$7 trillion in US options notional value expires Friday, says Citadel Securities

Roughly $7 trillion worth of US options are set to expire on Friday, representing about a quarter of the entire market’s open interest. According to Citadel Securities, this makes it the second-largest triple-witching event ever recorded, trailing only the previous June expiration. What’s actually happening Triple witching refers to the simultaneous expiration of three types of derivatives: stock options, index options, and futures contracts. It happens four times a year, on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. The $7 trillion figure represents notional value, meaning it reflects the total value of the underlying assets those options contracts are tied to, not the amount of cash actually changing hands. It accounts for roughly 25% of total US options exposure. Citadel Securities’ market-intelligence team, led by Scott Rubner, compiled the data from Bloomberg open-interest figures as of September 16. Earlier projections had pegged the expiration at around $6.2 trillion for this specific date, as part of a broader $9.6 trillion window. The final number landed higher than those initial estimates. One detail worth flagging: approximately 60% of the expiring volume ...