When Do Options Stop Trading: Close Times, Expiration, and Halts

Most U.S. equity options stop trading at 4:00 PM Eastern Time, when the regular stock market session ends. Options on a defined list of ETFs and on major index products keep going for another 15 minutes, closing at 4:15 PM ET. On expiration day the trading window closes at those same times, but exercise instructions can still be submitted to your broker until 5:30 PM ET. So the question of when do options stop trading has two answers depending on what you mean: trading itself ends with the session, while your ability to act on an expiring contract runs an hour and a half longer.¹

The 4:00 PM Close for Equity Options

If you trade options on individual stocks — Apple, Tesla, JPMorgan, anything listed on the NYSE or Nasdaq — your window runs 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET, Monday through Friday. That matches the core cash session for the underlying shares, which keeps option prices tied to a live stock price.¹

Any order you enter after 4:00 PM sits in a queue until the next business day’s open. Your broker will usually accept it, but it won’t fill overnight. That matters more than people assume. Earnings releases, overseas moves, and after-hours news on the underlying stock can shift prices well before you get a fill the next morning. If you need to be out of a stock-option position on the same day, you have to act before the bell.

ETF and Index Options That Trade Until 4:15 PM

A large group of ETF options keeps trading for another 15 minutes after the stock market closes, shutting at 4:15 PM ET. The list includes the most heavily traded ETF symbols in the options market: SPY, QQQ, IWM, DIA, GLD, TLT, and roughly 60 others.² The extra time exists so traders can react to the official closing prints on the underlying and adjust hedges before everything goes dark.

The list is not static. Options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) moved to the 4:15 PM close in November 2025, and options on the iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP) followed in February 2026.³⁴ If you’re not sure whether a particular ETF option qualifies, Nasdaq publishes the current roster on its options hours page.

Index options follow the same 4:15 PM close during regular hours. That covers SPX (S&P 500), VIX, XSP (Mini-SPX), and RUT (Russell 2000).¹

Overnight Trading for a Few Index Products

SPX, VIX, XSP, and RUT are the exceptions to everything above. Cboe runs two additional electronic sessions on these index options. A short Curb session runs 4:15 PM to 5:00 PM ET right after the regular close. The Global Trading Hours session then opens at 8:15 PM ET and runs until 9:25 AM the next morning, bridging the overnight gap.¹⁵

Combined, SPX and VIX are tradeable for roughly 21 hours each weekday. The practical limits are real, though. Liquidity drops sharply outside regular hours, bid-ask spreads widen, and fills get worse.⁶ The overnight sessions exist mostly for institutions managing global exposure. For retail trading, 9:30 AM to 4:15 PM is where the volume lives. No other options — not equity options, not non-index ETF options — have overnight trading.

Expiration Day: Trading Ends, Then Exercise Begins

On expiration day, trading in the expiring contract stops at the same time as any other day. Equity options stop at 4:00 PM ET. Eligible ETF and index options stop at 4:15 PM ET. After those times you cannot buy or sell the contract. If you want out of a position cleanly, close it before the bell.

What’s different about expiration day is what happens next. Exchange rules give option holders until 5:30 PM Eastern Time to submit final exercise instructions through their broker.⁷ That gives you a window where the market no longer trades the contract but your decision still carries weight. An option that looked worthless at 4:00 PM can become worth exercising if the stock moves on after-hours news. One that finished in the money can be waived if post-close trading flips the math.

The OCC’s exercise-by-exception rule governs anything you don’t manually address. Any expiring option that finishes at least $0.01 in the money is automatically exercised on the holder’s behalf.⁸ To stop that, you file a Contrary Exercise Advice through your broker before the 5:30 PM cutoff, telling the OCC to let the option expire.⁹ The same instructions can push through an exercise on an option that was just barely out of the money at the close.

Watch for your broker’s own cutoff. Many firms impose earlier deadlines than the exchange’s 5:30 PM window, and some close out expiring positions they consider risky well before the 4:00 PM bell, sometimes an hour or more in advance. The reason is capital exposure: automatic exercise can leave your account on the hook for shares it can’t afford to take delivery of. Check your broker’s expiration policies before Friday afternoon surprises you.

AM-Settled vs. PM-Settled Index Options Change the Last Trading Day

For index options, settlement style quietly moves the deadline off expiration day entirely. Standard monthly SPX options are AM-settled. Their final value comes from a special opening quotation calculated from the Friday-morning opening prints of all 500 stocks in the S&P 500.¹⁰ Because that settlement value is locked in at Friday’s open, the last time you can trade the contract is Thursday’s close, typically 4:15 PM ET.¹¹

Weekly and end-of-month SPX options (ticker SPXW) are PM-settled. Their value is based on the closing index level on expiration day itself, and they trade right up to the normal close.¹¹ Always check whether an SPX contract is AM- or PM-settled. If you treat an AM-settled option as if it trades Friday, you’ll find the market gone when you try to act on it.

When Trading Stops Early Without Warning

Two mechanisms can freeze options trading before the scheduled close, and neither gives much notice.

Single-Stock Halts

The Limit Up-Limit Down system places price bands around every stock. If a stock sits at the edge of its band for 15 seconds without the quote reverting, the primary exchange triggers a five-minute pause on the stock and on all of its options.¹² Band width depends on the stock. For large-cap stocks above $3, the band is 5%. For smaller or less liquid stocks above $3, it’s 10%. For stocks between $0.75 and $3.00, it’s 20%.¹³ During any LULD pause, you cannot fill option orders on the halted stock, and existing orders may be canceled.

Market-Wide Circuit Breakers

When the S&P 500 drops sharply against the prior day’s close, three thresholds come into play:

Level 1 (7% decline): trading halts for at least 15 minutes, but only if the drop occurs before 3:25 PM ET.
Level 2 (13% decline): same 15-minute halt, same 3:25 PM cutoff.
Level 3 (20% decline): trading stops for the rest of the day, regardless of time.

The 3:25 PM detail is the one most traders miss. A 7% or 13% drop after 3:25 PM does not halt the market. Trading runs through the close. Only a 20% drop can stop the final 35 minutes.¹⁴¹⁵

When either a single-stock halt or a market-wide circuit breaker is active, options on the affected securities cannot trade. If a halt lands on expiration day and the underlying hasn’t reopened, the OCC removes the contract from automatic exercise processing. In that case you have to submit manual exercise instructions to act on the option.¹⁶

Early-Close Days in 2026

A few days each year the exchanges close early and take options with them. Two dates qualify in 2026:

Friday, November 27 (day after Thanksgiving): stocks close at 1:00 PM ET; eligible options close at 1:15 PM ET.
Thursday, December 24 (Christmas Eve): stocks close at 1:00 PM ET; eligible options close at 1:15 PM ET.

On these days you lose roughly three hours against a normal session. If you hold expiring options or need to roll a position, the compressed schedule leaves less time to react to intraday moves.¹⁷

1
Cboe. Hours and Holidays – U.S. Options
2
Nasdaq Trader. Nasdaq – Options Market Hours
3
Nasdaq Trader. Options Trader Alert 2025-52 – Nasdaq Announces Changes to Daily Closing Time for Options on Certain Exchange Traded Funds
4
Cboe. Change to Daily Closing Time for Options on a Certain Exchange Traded Product
5
Cboe. Trade Around the Clock with Cboe Global Trading Hours
6
FINRA. FINRA Rule 2265 – Extended Hours Trading Risk Disclosure
7
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Rule 1100 – Exercise of Options Contracts – Exhibit 5
8
Cboe. RG08-073 – OCC Rule Change – Automatic Exercise Thresholds
9
Nasdaq Listing Center. Options 6B Exercises and Deliveries
10
Cboe. Settlement of Standard, A.M.-Settled S&P 500 Index Options
11
Cboe Global Markets. SPX Index Options Fact Sheet
12
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Limit Up-Limit Down Pilot Plan and Associated Events
13
Cboe Global Markets. Cboe Limit Up-Limit Down FAQ
14
Cboe Global Markets. U.S. Market Wide Circuit Breaker FAQ
15
New York Stock Exchange. Market-Wide Circuit Breakers FAQ
16
The Options Clearing Corporation. Trading Halts Weekly Update – Removal from Ex by Ex Processing 58531
17
NYSE. Holidays and Trading Hours