Options Expiry Day Clock For Lagos Time (WAT)

Options expiry day clock for Lagos time get one easy anchor: WAT na UTC+1 from January to December, e no dey shift. New York clock na the one wey dey move. So the same 4:00 p.m. ET close land 21:00 WAT for US summer and 22:00 WAT for US winter, and everything else wey happen on expiry Friday hang off that one gap.

This page na the clock, nothing else. The index option wey carry extra fifteen minutes, the AM-settled one wey done finish before your afternoon, and your broker exercise deadline each get their own page, and we link dem as we go.

The two number to keep for head

US summer: add 5 hours to New York time. US winter: add 6 hours. Nigeria no dey do daylight saving at all, so na only the American side dey jump. Dem fall back to winter time on 1 November 2026, then dem spring forward again on the second Sunday of March. Nothing go show on your phone that weekend. The US close just arrive one hour later on your own clock, and anybody wey memorise "9 p.m." without memorising why e be 9 p.m. go miss am by sixty minutes.

Expiry Friday timetable for Lagos time

Normal third-Friday expiry, converted twice. The first time na US summer (ET plus 5). The one inside bracket na US winter (ET plus 6).

• 14:30 WAT (15:30 winter): US open, 9:30 a.m. ET. Any AM-settled index option wey expire today dey settle off this morning print. Dem no dey trade today at all. Their last trade na the session before.
• 21:00 WAT (22:00 winter): 4:00 p.m. ET. Single stock option and ETF option like SPY stop trading here, and the closing cross print. Our page on wetin time options stop trading break the final minutes down.
• 21:15 WAT (22:15 winter): 4:15 p.m. ET. Cboe index option dey run fifteen minutes pass the stock close. Which expiring series still dey quote inside those fifteen minutes na the detail wey when SPX options stop trading handle line by line.
• 22:30 WAT (23:30 winter): 5:30 p.m. ET, the outer edge of the exercise window for the clearing house.

When exactly your broker want to hear from you

That 22:30 WAT line na the clearing house own edge. Your broker no dey wait tire for am. Plenty of dem lock their exercise and do-not-exercise instruction well before that, and the time differ from broker to broker, which is why we keep the per-broker list on broker exercise cutoff times. Carry your number from there and treat am as the real one. E na your broker deadline, no be the exchange own, and no broker owe you the clearing house extra minutes.

The expiry date na New York date, no be Lagos date

Contract wey expire "Friday" expire Friday for New York. For WAT the whole thing still fit inside your Friday evening: open 14:30, close 21:00, broker and clearing house business done by 23:30 at the latest for US winter. Nothing spill into your Saturday. Na small luck wey Lagos get, and e no exist for everybody. 0DTE options from Japan show wetin the same session look like when e cross person midnight.

Witching Friday for the Lagos clock

Four Friday every year, the third Friday of March, June, September and December, three thing expire the same day: index futures, index options, and single stock options. People call am triple witching, and triple witching 2026 dates list the exact day. For the clock, nothing change. Same 21:00 WAT close for US summer. Wetin change na how many people dey inside that evening, and that one we can measure.

Which WAT hour carry the volume on expiry Friday

ET-only page go tell you say the last hour busy. E no tell you which Lagos hour that one be, and e no show whether expiry Friday really shape different from ordinary Friday. The panel below take SPY, count every regular-session minute bar for all the Friday between 13 March and 9 October 2026, and share the volume across WAT hour. One line na the third Friday of the month. The other line na every other Friday.

WITH session_bars AS
(
    SELECT
        toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York') AS et_ts,
        toTimeZone(window_start, 'Africa/Lagos')     AS wat_ts,
        toFloat64(volume)                            AS vol
    FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
    WHERE ticker = 'SPY'
      AND window_start >= toDateTime('2026-03-13 00:00:00')
      AND window_start <  toDateTime('2026-10-10 00:00:00')
      AND toDayOfWeek(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) = 5
      AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60
           + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) >= 570
      AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60
           + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) < 960
)
SELECT
    hourly.wat_time                                       AS wat_time,
    round(100 * hourly.expiry_vol / totals.expiry_vol, 2) AS expiry_friday_pct,
    round(100 * hourly.other_vol / totals.other_vol, 2)   AS other_friday_pct
FROM
(
    SELECT
        formatDateTime(toStartOfHour(wat_ts), '%H:00')          AS wat_time,
        sumIf(vol, toDayOfMonth(et_ts) BETWEEN 15 AND 21)       AS expiry_vol,
        sumIf(vol, NOT (toDayOfMonth(et_ts) BETWEEN 15 AND 21)) AS other_vol
    FROM session_bars
    GROUP BY wat_time
    HAVING countIf(toDayOfMonth(et_ts) BETWEEN 15 AND 21) > 0
       AND countIf(NOT (toDayOfMonth(et_ts) BETWEEN 15 AND 21)) > 0
) AS hourly
CROSS JOIN
(
    SELECT
        sumIf(vol, toDayOfMonth(et_ts) BETWEEN 15 AND 21)       AS expiry_vol,
        sumIf(vol, NOT (toDayOfMonth(et_ts) BETWEEN 15 AND 21)) AS other_vol
    FROM session_bars
) AS totals
ORDER BY wat_time

Read the two line left to right. The 14:00 WAT bucket hold only thirty minute (the open land 14:30), and e carry 10.7 percent of expiry-Friday regular-session volume against 11.38 percent on ordinary Friday. The 20:00 WAT bucket, the last full hour before the close, carry 24.84 percent and 27.79 percent. For Lagos life, the thick part of expiry Friday dey land between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. your time during US summer, and one hour later once US winter start.

Hour bucket still dey hide the real pressure, so here na one single witching Friday, 18 September 2026, chopped into fifteen-minute slice on the Lagos clock.

SELECT
    formatDateTime(toStartOfFifteenMinutes(toTimeZone(window_start, 'Africa/Lagos')), '%H:%i') AS wat_time,
    round(sum(toFloat64(volume)) / 1e6, 2) AS spy_volume_m
FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
WHERE ticker = 'SPY'
  AND window_start >= toDateTime('2026-09-18 13:30:00')
  AND window_start <  toDateTime('2026-09-18 20:00:00')
GROUP BY wat_time
ORDER BY wat_time

The day open with 3.41 million SPY share inside the 14:30 WAT slice. The last slice on the panel, 20:45 WAT, print 6.7 million. The closing cross itself land at 21:00 WAT on the dot that day, just after this panel window close, which is why the shape dey climb and never fall back.

Last view na month by month: how the third-Friday session stack against the ordinary Friday of the same month.

SELECT
    formatDateTime(et_day, '%Y-%m') AS month,
    round(sumIf(day_volume, toDayOfMonth(et_day) BETWEEN 15 AND 21) / 1e6, 1)       AS expiry_friday_m,
    round(avgIf(day_volume, NOT (toDayOfMonth(et_day) BETWEEN 15 AND 21)) / 1e6, 1) AS other_friday_avg_m
FROM
(
    SELECT
        toDate(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) AS et_day,
        sum(toFloat64(volume))                               AS day_volume
    FROM global_markets.delayed_stocks_minute_aggs
    WHERE ticker = 'SPY'
      AND window_start >= toDateTime('2025-10-01 00:00:00')
      AND window_start <  toDateTime('2026-10-10 00:00:00')
      AND toDayOfWeek(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) = 5
      AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60
           + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) >= 570
      AND (toHour(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York')) * 60
           + toMinute(toTimeZone(window_start, 'America/New_York'))) < 960
    GROUP BY et_day
) AS fridays
GROUP BY month
HAVING countIf(toDayOfMonth(et_day) BETWEEN 15 AND 21) > 0
   AND countIf(NOT (toDayOfMonth(et_day) BETWEEN 15 AND 21)) > 0
ORDER BY month

For 2025-10, the third-Friday session move 80.6 million SPY share while ordinary Friday that month average 83.4 million. For 2026-09, the figure na 54.3 million against 31 million. The March, June and September row na the witching month. Follow the gap between the two line with your eye as you move across the chart.

Two mistake wey dey catch person from this side

Thinking say Lagos midnight na the deadline

Nothing about expiry Friday tie to your own midnight. When your phone show 00:00 Saturday, New York still dey 7:00 p.m. Friday during US summer, 6:00 p.m. during winter, and the clearing house exercise window already lock since 22:30 WAT. Anybody wey plan to check am "before I sleep" dey plan around a deadline wey done pass hours back. Your broker fence close earlier than that one again.

Thinking say ITM option wey you forget just disappear

An in-the-money option no dey quietly vanish. Exercise by exception mean the clearing house go exercise anything wey finish as little as one cent in the money, whether you send instruction or you no send. Saturday morning you fit see share wey you never ask for, the cash debit wey follow am, and Monday opening gap sitting on top of the position. Wetin happen if an option expire ITM carry the mechanics, and pin risk at options expiration cover the strike wey dey hover near the close.

FAQ

Wetin be the time options stop trading for Lagos time?

Equity and ETF option stop at the 4:00 p.m. ET close: 21:00 WAT during US summer, 22:00 WAT during US winter. Cboe index option run till 4:15 p.m. ET, which na 21:15 or 22:15 WAT.

Lagos time dey shift when American daylight saving change?

No. WAT stay UTC+1 all year. Na the US side dey move, so the gap between Lagos and New York swing between 5 and 6 hours. Dem go fall back on 1 November 2026.

Na my broker or the exchange give the exercise deadline?

Both, but dem no be the same deadline. Exchange trading end 4:00 p.m. ET, the clearing house exercise window run till 5:30 p.m. ET, and your broker set its own earlier fence. The broker own na the one wey concern you.

Witching Friday get different closing time?

No. Same close, same WAT conversion. Wetin change na the volume and the number of contract wey expire the same day.

If I no send any instruction, wetin happen to my in-the-money option?

Exercise by exception go handle am. One cent in the money na enough for the clearing house to exercise the contract, and the share or the cash go show for your account over the weekend.

Every panel here carry the exact SQL under am, open any one to see how the number was counted. If you wan run the same WAT clock on your own ticker or your own expiry date, ask the question in plain English on the Strasmore terminal.