what is expiration time 
the expiration time of an options contract or other derivative is the exact date and time when it is rendered null and void derivatives contracts that finish out of the money otm at the time of expiration will become worthless while in the money itm contracts will be evaluated based on the settlement price upon expiry the expiration time is more specific than the expiration date and should not be confused with the last time to trade that option understanding expiration timeexpiration time differs from the expiration date in that the former is when the option actually expires while the latter is the deadline for the holder of the option to make their intentions known most option traders need only be concerned with the expiration date but it is useful to know the expiration time as well according to nasdaq the expiration time is since many public holders of options deal with brokers they face different expiration times in the u s the last day to trade an option is typically the third friday of the expiration month while the expiration date is the saturday immediately afterwards if friday is a public holiday the last trading day with be on thursday 2a public holder of an option usually must declare their notice to exercise by 5 30 p m on friday this time frame will allow the broker to notify the exchange of the holders intent by the actual expiration time on saturday 1notification limits depend on the exchange where the product trades for example the chicago board options exchange cboe limits trading on expiring options to 3 00 p m central time on the last trading day 3derivatives contract expirationan expiration date in derivatives is the last day that an options or futures contract is valid when investors buy options the contracts give them the right but not the obligation to buy or sell the assets at a predetermined price known as the strike price the exercising of the option must be within a given period which is on or before the expiration date if an investor chooses not to exercise that right the option expires and becomes worthless and the investor loses the money paid to buy it the expiration date for listed stock options in the united states is usually the third friday of the contract month which is the month when the contract expires however when that friday falls on a holiday the expiration date is on the thursday immediately before the third friday once an options or futures contract passes the expiration date the contract is invalid the last day to trade equity options is the friday before expiry 4caveats at expirationwhile the majority of options never reach their expiration dates due to traders offsetting or closing their positions before that time some options do live on until their actual expiration times this delay can create interesting dynamics because the last time for trading can be before the expiration time this time difference is not a problem when the underlying security also closes for trading at the same time however if the underlying security does trade beyond the close of trading for the option both buyers and sellers might find that the exercise of their contract is automatic if they were itm conversely they may expect the automatic exercise but after hours trading in the underlying asset may push them otm rules covering these possibilities especially at what time the final price of the underlying is recorded can change so traders should check with both the exchange where their options trade as well as the brokerage handling their account example spxw weekly optionsspxw are weekly expiration cycle options on the s p 500 index listed by the cboe spxw weeklys are settled on the last trading day typically a friday for spxw eow weeklys as with other afternoon settled index options the exercise settlement value is calculated using the last closing reported sales price in the primary market of each component stock on the last trading day trading in expiring spxw weeklys closes at 3 00 p m central standard time cst all non expiring spxw weeklys meanwhile continue to trade until 3 15 p m cst 5