for $1.00 and is now quoted $0.40 bid and $0.60 ask in the final minutes. Selling at the bid gives up $0.10 to $0.20 compared with the midpoint, which is a meaningful share of a small premium. Closing earlier in the day, when spreads are often tighter, may have cost less.
A simple plan for expiration day
The most useful habit is to decide before expiration day, not during it. For each position expiring soon, pick one of three paths: close it, roll it to a later date, or let it expire. Write down the choice and the reason while you are calm, then carry it out earlier in the session instead of at the last moment.
If you plan to close, set the order during regular hours and check the spread first. If you plan to roll, remember that it means closing one contract and opening another, each with its own bid-ask cost. If you plan to let it expire, confirm what happens if the option finishes in the money, including whether you could end up holding shares or a short position you did not intend to hold.
A note on time zones
All of the times above are Eastern. If you trade from another time zone, convert them once and keep the result somewhere visible. For example, 4:00pm Eastern is 1:00pm Pacific, a hypothetical conversion that assumes both zones are on the same daylight saving schedule. Your broker’s own deadline will usually be stated in a specific time zone too, so read which one before you rely on it.
Summary
Standard equity options stop trading at 4:00pm Eastern on expiration day, and some ETF options run until 4:15pm Eastern. Your broker’s deadline for exercise instructions can be earlier, so check its rules and treat that time as the one that counts. Decide whether to close, roll, or let each position expire before the day begins. Trading involves risk of loss, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell anything.
When do options trade
Standard equity options trade from 9:30am Eastern to 4:00pm Eastern, matching the regular stock session. Many ETF options, SPY and QQQ among them, keep trading until 4:15pm Eastern. On expiration day the same hours apply, and the 4:00pm or 4:15pm close is the last time to trade that contract. Check the contract specifications for the exact product, because index options and some other products follow different schedules.
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