Triple witching: what it is, and the 2026 and 2027 dates

Triple witching is the third Friday of March, June, September and December, when stock options, stock index futures and stock index options all expire on the same day. Trading volume jumps on those four days, most of all in the last hour and at the 4:00pm closing auction.

The next triple witching day is Friday, December 18, 2026. The 2026 dates in March, June and September have already passed.

Triple witching dates 2026

The third Friday of June 2026 was Juneteenth, a market holiday, so the contracts expired a day early, on Thursday, June 18.

Triple witching dates 2027

Juneteenth falls on a Saturday in 2027, so the market closes on Friday, June 18, the third Friday of the month. Expirations that land on a market holiday move to the trading day before, as they did in June 2026, which puts June 2027 on Thursday, June 17. Confirm it on your broker's or the exchange's expiration calendar closer to the date. The other three 2027 dates are normal trading days on the stock market holiday calendar.

What expires on triple witching day

Three kinds of contracts expire together:

• Stock options. The standard monthly options on individual stocks expire on the third Friday of every month. Four times a year they share the day with the index contracts.
• Stock index futures and stock index options. Contracts on indexes like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100 run on a quarterly cycle, and the March, June, September and December contracts expire on the third Friday.

The name comes from the "witching hour": the last hour of trading, from 3:00pm to 4:00pm Eastern, when traders close out, roll over or settle positions in all three at once.

Why volume spikes on triple witching

Anyone holding an expiring contract has to close it, roll it to a later date or let it settle. Futures traders mostly roll in the days before, moving from the expiring contract into the next quarter's. Options positions near the strike price get closed or exercised into shares on the day, and the dealers who sold those options unwind the stock they held as a hedge (the same hedging that drives a gamma squeeze). A large share of that stock trading lands in the closing auction at 4:00pm.

Index rebalancing stacks on top. S&P Dow Jones Indices makes its quarterly S&P 500 changes effective before the open on the Monday after the third Friday, so index funds that track the S&P 500 trade to the new weights at Friday's close. In September 2026 that meant changes effective Monday, September 21, right after the September 18 triple witching.

Put together, triple witching is one of the busiest sessions of the quarter, with much of the extra volume packed into the final minutes.

What triple witching means for you

If you buy and hold stocks or index funds, it changes almost nothing. Your shares do not expire, and a busy Friday close has no bearing on a company's business. The market opens and closes at its normal stock market hours, 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern.

A few practical points:

• Expect bigger swings near the close. A stock can jump or slip in the closing auction on heavy order flow. A market order placed in the last minutes can fill at a different price than you saw, so use a limit order if you trade that afternoon.
• Check any options you own. An option that expires in the money is usually exercised for you. If you do not want the shares, close or roll the position before 4:00pm.
• Treat the day as noise. A triple witching move tells you about expiring positions, and says little about where the stock goes next. It is a poor reason to buy or sell.

For a long-term investor, the useful habit is to know the date, so a strange Friday close does not look like news.

Triple witching vs quad witching

Quad witching, or quadruple witching, was the same day with a fourth contract: single-stock futures. Those futures started trading in the US in 2002. OneChicago, the US exchange that listed them, closed in September 2020, and since then the day has gone back to its original name, triple witching. You will still see both names used for the same four Fridays.

Options traders also talk about monthly "opex", the third Friday of every month, when standard stock options expire. Triple witching is the quarterly opex where the index futures and index options join in. If you follow options flow, the days before each date fill up with closing and rolling trades, so a big print in an expiring contract is often an old position being closed or rolled.

Common questions

What is triple witching?

Triple witching is the quarterly day when stock options, stock index futures and stock index options expire together. It falls on the third Friday of March, June, September and December, or the Thursday before if that Friday is a market holiday.

When is the next triple witching day?

The next triple witching day is Friday, December 18, 2026. After that come March 19, 2027, June 17, 2027 (moved for Juneteenth), September 17, 2027 and December 17, 2027.

What are the triple witching dates for 2026?

March 20, June 18, September 18 and December 18, 2026. June 18 is a Thursday because Friday, June 19 was Juneteenth and the market was closed.

Is the stock market open on triple witching day?

Yes. The NYSE and Nasdaq trade normal hours, 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern. Volume is higher than usual, most of all in the last hour and at the closing auction.

Does triple witching make stocks go down?

There is no set direction. The day brings extra volume and sometimes sharper moves near the close, as traders settle expiring positions and index funds rebalance. Those moves can go either way, and they reflect expiring positions more than any change in what a company is worth.

Why is it called triple witching?

Three kinds of contracts expire at once, and traders call the final hour of trading the "witching hour", from 3:00pm to 4:00pm Eastern, when the expiring positions get settled.

What is quadruple witching?

Quadruple witching added single-stock futures as a fourth expiring contract. Those futures stopped trading in the US when OneChicago closed in September 2020, so the day is triple witching again, though some sites still use the older name.

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Dates follow the third-Friday expiration schedule and the NYSE holiday calendar as published in October 2026. Quantral surfaces signals and context from public sources to support your own research. Nothing here is financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell.