EQUIT Y INDE X
Weekly and End-of-Month
Equity Index Options on
Futures
PRECISION. FLEXIBILITY. LIQUIDITY.
With equity index options on futures available on a range of
benchmark indices – including the S&P 500, NASDAQ-100
and Dow Jones Industrial Average – and in various
expirations, CME Group provides market participants with
flexible tools to fine tune their equity market exposure.
Trading shorter-term options has become especially popular,
as short-term weekly and end-of-month (EOM) options
complement traditional quarterly options and physically
settle with the front-month futures contract.
•EOM options that expire on the last business day of
the month
WED
Beginning September 26:
S&P 500 and E-mini S&P 500 Wednesday
Weekly options will be available for trading
Quarterly month options are American-style options, while
weeklies and EOM are European-style, restricting the option
buyer’s exercise rights to the expiration day.
Product and Execution Choice
Enjoy flexible execution via:
The suite of options on S&P 500, E-mini S&P 500, E-mini
NASDAQ-100 and E-mini Dow ($5) includes from 4 to 10
distinct option expirations each month.
• CME Globex electronic trading
• Weekly contracts with Friday expirations
•Quarterly contracts with Friday expirations
• Open Outcry for standard S&P 500 (SP) options
•Large Order Execution (LOX) orders for SP options –
with a minimum threshold 125 contracts
•Committed Cross (C-Cross), a new CME Globex
crossing method
Exchange
Options Product
Exercise Style
CME
E-mini S&P 500
CME
E-mini S&P 500 EOM
●
CME
E-mini S&P 500 Weeklies
●
CME
E-mini S&P 500 Wednesday Weeklies
CME
S&P 500
CME
S&P 500 EOM
●
250 contracts
CME
S&P 500 Weeklies
●
250 contracts
CME
S&P 500 Wednesday Weeklies
●
250 contracts
CME
E-mini NASDAQ-100
CME
E-mini NASDAQ-100 EOM
CME
E-mini NASDAQ-100 Weeklies
CBOT
E-mini Dow ($5)
CBOT
E-mini Dow ($5) EOM
●
CBOT
E-mini Dow ($5) Weeklies
●
Weekly
EOM
Quarterly
American
European
Block Eligible
●
●
250 contracts
●
●
●
●
●
Benefits:
Event-Driven Trading
Choice: complementing the traditional third
Friday Quarterly expiration, market participants
have a recurring schedule of expirations to pin out
targeted risk.
Weekly options provide a deep pool of liquidity for investors
to express views on events and market-moving events and
economic reports, such as the monthly employment and
inflation reports earnings announcements and
dividend changes.
Liquidity: weekly and EOM options have seen
significant growth since their inception, with
excellent screen liquidity through expiration,
especially for the near-the-money strikes where
most of the activity occurs.
On employment report days, which generally coincide with
Week 1 option expiration, trading in the expiring E-mini S&P
500 weekly and the next weekly option often exceeds ADV by
100%. Market participants use weekly options to hedge longterm positions, manage gamma and theta risk and initiate
new positions to anticipate movement of the underlying
equity market for the next one-to-seven days.
Gamma Trading: market participants can take
advantage of the more rapid change in shorter-term
options’ Gamma.
Lower Option Premiums: shorter-term to expiry
options trade at lower premiums due to a lower time
value component of the total option premium.
Time or Calendar Spread Opportunities: weekly
and EOM options combined together may provide
time spread or event driven opportunities, with
greater precision and lower premium.
Weekly E-mini S&P 500 Options Surge Around Non-Farm Payroll
900,000
800,000
700,000
Volume
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
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For more information, visit cmegroup.com/equityoptions.
CME Group® is a registered trademark of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, CME Direct and CME Direct Messenger are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile
Exchange Inc. Chicago Board of Trade is a trademark of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX is a trademark of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.
S&P® 500 and S&P MidCap 400™ are trademarks of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., and have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Dow Jones is a trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and
used here under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. NASDAQ-100 is a trademark of The Nasdaq Stock Market, used under license.
Futures trading is not suitable for all investors, and involves the risk of loss. Futures are a leveraged investment, and because only a percentage of a contract’s value is required to trade, it is possible to lose more than the
amount of money deposited for a futures position. Therefore, traders should only use funds that they can afford to lose without affecting their lifestyles. And only a portion of those funds should be devoted to any one
trade because they cannot expect to profit on every trade. All examples in this brochure are hypothetical situations, used for explanation purposes only, and should not be considered investment advice or the results of
actual market experience.
The information within this brochure has been compiled by CME Group for general purposes only and has not taken into account the specific situations of any recipients of this brochure. CME Group assumes no
responsibility for any errors or omissions. All matters pertaining to rules and specifications herein are made subject to and are superseded by official CME, NYMEX and CBOT rules. Current CME/CBOT/NYMEX rules
should be consulted in all cases before taking any action.
Copyright © 2016 CME Group. All rights reserved.
PM400/00/0916