Witching hour is the final hour of trading on the 3rd Friday of each month as options and futures on stocks and stock indexes expire.

More specifically, expiry of:

  • stock index futures,
  • stock index options,
  • stock options
  • and single stock futures

Market folklore says the final hour of (US cash market) trading today, 3- 4 pm ET, will be more volatile than usual due to QWH!

Ummm, maybe, maybe not. So far its an excuse for the complete absence of FX volatility in Asia today ... Then again the timezone here doesn't often need much of an excuse. :-(