April’s monthly option expiration is generally bullish across the board with respectable gains on the last day of the week, the entire week, and the week after. Since 1982, DJIA has advanced 28 times in 43 years on monthly expiration day with an average gain of 0.23%. S&P 500 has a similar record with 27 advances and an average advance of 0.15% on monthly expiration day. Monthly expiration day was trending solidly bullish after four or five declines from 2014 to 2018 but took a hit in 2022’s bear market and again in 2024.
Monthly expiration week also has a bullish track record over the past 43 years. Average weekly gains are +1.08% for DJIA, +0.83% for S&P 500, and +0.84% from NASDAQ. The bullish bias of April monthly expiration also persists during the week after although average gains have not been as strong with selling pressure rising recently (since 2018).
