Liquidity concentration
Start by measuring whether open interest, trade volume, and quoted depth actually cluster on the quarterly cycle for the ticker you trade.
Primary fields: expiration_date, open_interest, volume
Quarterly OpEx
Quarterly OpEx Dates
Quarterly OpEx refers to the March, June, September, and December standard monthly expiration cycles. These dates matter because index, ETF, single-name option, and futures-related positioning often clusters around them.
Quarterly months
March, June, September, December
These are the standard quarterly OpEx months traders usually mean.
June 2026 move
Thursday, June 18, 2026
The June 2026 standard expiration is holiday-adjusted because June 19 is Juneteenth.
June 2027 move
Thursday, June 17, 2027
The June 2027 standard expiration moves because Juneteenth is observed on June 18.
2026 and 2027 quarterly OpEx dates
| Date | Cycle | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, March 20, 2026 | Quarterly | Quarterly OpEx month |
| Thursday, June 18, 2026 | Quarterly | Moved from June 19, 2026 for a market holiday. |
| Friday, September 18, 2026 | Quarterly | Quarterly OpEx month |
| Friday, December 18, 2026 | Quarterly | Quarterly OpEx month |
| Friday, March 19, 2027 | Quarterly | Quarterly OpEx month |
| Thursday, June 17, 2027 | Quarterly | Moved from June 18, 2027 for a market holiday. |
| Friday, September 17, 2027 | Quarterly | Quarterly OpEx month |
| Friday, December 17, 2027 | Quarterly | Quarterly OpEx month |
Market structure
Why quarterly OpEx deserves its own calendar
Quarterly OpEx is not a different contract format. It is a higher-attention subset of the standard monthly expiration cycle. The reason it gets a separate label is empirical and operational: March, June, September, and December are the months where index, ETF, single-name option, and futures-related flows are more likely to line up. That does not guarantee a tradable edge, but it changes what a careful measurement plan should inspect.
For a scientific workflow, treat quarterly OpEx as a sampling condition. Compare spread width, open interest, contract count, quote update rate, trade count, and realized underlying movement against non-quarterly monthly expirations. If the differences are not stable across tickers and years, the date label alone is not enough to justify a strategy rule.
Spread behavior
A calendar effect that disappears after transaction costs is not useful. Compare bid-ask width around quarterly and non-quarterly monthly expirations.
Primary fields: bid, ask, midpoint, timestamp
Regime separation
Separate index products, ETFs, and single names. The same quarterly date can have different mechanics across SPX, SPY, QQQ, and individual equities.
Primary fields: underlying_ticker, contract_type, expiration_date
Use quarterly dates as anchors, then fetch listed contracts
Quarterly dates are calendar anchors. For a production scanner, fetch listed expirations for the underlying and confirm the exact contract universe.
Last verified
Date-sensitive calendar references on this page were checked on May 7, 2026. Calendar math is useful for planning, but listed contracts and exchange calendars should still be verified before production workflows run.
Quarterly OpEx FAQ
Which months are quarterly OpEx months?
Quarterly OpEx months are March, June, September, and December. They are the standard monthly options expiration cycles that line up with quarterly index and futures-related positioning.
Is quarterly OpEx the same as triple witching?
Quarterly OpEx is often discussed with triple witching because stock options, stock-index options, and stock-index futures cycles can concentrate around the same expiration window.
Why does June 2026 quarterly OpEx move to Thursday?
The third Friday in June 2026 is Juneteenth, a market holiday, so the standard June 2026 monthly and quarterly expiration is shown as Thursday, June 18, 2026.
Related pages
Monthly OpEx dates
See every monthly date, not only quarterly months.
Next OpEx date
Get the next standard monthly and quarterly answer.
Expiring stock options list
Start with the dedicated 2026 list of stock and ETF option underlyings.
Expiration data workflow
Use the calendar-vs-listed-expiration workflow before requesting chains, contracts, quotes, or bars.
Full expiration calendar
Use the interactive calendar for weekly, monthly, quarterly, and holiday-adjusted OpEx dates.
Stock options 2026 calendar
Translate expiring-stock lookups into ticker-specific listed option expiration workflows.
Calendar by ticker
Use the ticker-by-ticker 2026 expiration article for SPY, QQQ, AAPL, NVDA, TSLA, IWM, and TLT.
TSLA weekly expirations
Check TSLA weekly expiration dates, 2026 anchors, and the listed-date API workflow.
Next OpEx date
Get the immediate answer for the next standard monthly OpEx and nearby weekly cycles.
Expirations API docs
Fetch listed expiration dates for any underlying ticker with one endpoint.
Options data catalog
Browse contracts, chains, quotes, trades, bars, and reference endpoints.