The ‘triple witching hour’ may be done away with.

Causing havoc in market prices, the phenomenon occurs four times a year at the simultaneous expiration of contracts in stock index futures, stock index options and individual stock options. The Chicago Board Options Exchange will change the settlement time of its Standard & Poor’s 500 index option. It wants the change to coincide with the announced settlement move of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s S&P; 500 futures contract. Triple witching can cause volatile price swings on futures and options exchanges and on the stock market.