Weekly Options

What is a Weekly Option?

Now that you know all about regular options—which often means standard monthly (and longer-dated) contracts—it is time to introduce Weekly Options (often called Weeklys). As the name suggests, these are option contracts with short-dated weekly expirations. Here are some basic points that still hold for most equity and ETF Weeklys:

Equity and ETF Weeklys typically expire on Friday. New short-dated series are listed regularly so traders can choose the next Friday (or other listed short expirations) that fits their view.
During the week of a standard monthly expiration (usually the third Friday), exchanges generally do not list a separate “weekly” series for that same Friday—the standard monthly already fills that slot. (Older tutorials sometimes said Weeklys expired on Thursday that week; that is not the usual rule today.)
If Friday is an exchange holiday, end-of-week series often expire on the prior business day (commonly Thursday). Always confirm the listed expiration on your broker’s chain.
Not every stock with monthly options also has Weeklys. Liquidity and availability vary by underlying.
Cboe publishes current Weekly listings here: Available Weeklys.
Some major indexes and ETFs now list options that expire on multiple weekdays (and even same-day / 0DTE series). Those are powerful tools, but they are also easy to misuse—start with liquid names and read the contract specs.
The last day to trade a contract depends on whether it is AM-settled or PM-settled (see below).

So what does AM/PM settlement mean? If the option is PM-settled, the last day to trade is usually the expiration day itself, and settlement is based on the underlying’s closing value that day. For example, a Weekly Verizon (VZ) equity option expiring Friday can typically be traded until the close on that Friday, and settlement follows Friday’s close.

AM-settled options are different: the settlement value is based on an opening calculation on expiration day. In practice, the last convenient time to trade is often the prior business day. Many classic broad-market index options use AM settlement, but there are important exceptions (for example, some S&P 500 weekly products are PM-settled). Do not assume—check the product page or your broker.

A useful beginner rule of thumb: options on individual stocks and most ETFs are usually PM-settled and physically settled into shares; many traditional index options are cash-settled and may be AM-settled. As you gain experience, learn each product’s specs rather than relying only on rules of thumb.