Option Cycle

To everything, there is a season. In spring, baby rabbits are born. In fall, you cut up all that good rabbit meat for your mom's stew recipe. In winter, you look forward to next year's rabbit stew. Turn, turn, turn.

The option cycle follows this structure to a certain degree. Specifically, an options cycle represents all the expiration dates related to particular option classes.

They relate to a company's quarterly cycle. Firms release earnings in three-month intervals (corresponding to various fiscal quarters). When a new company gets its first option listing, it gets put on a particular quarterly option cycle (picking from one of three choices, January/April/July/October, February/May/August/November, or March/June/September/December).