Specifications For All USA Equity Options

Unit of Trade:

100 shares per option contract

Premium Quotations:

Stated in full points and decimals. One point equals $100. Minimum tick for series trading below 3 is .05 ($5.00) and for all other series .10 ($10.00).

Strike Price Intervals:

2-1/2 points for stocks trading below $25, 5 points for those trading from $25 to $200, and 10 points for those trading above $200.

Exercise Style:

American. Option may be exercised on any business day prior to the expiration date.
Expiration Months: Two near-term months plus two additional months in the January, February or March quarterly cycle.

Expiration Dates:

The Saturday immediately following the third Friday of the expiration month.

Position Limits:

Limits vary according to the number of outstaing share and trading volume. The largest, most frequently traded stocks have an option position limit of 75,000 contracts; smaller capitalization stocks may offer position limits of 60,000, 31,500, 22,500 or 13,500 contracts. Customer hedge exemptions are available.

Minimum Customer Margin for Uncovered Writers:

The dollar amount of the premium plus 20% of the underlying security value minus the amount by which the option is out of the money (if any) with a minimum of the premium plus 10% of the underlying security value.

Trading Hours:

9:30 a.m. to 4:02 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Exercise Settlement Price:

Strike price times $100.

Exercise Settlement Time:

Exercise notices tendered on any business day will result in delivery of the underlying stock on the third (T+3) business day following exercise.

 

Specifications For Equity LEAPS®

Exchanges:

AMEX, CBOE, PHLX, PCX, ISE

Description:

Equity LEAPS® are American-style options on certain equities that have terms of up to three years. With the exception of the specifications listed below, Equity LEAPS® specifications are the same as those for regular-term equity options. Equity LEAPS® have unique symbols to distinguish them from their corresponding regular-term options. Options expiring in 2001 generally begin with a Z; those expiring in 2002 generally begin with a W.

Strike Prices:

Initial strike prices are generally set within 25% above or below the underlying stock's price.

Expiration Dates:

AMEX-, CBOE-, PCX- and PHXL-traded LEAPS® expire in January of the designated year. Expiration occurs on the Saturday following the third Friday of the expiration month. All equity LEAPS® expire in January.

Position and Exercise Limits:

Positions must be aggregated with those of any other option on the same underlying security for the purpose of position and exercise limits.

 

Standard Specifications For All Index Options

Unit of Trade:

One contract equals $100 (the index multiplier) times the index level.

Premium Quotations:

Stated in full points and decimals. One point equals $100. Minimum tick for series trading below 3 is .05 ($5.00), and for all other series, .10 ($10.00). NYA options have a minimum tick of .05 for all series.

Strike Price Intervals:

Generally, index options are listed at 5 point intervals to bracket the current value of the index. Higher index values may result in larger strike price intervals. Contact each exchange for specific information. NYA and MID options are also listed in selective 2-1/2 point intervals in the nearest two months. Generally, Index LEAPS® are listed in 2-1/2 point intervals. SPX options may be listed with up to 25 point intervals in the far-term months. OEX options are listed in 10 point intervals in the far-term month. SPL options are only listed in 25 point intervals. JPN options with more than one year to expiration are listed in 50 point intervals. Strike price intervals of 2-1/2 points may be available for WSX options.

Exercise Style:

Index options are designated as either American-style or European-style. American-style options can be exercised on any business day prior to expiration. European-style options can be exercised only on the last trading day prior to expiration.

Expiration Dates:

The Saturday immediately following the third Friday of the expiration month.

Exercise Settlement Price:

The dollar difference between the index number and the strike price of the contract, multiplied by 100. The index number is generally determined following the close of trading on the day the exercise notice is submitted. The exceptions are expiring BIX, BKX, BMX, BTK, CEX, CMR, CRX, CTN, CYC, DDX, DJX, DOT, DRG, DTX, DUX, DXE, ECM, EGI, EUR, FPP, GHA, GIN, GIP, GOX, GSM, GSO, GSV, GTC, HCX, HKO, ICX, IIX, INX, IUX, JPN, MEX, MID, MOX, MSH, MUT, NFT, NDX, NYA, OSX, OTX, RLX, RUT, SGX, SOX, SPX, SVX, TRX, TXX, WSX, XAL, XBD, XEF, XII, XNG, YLS and options which settle on the opening prices of underlying stocks in the index on the day after the last day of trading (symbol AXS for BBS for BIX, BKO for BKX, BMZ for BMX, BTS for BTK, CSO for CMR, CTM for CTN, CXS for CEX, CXV for CRX, CYO for CYC, DDO for DDX, DJS for DJX, DNS for DTX, DOS for DOT, DRO for DRG, DTO for XDT, DUS for DUX, ECS for ECM, ESO for EGI, EUV for EUR, FPS for FPP, GDS for GOX, GGZ for GIN, GHZ for GHA, GMZ for GSM, GPZ for GIP, GSZ for GSO, GTZ for GTC, GVZ for GSV, HCS for HCX, ICC for ICX, IIV for IIX, ITS for INX, IUS for IUX, JPV for JPN, KDY for HKO, MEO for MEX, MIV for MID, MOY for MOX, MVH for MSH, MWS for MUT, NDS for NDX, NGV for XNG, NMS for NFT, NWO for DXE, NYX for NYA, OSV for OSX, OTS for OTX, PTO for PCX, RLS for RUT, RRS for RLX, SET for SPX, SGS for SGX, SVS for SVX, SX for SOX, TRS for TRX, TTS for TXX, WSO for WSX, XAO for XAL, XBS for XBD, XIF for XEF, XSV for XII, and YSO for YLS). EUR, JPN and NIK options have several unique exercise settlement characteristics which are described in their respective sections.

Exercise Settlement Time:

Exercise notices tendered will result in the delivery of cash on the next business day.

Trading Hours:

9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) for broad-based indices (CMR, CYC, DJX, EGI, FNC, FSX, HKO, JPN, LEX, LNU, LRU, LSZ, LSW, LUR, MEX, MID, NDX, NNA, NYA, OAX, OCX, OEX, PSE, RUT, SPL, SPX, WRU, WSX, XII, XMI, XOC, ZRU) or 9:30 a.m. to 4:02 p.m. (Eastern Time) for industry specific indices (BIX, BKX, BMX, BTK, CEX, CRX, CTN, CWX, DDX, DJX, DOT, DRG, DXE, ECM, FPP, GAX, HCX, ICX, IIX, IUX, LBG, MSH, MOX, MUT, OSX, OTX, RLX, SOX, TRX, UTY, XAL, XAU, XAX, XBD, XCI, XEF, XNG, XOI, YLS, YTK) or 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) for EUR.

Minimum Customer Margin for Uncovered Writers:

For broad-based indices: the dollar amount of the premium plus 15% of the current underlying index value (index number x $100) minus the amount by which the option is out-of-the-money (if any) with a minimum of the premium plus 10% of the current index value. For industry-specific and narrow-based indices: the dollar amount of the premium plus 20% of the current underlying index value (index number x $100) minus the amount by which the option is out-of-the-money (if any) with a minimum of the premium plus 10% of the current index value.