Options Expiration Calendar — OPEX, Max Pain & Put/Call Ratio

Options Expiration Calendar delivers upcoming options expiration dates (weekly, monthly, and quarterly OPEX), and for specific tickers calculates max pain price and put/call open interest ratio from live Yahoo Finance option chains. Use it to plan options strategies around gamma events, track triple witching, and find where market makers want price to pin on expiration day.

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Why use Options Expiration Calendar?

1. Gamma event planning — Monthly OPEX (especially quarterly "triple witching") creates the highest market volume and volatility. Know the dates 3 months out to plan your positions accordingly.
2. Max pain hedging — Options market makers are short gamma and hedge to stay delta-neutral. The max pain price is where they collect the most premium — stocks often gravitate toward it in the final days before expiration.
3. Put/call ratio skew detection — A PCR above 1.5 signals heavy put buying (fear/hedging); below 0.7 signals call-heavy positioning (bullish or speculative). Track this per expiration.
4. Earnings + OPEX overlap — When a company reports earnings in the same week as a major OPEX, IV crush and pin risk combine. Identify these overlaps with this calendar.
5. Triple witching calendar — The quarterly OPEX in March, June, September, and December involves simultaneous expiration of equity options, index options, and futures. Volume spikes are predictable — plan liquidity accordingly.

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How to use

1. Open the actor on Apify Store and click Try for free.
2. Choose mode: calendar (upcoming OPEX dates) or ticker (per-stock chain analysis).
3. For ticker mode, paste tickers into tickers and enable includeMaxPain if you want the full OI analysis.
4. Click Start. Calendar mode returns all OPEX events; ticker mode returns per-expiration chain stats.

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Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	"calendar"	calendar for OPEX date list, ticker for per-stock analysis
tickers	string	""	Comma-separated tickers for ticker mode (e.g. "AAPL,SPY,QQQ,TSLA")
monthsAhead	number	3	Months ahead for calendar mode (max 12)
includeMaxPain	boolean	true	Calculate max pain price from full OI data (ticker mode only)
nextExpiryOnly	boolean	false	Return only the nearest expiration per ticker (faster, cheaper)

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Output

Calendar mode:

{
  "date": "2026-09-19",
  "day_of_week": "Friday",
  "type": "quarterly_opex",
  "days_away": 17,
  "is_triple_witching": true,
  "description": "Q3 2026 Quarterly OPEX — Triple Witching"
}

Ticker mode (with max pain):

{
  "ticker": "AAPL",
  "expiry_date": "2026-09-19",
  "days_to_expiry": 17,
  "current_price": 213.45,
  "max_pain_price": 210.0,
  "max_pain_diff_pct": -1.61,
  "total_call_oi": 1234567,
  "total_put_oi": 987654,
  "put_call_ratio": 0.80
}

Calendar mode output fields

Field	Type	Description
date	string	Expiration date (YYYY-MM-DD)
day_of_week	string	Always Friday for standard expirations
type	string	weekly_opex, monthly_opex, or quarterly_opex
days_away	integer	Calendar days until expiration
is_triple_witching	boolean	True for March/June/September/December quarterly OPEX
description	string	Human-readable event label

Ticker mode output fields

Field	Type	Description
ticker	string	Stock symbol
expiry_date	string	Option expiration date
days_to_expiry	integer	Calendar days until expiration
current_price	float	Current stock price from Yahoo Finance
max_pain_price	float	Strike price where aggregate option seller losses are minimized
max_pain_diff_pct	float	% gap between current price and max pain (negative = stock above max pain)
total_call_oi	integer	Total call open interest across all strikes for this expiration
total_put_oi	integer	Total put open interest across all strikes
put_call_ratio	float	total_put_oi / total_call_oi

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Max pain explained

Max pain is the strike price at which the total value of all in-the-money options (calls + puts) is minimized — meaning option sellers (primarily market makers) would experience the least loss. The max pain theory holds that market makers hedge their short gamma exposure in ways that drive price toward this level near expiration.

How to interpret it:

• max_pain_diff_pct > 0: stock is below max pain → bullish pin pressure
• max_pain_diff_pct < 0: stock is above max pain → bearish pin pressure
• Large divergences (>5%) tend to resolve toward max pain in the final 2-3 days before expiration

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OPEX calendar for 2026

Date	Type	Notes
Sep 19, 2026	Quarterly OPEX	Triple witching — Q3
Oct 16, 2026	Monthly OPEX
Nov 20, 2026	Monthly OPEX
Dec 18, 2026	Quarterly OPEX	Triple witching — Q4

Weekly OPEX occurs every Friday (some stocks only monthly).

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Cost estimation

Pay-Per-Event: $0.005 per actor start + $0.005 per OPEX event returned.

Use case	Records	Estimated cost
3-month calendar (all OPEX)	~13 events	~$0.07/run
5 tickers, 3 expirations each	15 records	~$0.08/run
20 tickers, next expiry only	20 records	~$0.10/run
Weekly monitoring (full chain)	~50 records	~$0.25/run

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FAQ

Does it cover weekly options on all stocks? No — weekly expirations are only available on stocks with active options markets. The actor returns only the expirations that Yahoo Finance has data for. Most large-cap and index ETFs have weeklies; smaller stocks may only have monthlies.

How accurate is max pain? Max pain is a theoretical model based on OI at the time of the run. OI changes throughout the week, and max pain is most meaningful in the final 1-2 days before expiration. It's a guide, not a guaranteed pin level.

Does it cover index options (SPX, NDX, VIX)? Yes — pass tickers: "^SPX,^NDX" for index options. Note that SPX has daily 0DTE expirations in addition to weekly/monthly.

What's the difference between monthly and quarterly OPEX? All monthly OPEX dates are the 3rd Friday of each month. The quarterly ones (March, June, September, December) are also triple witching — where equity options, index options, and S&P futures all expire simultaneously, causing the highest volume of the year.

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Related actors

• Upcoming Earnings Calendar — Overlay earnings dates with OPEX to find high-IV-crush opportunities
• Options Unusual Activity — Large OI and volume spikes that precede directional moves
• Market Breadth Tracker — Broad market indicators that contextualize OPEX moves

Feedback

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