Investors will see option contracts tied to more than $5 trillion in tradeable stocks expire on Friday in the latest quarterly “triple witching” event.

Key Takeaways Markets were buoyant on Thursday ahead of Friday's triple-witching, which refers to the simultaneous expiration of stock options, index options, and index futures contracts. Triple-witching often results in greater trading volume and volatility,

Just as Wall Street traders come to grips with the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cut, Friday’s US options expiration threatens to whipsaw the market some more.

The table below shows S&P 500 Index (SPX) weekly returns going back to 2017. The Triple Witching Weeks include the third Friday of the month for March, June, September, and December. Other expiration weeks are those ending in the third Friday of the other months. All other weeks are considered non-expiration weeks.

The quarterly “triple-witching” will see some $5.1 trillion worth of options tied to individual stocks, indexes and exchange-traded funds fall off the board, according to an estimate from derivatives analytical firm Asym 500.

The stock market is an active ecosystem constantly influenced by various factors. One such factor, occurring four times a year, is the “triple witching.” This event, which takes place on the third Friday of March,