Page answer
May 15, 2026 is the standard monthly May OpEx date.
Expiration And OPEX
May 2026 OpEx Date
The exact May 2026 standard monthly options expiration date, with the surrounding weekly calendar and the ticker-level checks a data workflow should run.
Quick answerLast verified May 7, 2026
May 2026 standard monthly OpEx is Friday, May 15, 2026. For active ETFs and equities, other Friday weekly expirations can also be listed in May, but May 15 is the standard third-Friday monthly cycle.
Monthly OpEx
May 15, 2026
Standard third-Friday cycle for May 2026.
Weekday
Friday
No holiday adjustment is needed for this monthly cycle.
Use case
Monthly cycle
Useful for OI concentration, monthly expiration scans, and event studies.
Why May 15 is the May 2026 monthly date
Standard monthly equity and ETF options normally expire on the third Friday of the expiration month. In May 2026, the third Friday is May 15, so that is the monthly OpEx date.
A weekly expiration on May 1, May 8, May 22, or May 29 is a different cycle. Those dates can matter for short-dated scanners, but they should not be labeled as monthly OpEx.
How to use the May date in a scanner or article
Put the direct May 15 answer first, then show the surrounding Friday dates so readers understand what is monthly and what is weekly. That structure matches the search intent without flattening every Friday into the same event.
For an application, the page should map into a listed-expiration lookup. Fetch SPY, QQQ, AAPL, NVDA, or TSLA expirations by ticker, keep May 15 as the monthly label, and only query contracts for dates that the endpoint returns.
Ticker check
Confirm each underlying before requesting a chain for that expiration.
Research label
Separate May 15 from adjacent weekly cycles before comparing OI, volume, spreads, or IV.
May 2026 Friday option cycles
| Date | Cycle | Note |
|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2026 | Weekly | Potential weekly cycle for underlyings with listed weeklies. |
| May 8, 2026 | Weekly | Potential weekly cycle before monthly OpEx. |
| May 15, 2026 | Monthly | Standard May 2026 monthly OpEx. |
| May 22, 2026 | Weekly | Potential weekly cycle after monthly OpEx. |
| May 29, 2026 | Weekly | Potential weekly cycle near month-end. |
API example
Verify the answer with listed data
may chain example
curl "https://api.cutemarkets.com/v1/options/chain/SPY/?expiration_date=2026-05-15&limit=25" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"How to implement
Implementation checklist
01
Answer the calendar question
Return Friday, May 15, 2026 as the May 2026 standard monthly OpEx date.
02
Show nearby weekly dates
List May 1, May 8, May 22, and May 29 as weekly-cycle candidates when the underlying lists them.
03
Verify ticker listings
Fetch listed expirations for the target ticker before requesting chains, contracts, quotes, or snapshots.
Last verified
This Q&A page was last reviewed on May 7, 2026. Date-sensitive market calendars, provider docs, and listed contracts can change, so production workflows should verify the live source before trading or publishing an automated answer.
Related questions
Is May 15, 2026 monthly OpEx?
Yes. It is the standard third-Friday monthly expiration date for May 2026.
Are there weekly expirations in May 2026?
Active options products may list weekly expirations on other Fridays. Verify listed dates by underlying before using them.
Should a scanner hard-code May 15?
Use May 15 as the monthly calendar answer, but production scanners should fetch listed expirations from the API.
Related pages
Options Q&A hub
Browse exact-answer pages for expirations, OCC symbols, options data, and provider comparisons.
Expiration data workflow
Separate calendar planning from listed-expiration validation before requesting market data.
Expiration calendar
Use the interactive calendar for weekly, monthly, quarterly, and holiday-adjusted dates.
Expiration API
Fetch listed expiration dates from the API instead of hard-coding calendar rules.
Expirations docs
Review the endpoint used to discover listed option expiration dates.