The Northern Irishman, 40, made the announcement after riding his 200th winner of the season at Newbury on Saturday.
"I want to go while I'm still enjoying racing and while I am still near the top," he told Channel Four racing.
"It was in the back of my mind that I wanted to retire as champion jockey.
"Time waits for no man in sport and it won't wait for me. I've had a great way of life and I will clearly miss it," he added, trying to keep his emotions in check.
The thrills and spills of jump racing were encapsulated straight after McCoy's 200th winner on Saturday when he was deposited from the saddle to the turf in the following race.
In typical fashion, McCoy quipped: "I'm probably the only person in the world that will miss bouncing myself off the ground. That's what challenges you in life and that is what has challenged me."
Revered for his steely determination, strength and relentless pursuit of winners, McCoy has broken record after record since his first success as a 17-year-old in Ireland in 1992.
In a feat which is unlikely to be matched, he rode his 4,000th winner in 2013 and last July became the most successful race-winner of all time as he notched his 4,192nd winner to surpass Martin Pipe's record.
Pipe, a former mentor and friend who retired from training in 2006, said McCoy was a "legend for horse racing".
"I just said to him it's about time!," Pipe said.
"Never be surpassed again in anybody's lifetime... the best we have ever seen."
McCoy never looked back after riding his first winner in England in 1994 and enjoyed fruitful partnerships with Pipe, trainer Jonjo O'Neill and owner JP McManus.
He became the fastest jockey to 200 winners in a season in 1998 and the quickest to 1,000 career wins, taking just over five years.
In 2002 he broke the 55-year-old record of Gordon Richards for most winners in a season and went on to claim 289 winners in that campaign.
His big-race wins include two Cheltenham Gold Cups and after 15 failed attempts, an emotional first Grand National victory at Aintree came his way in 2010 when he rode O'Neill and McManus's Don't Push It to victory.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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