Friday could be a wild day of trading on Wall Street. Here’s why

• More than $7.1 trillion in notional options exposure is set to expire this Friday, according to Goldman.
• December options expirations are typically the biggest of the year, but this one eclipses all prior records.

Wall Street could be in for a volatile end to the week as traders brace for what Goldman Sachs says will be the largest options expiration on record.

Options expiration days are a monthly occurrence on Wall Street when the contracts on short-term derivatives expire. Friday happens to be one of the rare times (four times a year) when options on four types of securities expire on the same day: index options, single stock options, index futures and index futures options. This is called a “quadruple witching” day.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/18/friday-could-be-a-wild-day-of-trading-on-wall-street-heres-why.html