Quad witching
Definition · Level 6 · Desk language
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Third Friday of March, June, September and December, when stock options, index options and index futures all expire together. The fourth, US single-stock futures, ended in 2020, but the name stuck.
Example
Volume spikes into the close as quarterly contracts expire.
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
- OPEX (options expiry)Monthly expiration of listed options: the third Friday of the month for US equity and index options (Thursday if Friday is an exchange holiday).
- 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.