Synthetic educational example, not market data. Preview: no payments accepted.

StrikePath teaches options with live examples on made-up markets. Free, no sign-up.

Do options lose value over the weekend?

In many pricing models, yes: they take weekends into account, so options tend to decay seven days' worth over five trading days 1. From Friday to Monday, three calendar days pass. But there is no industry-wide method for it, and different models show the decay differently 1; and on Monday the stock's own move, and any change in implied volatility, can matter far more than three days of time value.

A $50 stock and a call with a $50 strike at 30% implied volatility (made-up numbers). Choose the days left on Friday and where the stock opens on Monday.

Source: the StrikePath engine, pricing with the Black–Scholes formula 2 at 4.3% interest a year; a simulated example, not market prices. For learning; not advice.

In numbers

By the formula, the $50 call with 30 days left on Friday costs $1.80; on Monday, with 27 days left and nothing else changed, $1.71: the weekend took $0.09 a share, 5% of the price 2. With 5 days left on Friday it costs $0.71 and on Monday, with 2 left, $0.45: $0.26, more than a third 2. The decay speeds up as expiry nears 1.

What the weekend doesn't change

Only time. The stock opens on Monday wherever the weekend's news puts it, and implied volatility can change with the news, as it does around a company's report 3: move the stock in the picture and the three days of time value are quickly outweighed either way.

What this shows, and what it doesn't

The formula's prices, counting every calendar day, as this site's engine does, with implied volatility held still. Real bids and asks on a Friday afternoon are set by buyers and sellers, not by this formula 4; compare the quotes your broker shows on Friday and on Monday for the same contract.

Go further

What is an option's theta? →The daily rate, in dollars.How much value does an option lose each day? →Every day from 90 to the last.
Sources (4), each checked 20 October 2026
  1. The Options Industry Council, “Theta”. Read it (read 20 October 2026)
  2. Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, “The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities”, Journal of Political Economy 81(3), 637–654, 1973. Read it (read 20 October 2026)
  3. Andrew Dubinsky and Michael Johannes, “Earnings Announcements and Equity Options”, working paper, Columbia Business School, citing Patell and Wolfson (1979, 1981). Read it (read 20 October 2026)
  4. CME Group, “Implied Volatility”. Read it (read 20 October 2026)

Now try it on a scenario of your own

Pick where a simulated stock might be, and by when: drag one dot and see, side by side, what buying shares, one option, or a pair of options (a call or put spread) would each do. Free, no sign-up.

Check a trade before you make it →