By Matt Connor
What Time Do Options Stop Trading?
What time do options stop trading? Most stop at 4:00 p.m. ET, while broad index options keep printing until 4:15. See the exact last print, minute by minute.
What time do options stop trading? Most US listed options stop at 4:00 p.m. ET, the same minute the stock market closes. A short list of broad based products keeps printing for another quarter hour, to 4:15 p.m. ET. The tail is plain on the tape: on 2026-07-01 the last SPY option print of the session was stamped 16:15 ET, 15 minutes after the shares stopped.
What time do options stop trading each day?
The regular options session runs 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, the same block as the stock market hours for ordinary shares. A listed option is a standardized exchange traded contract, and every listed option belongs to a product class with its own posted trading hours. Two closing times are in use across US markets:
- Single stock options and most exchange traded fund options stop at 4:00 p.m. ET.
- Broad based index options and options on a small group of broad based funds stop at 4:15 p.m. ET.
Those extra 15 minutes are where a chain can still be moving after the shares behind it have gone quiet. The stock is finished at 4:00 p.m. The option keeps quoting and printing into the 4:15 stop.
What happens in the 15 minutes after the stock market closes?
The panel below takes the 40 minutes around the close across the week of July 13, 2026, and spreads each name's option volume across the clock one minute at a time. Each series is that name's share of its own volume in the window, which puts SPY and SPX on the same scale.
The exact SQL behind every number
SELECT
et_time,
round(100 * spy_contracts / sum(spy_contracts) OVER (), 2) AS spy_pct,
round(100 * spx_contracts / sum(spx_contracts) OVER (), 2) AS spx_pct
FROM
(
SELECT
concat(toString(intDiv(945 + grid.slot, 60)), ':',
leftPad(toString(modulo(945 + grid.slot, 60)), 2, '0')) AS et_time,
ifNull(tape.spy_contracts, 0) AS spy_contracts,
ifNull(tape.spx_contracts, 0) AS spx_contracts
FROM
(
SELECT arrayJoin(range(41)) AS slot
) AS grid
LEFT JOIN
(
WITH
extract(ticker, '^O:([A-Z]+)') AS root,
toTimeZone(sip_timestamp, 'America/New_York') AS et
SELECT
toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et) - 945 AS slot,
sumIf(size, root = 'SPY') AS spy_contracts,
sumIf(size, root IN ('SPX', 'SPXW')) AS spx_contracts
FROM global_markets.options_trades
WHERE (ticker LIKE 'O:SPY%' OR ticker LIKE 'O:SPX%')
AND root IN ('SPY', 'SPX', 'SPXW')
AND sip_timestamp >= '2026-07-13 19:45:00'
AND sip_timestamp < '2026-07-17 20:30:00'
AND (toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et)) BETWEEN 945 AND 985
GROUP BY slot
) AS tape ON tape.slot = grid.slot
)
ORDER BY et_timeVolume in both names collapses at the top of the hour. Neither goes quiet. At 16:10 ET, ten minutes after the shares stopped, SPY still carried 2.07% of its late window contracts and SPX carried 1.76%. Read the right hand side of the chart and the shape is a cliff followed by a thin shelf: one heavy closing minute, then a low trickle across the quarter hour that follows.
Does the 15 minute tail hold every session?
One week could be an accident. The next panel walks every session in the first half of July 2026 and records the last option print of the day in each name, measured in minutes past 4:00 p.m. ET.
The exact SQL behind every number
SELECT
session_date,
spy_last_minute - 960 AS spy_minutes_after_4pm,
spx_last_minute - 960 AS spx_minutes_after_4pm,
concat(toString(intDiv(spy_last_minute, 60)), ':',
leftPad(toString(modulo(spy_last_minute, 60)), 2, '0')) AS spy_last_print_et
FROM
(
WITH
extract(ticker, '^O:([A-Z]+)') AS root,
toTimeZone(sip_timestamp, 'America/New_York') AS et
SELECT
toString(toDate(et)) AS session_date,
maxIf(toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et), root = 'SPY') AS spy_last_minute,
maxIf(toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et), root IN ('SPX', 'SPXW')) AS spx_last_minute
FROM global_markets.options_trades
WHERE (ticker LIKE 'O:SPY%' OR ticker LIKE 'O:SPX%')
AND root IN ('SPY', 'SPX', 'SPXW')
AND sip_timestamp >= '2026-07-01 20:00:00'
AND sip_timestamp < '2026-07-17 21:00:00'
AND (toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et)) BETWEEN 960 AND 1020
GROUP BY session_date
HAVING countIf(root = 'SPY') > 0
AND countIf(root IN ('SPX', 'SPXW')) > 0
)
ORDER BY session_dateOver the 12 sessions on the chart, the two ends of the panel do different things. 2026-07-01 is the ordinary case: the final SPY print of that day was stamped 15 minutes past four o'clock, inside the posted quarter hour. The final session is not. On 2026-07-17, a monthly expiration Friday, the last SPY stamp sat 56 minutes past four and the last SPX stamp 59 minutes past, far outside the window in which either class can still be traded. A stamp is not a trading hour: a trade can reach the tape long after it is agreed, and the day's last stamp picks that up. The quarter hour tail is a posted feature of the product class. The stamps that trail it are a feature of the tape.
Which options keep trading after 4:00 p.m. ET?
Not every ticker has a tail, and size is not what decides it. The panel checks seven names on one ordinary session, Wednesday July 15, 2026. For each one it measures the share of the last 45 minutes of contract volume stamped from the 4:00 p.m. minute onward.
The exact SQL behind every number
SELECT
underlying,
round(100 * late_contracts / window_contracts, 2) AS pct_after_4pm,
concat(toString(intDiv(last_minute, 60)), ':',
leftPad(toString(modulo(last_minute, 60)), 2, '0')) AS last_print_et
FROM
(
WITH
extract(ticker, '^O:([A-Z]+)') AS root,
toTimeZone(sip_timestamp, 'America/New_York') AS et
SELECT
if(root = 'SPXW', 'SPX', root) AS underlying,
sum(size) AS window_contracts,
sumIf(size, (toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et)) >= 960) AS late_contracts,
max(toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et)) AS last_minute
FROM global_markets.options_trades
WHERE (ticker LIKE 'O:AAPL%' OR ticker LIKE 'O:MSFT%' OR ticker LIKE 'O:NVDA%'
OR ticker LIKE 'O:SPY%' OR ticker LIKE 'O:QQQ%' OR ticker LIKE 'O:IWM%'
OR ticker LIKE 'O:SPX%')
AND root IN ('AAPL', 'MSFT', 'NVDA', 'SPY', 'QQQ', 'IWM', 'SPX', 'SPXW')
AND sip_timestamp >= '2026-07-15 19:45:00'
AND sip_timestamp < '2026-07-15 20:30:00'
AND (toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et)) BETWEEN 945 AND 990
GROUP BY underlying
)
ORDER BY pct_after_4pm DESCIWM tops the list at 61.62%, most of its whole 15:45 to 16:30 window, with its final print of the day at 16:14 ET. That measure opens at the 4:00 p.m. minute itself, which holds the closing print, and runs through everything stamped after it. At the bottom, NVDA shows 0%, and its last print came at 16:00 ET. The single stock names in the panel carry some of the deepest option volume in the market, and none of them extends past the equity close.
The split runs along product class. An option on a single company stops when that company's shares stop. An option whose underlying is a broad index, or a fund built to track one, gets the extra quarter hour.
What time do options stop trading on a half day?
Several sessions a year end at 1:00 p.m. ET instead of 4:00 p.m. These are the scheduled early closes, and the option tail moves with them. The panel below pins the last SPY option print on each of the last 6 early closes, running back to July 2024.
The exact SQL behind every number
SELECT
concat(formatDateTime(session_day, '%b'), ' ', toString(toDayOfMonth(session_day)),
', ', toString(toYear(session_day))) AS session_label,
last_minute - 780 AS minutes_after_1pm_close,
concat(toString(intDiv(last_minute, 60)), ':',
leftPad(toString(modulo(last_minute, 60)), 2, '0')) AS last_option_print_et
FROM
(
WITH
extract(ticker, '^O:([A-Z]+)') AS root,
toTimeZone(sip_timestamp, 'America/New_York') AS et
SELECT
toDate(et) AS session_day,
max(toHour(et) * 60 + toMinute(et)) AS last_minute
FROM global_markets.options_trades
WHERE ticker LIKE 'O:SPY%'
AND root = 'SPY'
AND ( (sip_timestamp >= '2024-07-03 16:30:00' AND sip_timestamp < '2024-07-03 19:00:00')
OR (sip_timestamp >= '2024-11-29 17:30:00' AND sip_timestamp < '2024-11-29 20:00:00')
OR (sip_timestamp >= '2024-12-24 17:30:00' AND sip_timestamp < '2024-12-24 20:00:00')
OR (sip_timestamp >= '2025-07-03 16:30:00' AND sip_timestamp < '2025-07-03 19:00:00')
OR (sip_timestamp >= '2025-11-28 17:30:00' AND sip_timestamp < '2025-11-28 20:00:00')
OR (sip_timestamp >= '2025-12-24 17:30:00' AND sip_timestamp < '2025-12-24 20:00:00'))
GROUP BY session_day
)
ORDER BY session_dayOn Dec 24, 2025 the last SPY option crossed at 13:15 ET, 15 minutes after the 1:00 p.m. bell. The earliest half day in the panel, Jul 3, 2024, stopped 14 minutes past its close. The offset survives the change in wall clock time: whatever hour the equity session ends, the late trading classes run about a quarter hour past it. A volume study or a closing price calculation that assumes a 4:00 p.m. stop on one of these dates will read the wrong bar. Our guide to when options expire covers the calendar side of the same question.
What a holder can do in the last 15 minutes
Trading and exercising run on two different clocks.
Inside a late trading class a holder can still open or close a position after 4:00 p.m. ET, subject to the broker routing orders into that window. Plenty of retail platforms stop accepting option orders at 4:00 p.m. even in names that trade to 4:15. In practice the tail is mostly a professional window.
In a class that stops at 4:00 p.m., the position is frozen until 9:30 the next morning. The underlying can keep moving in overnight stock trading the whole time, and the option does not reprice on any tape until the next session opens.
Exercise is separate. An American style contract can be exercised on any business day up to expiration; a European style contract only at expiration. That distinction is the subject of American versus European style options. At expiration, the clearing house automatically exercises contracts that finish at least one cent in the money, unless the holder files contrary instructions through their broker. Broker cutoffs for those instructions land earlier than the clearing house deadline and vary by firm. What happens if an option expires in the money walks through the mechanics.
For a same day expiry, the tail is the last chance to trade out of the contract. When 0DTE options trade covers that session end to end.
Data notes
Every panel aggregates all listed contracts on each underlying rather than one expiry, so the times above are the last print anywhere in that name's chain. SPX and SPXW contracts are combined into one SPX series; those two roots are the standard and weekly listings of the same index. All clock times are US Eastern, converted from the trade timestamps. The 2024, 2025 and July 2026 windows are fixed in the SQL, so these numbers stay put as new data arrives. A trade can be reported to the tape well after it occurs: a class with a 4:00 p.m. stop can show a stray stamp past the hour, and a session's final stamp can sit far outside posted trading hours.
FAQ
What time do options stop trading each day?
Single stock options and most fund options stop at 4:00 p.m. ET. Broad based index options, along with options on a small group of broad based funds, trade until 4:15 p.m. ET. The regular session for both begins at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Do SPX options trade after the stock market closes?
Yes. SPX index options keep trading until 4:15 p.m. ET in the regular session, a quarter hour past the 4:00 p.m. equity close. As the panels above measure, SPY option contracts print in that same window.
What time do options stop trading on expiration day?
A PM settled index option expiring that day stops at 4:00 p.m. ET, with settlement struck from the 4:00 p.m. close. An AM settled monthly index option stops trading at the end of the session before its expiration date, with settlement taken from the next morning's opening prints. AM and PM settled options covers the difference.
What time do options stop trading on a half day?
On a scheduled 1:00 p.m. ET early close, options follow the shortened session, and the late trading classes run about 15 minutes past it. The half day panel above measures that gap on every early close since July 2024.
Can you trade options after hours?
Listed options have no broad after hours session. Regular trading ends at 4:00 or 4:15 p.m. ET, and the chain goes dark until the next 9:30 a.m. open. As of August 2026 the listing exchange for SPX and VIX runs a separate overnight session in those index products, which most retail brokers do not carry.
Every panel here ships with the SQL that produced it. Open one, then swap the date or the ticker and ask the same question of any name on the Strasmore terminal.