Weekly options calendar

Weekly Options Expiration Calendar

A technical 2026 Friday-cycle calendar for weekly options workflows. Use it to distinguish weekly expirations from standard monthly and quarterly OpEx dates, then confirm the currently listed dates for the exact underlying with the API.

Weekly pattern

Most Fridays

Active ETF and equity underlyings often list Friday weekly expirations, but listed depth varies by ticker.

April 2026 example

Apr 2, 10, 17, 24

Good Friday moves the first April 2026 Friday cycle to Thursday, April 2.

Monthly overlap

Third Friday

The third Friday is the standard monthly cycle, not an ordinary weekly date.

Classification

Weekly, monthly, and quarterly are labels over listed dates

A weekly expiration is best defined by exclusion: it is a listed short-dated expiration that is not the standard monthly cycle. The standard monthly cycle is the third Friday of the month, adjusted earlier for market holidays. Quarterly OpEx is the monthly cycle in March, June, September, and December. Keeping these labels separate makes downstream research cleaner because each label can carry different liquidity and positioning behavior.

This page is intentionally calendar-first. It is useful for planning scanners, UI date pickers, and model windows. It should not be the final source of truth for a production request. Before requesting an option chain, call the listed-expirations endpoint for the ticker, because different underlyings can have different weekly listing depth and some index products use non-Friday short-dated cycles.

April 2026 weekly options expiration dates

April 2026 includes a holiday-adjusted weekly date, so it is broken out before the full-year table.

DateCycleNote
Thursday, April 2, 2026WeeklyMoved from April 3, 2026 for a market holiday.
Friday, April 10, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, April 17, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, April 24, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle

2026 Friday-cycle reference

The table marks monthly and quarterly overlaps so weekly scanners can avoid treating all Fridays as equivalent.

DateCycleNote
Friday, January 2, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, January 9, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, January 16, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, January 23, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, January 30, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, February 6, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, February 13, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, February 20, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, February 27, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, March 6, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, March 13, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, March 20, 2026QuarterlyQuarterly OpEx
Friday, March 27, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Thursday, April 2, 2026WeeklyMoved from April 3, 2026 for a market holiday.
Friday, April 10, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, April 17, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, April 24, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, May 1, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, May 8, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, May 15, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, May 22, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, May 29, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, June 5, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, June 12, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Thursday, June 18, 2026QuarterlyMoved from June 19, 2026 for a market holiday.
Friday, June 26, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Thursday, July 2, 2026WeeklyMoved from July 3, 2026 for a market holiday.
Friday, July 10, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, July 17, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, July 24, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, July 31, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, August 7, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, August 14, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, August 21, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, August 28, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, September 4, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, September 11, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, September 18, 2026QuarterlyQuarterly OpEx
Friday, September 25, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, October 2, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, October 9, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, October 16, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, October 23, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, October 30, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, November 6, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, November 13, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, November 20, 2026MonthlyStandard monthly OpEx
Friday, November 27, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, December 4, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, December 11, 2026WeeklyWeekly Friday cycle
Friday, December 18, 2026QuarterlyQuarterly OpEx
Thursday, December 24, 2026WeeklyMoved from December 25, 2026 for a market holiday.

API sequence

Use the calendar as a prior, then verify listed contracts

A deterministic workflow starts with listed dates, not assumptions. Pull available expirations for the underlying, classify each returned date, and only then request chains or contract lists. That sequence prevents invalid dates, keeps weekly and monthly logic explicit, and makes holiday adjustments observable in logs.

curl "https://api.cutemarkets.com/v1/tickers/expirations/QQQ/" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

curl "https://api.cutemarkets.com/v1/options/contracts/?underlying_ticker=QQQ&expiration_date=2026-04-17&limit=100" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

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.

Weekly options expiration FAQ

Do weekly options expire every Friday?

Many active equity and ETF options list weekly Friday expirations, but not every underlying lists every weekly date. Market holidays can also move a Friday expiration to the prior business day.

How are weekly options different from monthly options?

A weekly expiration is a short-dated listed cycle that is not the standard monthly third-Friday cycle. Monthly options are the standard third-Friday contracts, with March, June, September, and December marked as quarterly cycles.

Should I hard-code a weekly options calendar?

Use static calendars for planning, but fetch listed expirations by ticker before requesting chains, contracts, or snapshots in production.

Related pages