SPX Options Expiration Calendar 2027: All Dates, AM vs PM Settlement

Reviewed by the SPXtoSPY Editorial Team

If you're planning SPX options positions months in advance — selling premium around earnings seasons, managing gamma risk into quarterly expirations, or structuring long-dated spreads — you need the full expiration grid in front of you before you execute. Getting caught off-guard by an AM settlement when you expected PM can cost more than the premium you collected.

This calendar covers every 2027 SPX expiration date, flags AM vs PM settlement for each, identifies the four Triple Witching days, and notes which expirations are eliminated by market holidays.

How SPX Expiration Dates Work

CBOE lists SPX options expiring on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the NYSE is open. That produces roughly 147 expiration dates per year — down from the theoretical maximum only when a holiday falls on one of those days.

This structure matters for income strategies. A trader selling weekly strangles can choose Monday, Wednesday, or Friday expiries to target specific events: FOMC decisions (typically Wednesdays), economic releases (often Fridays), or quiet mid-week exits (Monday expirations capture weekend theta decay).

AM Settlement vs PM Settlement

The settlement mechanism is the most consequential distinction for active SPX options traders:

AM-settled expirations — the standard monthly Friday (third Friday of each month) plus certain Wednesday expirations in quarterly months — settle using the Special Opening Quotation (SOQ). The SOQ is calculated from the opening transaction price of each S&P 500 constituent stock on expiration morning. Because individual stocks open sequentially via opening auctions, the SOQ can print 20–40 minutes after the 9:30 AM ET bell, and it can diverge materially from Thursday's SPX close. An AM-settlement SPX position cannot be offset once the bell rings — you're locked into the SOQ.

PM-settled expirations — Mondays, most Wednesdays, and non-standard Friday weeklies — settle at the official SPX closing value on expiration day, printed at 4:00 PM ET. These expirations allow you to trade out of a position up to the close if the market moves against you.

For a deeper dive on how the SOQ is actually constructed, see our article on SPX Final Settlement: How the SOQ Is Calculated.

2027 SPX Expiration Calendar by Month

In the tables below, 3rd Fri marks standard monthly AM-settled expirations. TW marks Triple Witching. All other dates are PM-settled. Dates struck by market holidays are excluded.

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027 — Q1 Triple Witching

April–December 2027: Key Dates Summary

Rather than repeat the full weekly grid for each remaining month, the table below highlights the monthly (AM-settled) expirations and market holidays for the rest of the year. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday not listed as a holiday has a PM-settled SPX expiration.

The Four 2027 Triple Witching Dates

Triple Witching deserves its own section because it drives the most concentrated expiration-related volume of the year. On these four Fridays, three instrument classes expire simultaneously: S&P 500 index options (SPX), S&P 500 index futures (ES), and options on S&P 500 futures. The combination pushes notional rollover into the hundreds of billions of dollars on a single trading day.

All four 2027 Triple Witching expirations are AM-settled:

• March 19, 2027 — Q1 expiration. Watch for repositioning ahead of earnings season.
• June 18, 2027 — Q2 expiration. Historically the highest-volume of the four.
• September 17, 2027 — Q3 expiration. Often coincides with post-Labor Day volatility.
• December 17, 2027 — Q4 expiration. Year-end positioning amplifies moves.

For detailed context on how ES, SPX, and SPY behavior shifts around these events, see our Triple Witching guide — the mechanics carry forward into 2027 unchanged.

Why Good Friday Matters in 2027

April 2, 2027 is Good Friday. The NYSE and CBOE are both closed, eliminating the Friday expiration that week entirely. This compresses premium sellers into fewer trading days: weekly options written the prior Monday expire on April 9 instead, with one fewer trading day of theta decay than expected. This is a planning detail worth noting months in advance if you're structuring April iron condors or calendars.

Practical Planning Tips for SPX Options Traders

Mark AM expirations differently in your trading log

The biggest operational risk with SPX is treating all expirations as PM-settled by default. Standard monthly Fridays cannot be closed after Thursday's session ends — the SOQ determines your P&L. If you hold short SPX options into a monthly Friday expiration, you're exposed to the gap between Thursday's close and the SOQ print, which can be 10–25 index points even on calm days.

Avoid entries on Triple Witching days

The rebalancing flows on Triple Witching create intraday price distortions that are unrelated to fundamental or technical signals. Gamma scalping by dealers hedging large option books adds to the noise. Unless you have a specific strategy designed around expiration-day mechanics, Wednesday entries for the following week's expiration are cleaner.

Monday and Wednesday expirations for FOMC week positioning

FOMC meetings in 2027 conclude on Wednesdays at 2:00 PM ET, followed by the press conference at 2:30 PM. Wednesday PM-settled SPX expirations capture the full FOMC-day move. A trader who sells a Wednesday SPX straddle the prior Monday is taking a defined position on FOMC volatility with clear settlement mechanics at 4:00 PM.