January Expiration Week Choppy Last 19 Years

Over the past thirty-five years, since 1983, the S&P 500’s performance during January’s option expiration week has been a mixed bag. Friday has been up 19 and down 16, and the entire week has been down three times for every two times it has been up. However, in the past nineteen years (1999-2017), the S&P 500’s performance has taken a turn for the worse with expiration day falling ten times with an average loss of .18% and the full-week declining 14 times with an average loss of 1.01%. DJIA and NASDAQ have similar track records since 1999.