DTE (Days to Expiration) refers to the number of calendar days remaining until an options or futures contract expires. It is a critical factor in options pricing because time decay (theta) accelerates as DTE decreases, causing options to lose value more rapidly as expiration approaches. Short-term options traders and income strategists closely monitor DTE to manage their positions and determine optimal entry and exit timing.
Example
“The trader sold a put option with 45 DTE to maximize theta decay and planned to close the position when it reached 21 DTE or 50% of maximum profit.”