Which Stocks and ETFs Have Monday and Wednesday Options?

As of October 2026, exchange rules allow Monday and Wednesday options expirations on two groups of underlyings. The first is a fixed set of ETFs named in the rules: SPY, QQQ and IWM, which can also have Tuesday and Thursday expiries, plus GLD, SLV and TLT. The second is a rotating list of "Qualifying Securities," reviewed every quarter and listed since January 26, 2026: individual stocks with a market capitalization above $700 billion and large ETFs, all of which must also pass options-volume, position-limit and penny-pricing tests. On August 12, 2026, the SEC approved a Nasdaq ISE rule that lets ETFs meeting the original tests (Tier 1) also list Tuesday and Thursday expiries and adds a lower Tier 2 for ETFs that get Monday and Wednesday only.

Which stocks and ETFs have Monday and Wednesday options expirations?

Monday and Wednesday expiries come from the Short Term Option Series Program, the exchange rule that also governs ordinary Friday weeklies. Beyond Fridays, the program lets an exchange list "Short Term Option Daily Expirations," series that expire at the close of business on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, but only for symbols named in the rule. In BOX Exchange's version of the rule, Table 1 gives SPY, IWM and QQQ expirations on all four days, GLD, SLV and TLT on Mondays and Wednesdays, and USO and UNG on Wednesdays only, as shown in the rule text filed with the SEC.

The second group is set by formula rather than by name. Nasdaq ISE, MIAX and BOX began listing Monday and Wednesday expiries on Qualifying Securities on January 26, 2026, starting with TSLA, NVDA, AAPL, IBIT, AMZN, META, AVGO, GOOGL and MSFT. The same nine names carried into the second quarter, and then the list started to move: BOX's notice for the third quarter dropped IBIT and added AMD, INTC, MU, SMH and XLF.

The current list on BOX is Notice 2026-096, dated October 1, 2026, which names the Qualifying Securities for the fourth quarter of 2026:

1. Individual stocks: TSLA, NVDA, AAPL, AMZN, META, AVGO, GOOGL, MU, SPCX, AMD and MSFT.
2. ETFs in the higher tier: GLD, IBIT and XLF.
3. ETFs in the lower tier: TLT, SLV, TQQQ, DRAM, SMH, XLE, GDX, LQD and IEF.

Among the changes from BOX's third-quarter list, INTC no longer appears, IBIT is back, GLD is named in the higher tier, and SMH is now one of the nine ETFs in the new lower tier. A list from January or April 2026 therefore describes a quarter that has already ended, and answers built on it can miss these changes.

What does a stock or ETF have to meet to qualify?

The test is applied once a quarter, with size measured on the last day of the previous quarter and options volume taken from that quarter's last month. Under the criteria described in the SEC's approval order for Nasdaq ISE, an underlying qualifies for the following quarter if it meets all four conditions:

1. Size: a market capitalization above $700 billion for an individual stock, based on the closing price on its primary listing exchange, or assets under management above $50 billion for an ETF, based on net asset value.
2. Options volume: more than 10 million contracts in the last month of the quarter, counted in sides traded, using data from The Options Clearing Corporation.
3. Position limit: at least 250,000 contracts.
4. Pricing: participation in the Penny Interval Program.

The exchange publishes the resulting list by the close of business on the first trading day of the new quarter, and BOX's fourth-quarter notice is dated Thursday, October 1, 2026, the first trading day of the quarter. An underlying that fails the review loses the right to new Monday and Wednesday listings starting on the second day of the following quarter. Expirations that were already listed stay in place, and BOX's filing says those remaining series can keep trading until they expire.

One more condition applies to single stocks. The exchange does not list a Monday or Wednesday expiry on a day when the company reports earnings after the market close. BOX explains this as avoiding an extra expiry on a day when post-close price moves may be affected by the announcement, and it counts quarterly or annual earnings filed with the SEC as an earnings announcement.

What is the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 ETF options?

Tier 1 and Tier 2 apply only to ETFs, and the difference is how many weekdays can carry an expiry. A Tier 1 ETF meets the original thresholds, more than $50 billion in assets and more than 10 million options a month, and may list up to two Tuesday and two Thursday expirations on top of its Monday and Wednesday ones. A Tier 2 ETF needs more than $25 billion in assets and more than 5 million options a month and gets Monday and Wednesday expirations only. Both tiers keep the same 250,000-contract position limit and the Penny Interval Program requirement, which the SEC said would help ensure that Tier 2 ETFs and their options are highly liquid and actively traded.

The tiers are narrow by design. Nasdaq ISE told the SEC that substantially less than 1% of ETFs would meet even the Tier 2 test, and its April 2026 analysis found two Tier 1 candidates, IBIT and XLF, and three Tier 2 candidates, SMH, XLE and EEM. By ISE's estimate, adding those five would raise the number of strikes by about 0.16%. BOX's October list, measured on September 30 data, is longer: it is the first BOX quarterly list with a separate lower-tier section, and it names 12 ETFs across the two tiers.

Here is how the review works with a hypothetical ETF, ABC. On September 30, 2026, ABC has $31 billion in assets, 6.2 million options traded in September, a 250,000-contract position limit and penny pricing. It qualifies as Tier 2 for the fourth quarter, so it can carry up to two Monday and two Wednesday expirations beyond the current week, with no Tuesday or Thursday series. Had ABC held $55 billion and traded 11 million options, it would be Tier 1 and could list expiries Monday through Thursday. If its assets slip to $24 billion by December 31, 2026, no new Monday or Wednesday series would be added from the second day of the first quarter of 2027, while the ones already listed would trade until expiration.

Which exchanges adopted the Tier 1 and Tier 2 rules, and when?

Nasdaq ISE filed its proposal on June 15, 2026, it was published for comment on July 2, and the SEC approved it on August 12, 2026, under Section 19(b)(2) of the Exchange Act. The Commission called it a "limited expansion" of the program, said it expects ISE to monitor trading in the new expiries, and noted that any change to the criteria would require a new filing with public comment.

MIAX and BOX then filed rule changes that, by their own description, are based on the approved ISE proposal, using the immediately effective filing route. MIAX filed on August 13, 2026, in a notice published in the Federal Register on August 27, and its Rule 404 also applies on MIAX Emerald. BOX filed on September 14, 2026, and in both cases the SEC waived the usual 30-day delay, so the rules became operative on filing. The comment period on BOX's filing runs until October 20, 2026, and the SEC can temporarily suspend an immediately effective rule within 60 days of filing. As of October 2026, the rules are in force at these exchanges, but the filings do not state the first day each exchange actually listed new Tuesday, Thursday or Tier 2 series.

How many expirations can be listed, and what happens on holidays?

For each weekday, an exchange can have no more than two daily expirations beyond the current week at one time. A Tier 1 ETF can therefore show up to two future Monday, two Tuesday, two Wednesday and two Thursday expiries, while a single stock or a Tier 2 ETF shows up to two Mondays and two Wednesdays. BOX also caps the number of series at 30 per expiration date in a class, not counting series it adds to match other exchanges. Strike intervals follow the program's existing rules: at least $0.50 below $100, at least $1 between $100 and $150, and at least $2.50 above $150.

Equity options series in the program are P.M.-settled and expire at the close of business on their date. Daily expiries also step aside for bigger ones. If a Monday through Thursday expiry would fall on the same day as a standard, Monthly or Quarterly Options Series in the same class, the exchange skips that week and lists the following week instead, so the two listed weeks are not always consecutive. If a class has a Quarterly Options Series expiring on Thursday, December 31, 2026, for example, there is no separate Thursday daily expiry that week.

Holidays move the expiry date in a fixed direction. Under the definitions cited in the ISE and BOX filings, a Monday expiration that is not a business day moves to the next business day, and a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday expiration moves to the business day before. Applied to the calendar ahead, a Tier 1 ETF's Thursday expiration falling on Thanksgiving, November 26, 2026, would move to Wednesday, November 25, and a Monday expiration falling on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 18, 2027, would move to Tuesday, January 19. The daily-expiration rules refer to dates that are business days, so an exchange may also simply not list an expiry for a closed day. hi2morrow's guide to stock market holidays, early closes, and settlement dates has the full closure calendar. A Monday series listed on a Friday must also be listed at least one business week and one business day before it expires.

How do you check whether a ticker qualifies this quarter?

Start with the exchange's own quarterly list, published by the close of business on the first trading day of each quarter. BOX posts its list as a numbered notice on its website, and ISE has said it will keep publishing its list on its own site. Our reading is that, since ISE, MIAX and BOX use the same thresholds and quarter-end data, their lists should largely match, though none of the filings says so, and the notice from a specific exchange is the authoritative source for that venue. The next review uses data as of December 31, 2026, and the list for the first quarter of 2027 is due by the close of the first trading day of January.

Seeing a ticker on the list is different from seeing the expiry in your own options chain. The rules say an exchange "may" list these expirations rather than requiring it, and whether a given expiry appears in your options chain also depends on your broker. These rules also say nothing about trading hours, which are a separate set of changes covered in hi2morrow's guide to the extended trading hours for stock options.

Alexander Styopin's professional view: the most useful habit here is to treat the Monday and Wednesday expiry as a quarterly status rather than a permanent feature of a ticker. A stock that drifts below $700 billion or an ETF that loses assets keeps its already listed series, so the chain looks normal for a week or two before the new dates simply stop appearing. Traders who build a routine around a specific weekday expiry should check the new list at the start of each quarter and watch earnings dates, because a report after the close removes that day's expiry for the stock.

Educational material only. Not investment or legal advice. Option listings, available expirations, and order handling can vary by exchange, broker, and account type.

Author: Alexander Styopin, hi2morrow analyst and economist with 25 years of experience in the US stock market