Returns and option activity over the option-expiration week for S&P 100 stocks

Chris Stivers and Licheng Sun

Journal of Banking & Finance, 2013, vol. 37, issue 11, 4226-4240

Abstract: For S&P 100 stocks, we find that the weekly returns over option-expiration (OE) weeks (a month’s third-Friday week) tend to be high, relative to: (1) the third-Friday weekly returns of other stocks with less option activity, (2) the own stock’s other weekly returns, (3) the risk, based on asset-pricing alphas. For these same stocks, a month’s fourth-Friday weekly returns underperform modestly. We suggest the following two avenues are likely partial contributors towards understanding these return patterns: (1) delta-hedge rebalancing by option market makers, with a reduction in short-stock hedge positions over the OE week, and (2) declining risk perceptions over the OE week, as measured by option-derived implied volatilities. Our findings suggest option activity can induce reliable patterns in the weekly returns of option-active large-cap stocks.

Keywords: Option expiration; Stock returns; Option delta hedging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G12 G13 G14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:37:y:2013:i:11:p:4226-4240

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2013.07.030

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