Understanding Options Expiration

by Dawn Pennington   08/27/08
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... they return to the original cycle and add October because it is the next month in the January cycle after July. This results in the March, April, July and October options being available to trade. The same system determines which months are trading for stocks on the February and March cycles.

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Knowing how options expiration cycles work is especially important for traders who use options spreads and other trading techniques involving multiple options positions with the same underlying stock, but all options investors can benefit by understanding what options will become available to them in the future to help build the next move.

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