OPEX (options expiry)
Definition · Level 6 · Desk language
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Monthly expiration of listed options: the third Friday of the month for US equity and index options (Thursday if Friday is an exchange holiday). Hedging flows and pinning cluster around it.
Example
“Big gamma rolls off at OPEX — the pin at 5,000 should loosen next week.”
Rules and market figures change: check the current ones before relying on this.
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 6 · Desk language, in the lesson “Options-desk slang”: Vol as the product, gamma talk, flies, risk reversals, tied-to quotes and expiry-day jargon.
Related terms
- Quad witchingThird Friday of March, June, September and December, when stock options, index options and index futures all expire together.
- Theta gangRetail nickname for traders who systematically sell options — covered calls, cash-secured puts, strangles — to collect time decay.
- Tied toOption quote bundled with a stock hedge at a stated price and delta, so the whole trade is delta-neutral.
- Unusual options activityOption volume far above normal — often many times open interest and bought in urgent multi-exchange sweeps.
- “20 by 50”Size quote: first number = quantity on the bid, second = quantity on the offer (contracts, round lots or millions, depending on the product).
- “20 up”The same size shown on both sides of the quote: 20 on the bid and 20 on the offer.