Traders are active on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., on December 17, 2025, preparing for a potentially turbulent end to the week on Wall Street. The anticipated market volatility is due to what Goldman Sachs describes as the largest options expiration event on record.
Options expiration days occur monthly on Wall Street, as contracts for short-term derivatives conclude. This Friday, however, marks one of the rare occasionsâoccurring four times yearlyâwhere options tied to multiple securities expire simultaneously. Known as a 'quadruple witching' day, it involves the expiration of index options, single stock options, index futures, and index futures options.
According to Goldman Sachs, over $7.1 trillion in notional options exposure is poised to expire, including approximately $5 trillion linked to the S&P 500 index and $880 billion associated with individual stocks. Typically, December sees the largest options expirations of the year, but this event surpasses all previous records.
To illustrate the magnitude, the options expiring on Friday reflect a notional exposure roughly equivalent to 10.2% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 index.
Jeff Kilburg, the founder and CEO of KKM Financial, suggests that this scenario might lead to fluctuating trading activity, especially concerning critical levels within the S&P 500. 'I expect trading volumes to significantly exceed usual levels as options traders finalize their 2025 gains and losses,' Kilburg noted. 'However, much of the repositioning seems to have already occurred. A key strike price in the S&P is 6800, and it remains to be seen whether the bulls can maintain this threshold after the market regained it earlier today.'
As of Thursday, the S&P 500 has increased by about 15% for the year, trading at approximately 6,770.