What Time Does the Options Market Close?
Gain clarity on the options market's daily operational schedule. Learn how trading hours and their nuances impact your options contracts.
Options contracts give investors the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specific price within a certain timeframe. Like shares of stock, options trade on exchanges during defined hours. Understanding these trading hours is important for participants to manage their positions effectively and respond to market movements.
Standard Options Market Closing Times
Most equity options, which are options contracts on individual stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), adhere to the standard trading hours of the major U.S. stock exchanges. These markets typically open at 9:30 AM Eastern Time (ET) and close at 4:00 PM ET, Monday through Friday. This timeframe represents the core trading session for the vast majority of options activity. During these hours, buyers and sellers actively participate, and prices reflect real-time supply and demand dynamics. The 4:00 PM ET close marks the end of regular trading for these common options.
Variations in Options Market Closing Times
While 4:00 PM ET is a common closing time, several types of options and specific market conditions present variations.
Index Options
Certain index options, such as those on the S&P 500 (SPX) and OEX indices, often trade an additional 15 minutes, closing at 4:15 PM ET. However, on their expiration day, some of these same PM-settled index options may cease trading at 4:00 PM ET. Monthly index options that settle based on opening prices on expiration Friday will typically stop trading on the preceding Thursday evening. Additionally, some broad-based index options, like SPX and VIX, offer extended global trading hours, operating almost 24 hours a day from Sunday evening through Friday morning, allowing for reactions to international market events.
Futures Options
Options on futures contracts follow the trading schedule of their underlying futures, which can be extensive. Many futures markets operate nearly 24 hours a day, five days a week, typically from Sunday at 5:00 PM Central Time (CT) to Friday at 4:00 PM CT, with a daily one-hour break. This means options tied to these futures also have significantly longer trading windows than standard equity options.
Weekly Options and Holidays
Weekly options, which expire every Friday, generally follow the same trading hours as their monthly counterparts and close at the standard 4:00 PM ET on their expiration day, unless they are specific index weeklies with different rules. Market holidays and early closure days also impact options trading hours, with markets closing earlier, often at 1:15 PM ET for eligible options, on specific days preceding major holidays like Independence Day or Thanksgiving.
Understanding Options Expiration and Exercise
Options contracts have a defined expiration date, the final point at which the contract is valid and can be exercised. On this date, the option either expires worthless or is exercised, resulting in the delivery of the underlying asset or a cash settlement. An option is considered “in-the-money” (ITM) if its strike price is favorable compared to the underlying asset’s market price at expiration, meaning a call option’s strike price is below the market price or a put option’s strike price is above it. Conversely, an option is “out-of-the-money” (OTM) if its strike price is unfavorable, rendering it worthless at expiration.
The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) facilitates the automatic exercise of options that are in-the-money at expiration. This automatic process helps protect option holders from inadvertently letting profitable contracts expire. However, investors holding an ITM option can submit a “Do Not Exercise” (DNE) request to their broker if they wish to prevent the automatic exercise.
While trading in many options ceases at 4:00 PM ET, the official expiration time for most equity options is 11:59 PM ET on the expiration date, allowing for after-hours price movements in the underlying asset to potentially change an option’s ITM or OTM status. This post-market movement can influence whether an option is ultimately exercised or expires worthless, even if it was out-of-the-money at the 4:00 PM ET trading close.