I came across an interesting announcement from CBOE that they are adding a new SPX weekliy option that expires on Wednesdays! OptionVue and OptionNET Explorer have some work to add the new options into their software now!
Here's the CBOE press release:
CHICAGO, Feb. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — The Chicago Board Options Exchange® (CBOE®) today announced that it plans to list S&P 500® Index (SPX) Wednesday-expiring WeeklysSM options beginning February 23, 2016.
CBOE's new SPX Wednesday-expiring Weeklys options, or “Wednesday Weeklys,” will generally have the same characteristics as CBOE's Friday-expiring SPX Weeklys options, with the exception of their listing and expiration dates. Wednesday Weeklys will typically be listed on Tuesdays and expire on the Wednesday of the following week.
SPX options continue to be the most actively traded U.S. index option and, in 2015, set a new annual volume record of 236.5 million contracts, with average daily volume (ADV) of 938,620 contracts, an increase of 6 percent over 2014.
SPX Weeklys, which accounted for approximately 35 percent of total SPX trading volume in 2015, are one of CBOE's fastest-growing products. ADV in 2015 set a 10th consecutive record, reaching a new all-time high of 337,683 contracts, up 24 percent over 2014.
“We are pleased to further expand our SPX product complex with the introduction of SPX Weeklys with Wednesday expirations,” said CBOE Holdings CEO Edward T. Tilly. “Wednesday Weeklys, in addition to end-of-the-week expirations, will increase opportunities to trade SPX and enable investors to better target specific expirations. Wednesday Weeklys will align with VIX Weeklys futures and options, which also expire on Wednesdays, to provide greater trading flexibility for the increasing number of customers who use both our SPX and VIX product suites.”
CBOE pioneered the short-term options trading in 2005 by introducing the first weekly expiring options contract. Except for more frequent expiration dates, Weeklys generally have the same contract specifications as monthly expiring contracts. To meet the growing demand for additional Weeklys trading, CBOE introduced CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX® Index) Weeklys futures in July 2015 and VIX Weeklys options in October 2015.
Contracts with weekly expirations allow investors to implement more targeted buying, selling, spreading or hedging strategies. In addition, futures and options with weekly expirations can help investors take advantage of breaking news or known economic events, such as earnings, monthly U.S. economic reports and Federal Reserve announcements. Additional information on Weeklys options and futures can be found at www.cboe.com/Weeklys.
For an overview of Wednesday Weeklys options contract specifications and other operational details, refer to CBOE Regulatory Circular RG16-024 at http://www.cboe.com/aboutcboe/legal/crclreg.aspx.
This article originally appeared at http://ir.cboe.com/press-releases/2016/02-01-2016-165546551.aspx
