March Quarterly Option Expiration Weeks have historically leaned bullish. S&P 500 has been up 27 times in the last 42 years while NASDAQ has advanced 25 times. More recently, S&P 500 and NASDAQ have both advanced 12 times in the last 17 weeks. But the week after is the exact opposite, S&P down 27 of the last 42 years—and frequently down sharply. In 2018, S&P fell –5.95% and NASDAQ dropped 6.54%. Notable gains during the week after for S&P of 4.30% in 2000, 3.54% in 2007, 6.17% in 2009, and 10.26% in 2020 appear to be rare exceptions to this historically poorly performing week.
