On December 17, 2025, traders were active on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, preparing for what could be a turbulent end to the week. Goldman Sachs has projected this options expiration to be the largest ever recorded.
Options expiration days are a routine monthly event on Wall Street, marking the expiry of short-term derivatives contracts. However, this Friday is notably a 'quadruple witching' day, one of the few instances each year when index options, single stock options, index futures, and index futures options all expire simultaneously.
Goldman Sachs reports that more than $7.1 trillion in notional options exposure will expire by Friday. This includes approximately $5 trillion linked to the S&P 500 index and $880 billion associated with single stocks. Although December options expirations are typically sizable, this one surpasses previous records.
For context, the expiring options represent notional exposure equivalent to about 10.2% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 index.
According to Jeff Kilburg, founder and CEO of KKM Financial, these market dynamics may lead to erratic trading, especially around important benchmarks in the S&P 500.
"I am expecting volumes to be significantly above average as options traders settle 2025's profits and losses," Kilburg stated. "However, much of the repositioning appears to have already occurred. The 6800 level is a significant strike price for the S&P. We'll observe whether the bulls can maintain this level after successfully pushing the market above it this morning."
The S&P 500 has seen an approximate 15% increase this year, trading around 6,770 as of Thursday.