Option Contract Details

Weekly Options

We quote Weekly FX Options that settle each Friday basis the spot rate at 15.00 (London time).

Notes

Our Weekly Options are special forms of CFD which give you an exposure to changes in option prices. A Weekly Option is cash settled and cannot be exercised by or against you or result in delivery of the underlying security.

• Positions not already closed by the client expire basis the first print on Bloomberg (E&OE) of the spot rate concerned at 10.00 New York time (this is normally 15.00 London time) on the Friday specified (or previous business day in the case of US public holidays).

  Call Options settle at the settlement price less the strike price, or at zero, whichever is greater.

  Put Options settle at the strike price, less the settlement price, or at zero, whichever is greater.

• Our spread on Weekly Options depends on a range of factors including the level of the price quotation and the time to expiry. The usual spread range will be from three to ten points.
• 24-hour dealing starts at 08.00 (London time) on Monday and finishes at 21.15 (London time) the following Friday, with a break between 21.00 (London time) on Thursday and 07.30 (London time) on Friday for front week Options. Weekly Options can be traded from one hour after the previous settlement until one minute before the close of each market.

• The margin requirement for buying a Weekly Option is the opening price (or premium) multiplied by the contract value (per point in the underlying market). This is the maximum possible loss on the position.

  The margin requirement for selling a Weekly Option will vary depending on the currency pair and may be different from that of an equivalent sized CFD in the underlying market.

• When you trade in a currency other than your base currency your profit or loss will be realised in that currency and will be booked to your account in that currency. As a default, we will automatically, and on a daily basis, convert any positive or negative balance on your account in a currency other than your base currency to your base currency. You may change this default at any time by calling us or via our PureDeal platform.

Stock Index Options

These contracts are available in addition to our Daily Options on global indices.

Notes

Our Stock Index Options are cash settled and cannot be exercised by or against you or result in delivery of the underlying security.

1. Positions not already closed by the client expire automatically on the date indicated.

   Call Options settle at the settlement price less the strike price, or at 0, whichever is greater.

   Put Options settle at the strike price, less the settlement price, or at 0, whichever is greater.

2. Australia 200 options settle based on the Special Opening Quotation of the S&P/ASX 200 index on the last trading day calculated to one decimal place. The Special Opening Quotation is calculated using the first traded price of each component stock in the S&P/ASX 200 on the last trading day, irrespective of when those stocks first trade in the ASX trading day. This means that the first traded price of each component stock may occur at any time time between ASX market open and ASX market close (including the Closing Single Price Auction) on the last trading day. Should any component stock not have traded by ASX market close on the last dealing day, the last traded price of that stock will be used to calculate the Special Opening Quotation.

3. Wall Street options can be dealt until 15.00 (Chicago time) on the last trading day and settle basis the Special Opening Quotation (SOQ) of the DJIA (calculated to two decimal places) on the third Friday of the contract month, as reported by the CBOE. Note that this is the day after the last trading day. The SOQ is calculated from the sequence of opening prices of the 30 DJIA stocks on the NYSE.

4. Monthly US SPX 500 options expire basis the Special Opening Quotation of the S&P 500 on the 3rd Friday of the contract month, as reported by the CBOE. Note that this is the day after the last IG dealing day. This contract can be dealt in until 21.15 London time on the last dealing day. Weekly US SPX 500 options will be settled basis the cash close of the S&P 500 as reported by CME at 15.00 (Chicago time). Weekly US SPX 500 options are available 24 hours, from 14.30 on Monday to 21.00 on Friday (in-hours). Weekly US SPX 500 options are not offered in the 3rd week of every month where there is a monthly US SPX 500 options expiry.

5. FTSE options settle based on the Exchange Delivery Settlement Price (EDSP) as reported by LIFFE on the last dealing day. The Exchange Delivery Settlement price is based on an intraday cash market auction of the FTSE 100 Index which commences at 10.10 (London time) on the last trading day. Uncrossing of the component stocks should be finished by 10.30 (London time).

6. Germany 30 options settle based on the final settlement value of the DAX as reported by Eurex on the last trading day. The settlement value is based on prices of the component shares of the DAX as determined in an intraday auction starting at 13.00 CET in the electronic trading system Xetra.

7. France 40 options settle based on the Exchange Delivery Settlement Price (EDSP) as reported by Eurex. This calculated by taking the mean of all index values calculated and disseminated between 14.40 and 15.00 (London time).

8. The margin requirement for buying a Stock Index Option is the opening price (or premium) multiplied by the contract value (per point in the underlying market). This is the maximum possible loss on the position.

   The margin requirement for selling a Stock Index Option is variable, but will never be less than half the margin required for an equivalent sized CFD in the underlying market, and never more than the margin required for an equivalent sized CFD in the underlying market.

9. 24-hour dealing starts at 08.00 (London time) on Monday and finishes at 21.15 (London time) the following Friday. Ask dealers for information about public holidays.

10. When you trade in a currency other than your base currency your profit or loss will be realised in that currency and will be booked to your account in that currency. As a default, we will automatically, and on a daily basis, convert any positive or negative balance on your account in a currency other than your base currency to your base currency. You may change this default at any time by calling us or via our PureDeal platform.

Share Options

We charge a standard commission on USD, EUR, CHF, GBP, CAD and AUD share options.

Our Share Options are a special form of CFD, which give a client exposure to changes in option prices but cannot be exercised by or against the client, and thus cannot result in delivery of actual shares.

1) As long as there is a tradable option in the underlying, we trade all options on shares in the FTSE 100, the DOW 30, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100 and some large cap Canadian and Australian stocks, as well as on a large selection of European options traded on Eurex or Euronext.

2) We charge a standard commission per lot, per side, on USD, EUR, CHF, GBP, CAD and AUD shares. There is no commission charge on expiry of a share option, but the standard commission will be charged for opening and closing positions. The charge is automatically applied to your account.

3) The standard commission charges are set out in the table below:

4) The margin requirement for buying an option contract is the opening price (or premium) multiplied by the number of shares.

For selling a share option, the margin requirement is variable, subject to a maximum of the Margin Percentage for the corresponding underlying share. The Margin Percentage for a particular share is calculated as a percentage of the opening value of the transaction. Margin Percentages for particular shares vary according to volatility and market conditions, and at the time of writing are as follows:

UK FTSE 100 Shares: 5% or 15%
American Shares: 10% or higher
Australian Shares: 5% or higher

We reserve the right to alter the Margin Percentage at any time.

5) Dealing hours are as follows:

UK Share Options: 08.00–16.30 (London time)
American Share Options: 14.30–21.00 (London time) †
European Shares: Market hours for the relevant Exchange. Please ask for current details.
Australian Share Options: 10:00-15:55 (Sydney time) †

†It may sometimes not be possible to quote a particular share option if there is no price being published in the underlying market.

6) The last dealing day for Share Options is the third Friday of the contract month.

Share Options not already closed by the client are closed on or after the last dealing day on the following basis:

Call Options at the settlement price of the underlying share at or after the market close on the last trading day, as reported in the Financial Times on the following day (E&OE) less the strike price, or at 0, whichever is greater. If no price is reported in the Financial Times then the price used will be the price as reported by Bloomberg.

Put Options at the strike price, less the settlement price of the underlying share at or after the market close on the last trading day, as reported in the Financial Times on the following day (E&OE), or at 0, whichever is the greater. If no price is reported in the Financial Times then the price used will be the price as reported by Bloomberg.

7) In the case of Share Options, if there is a bonus share issue, special dividend, scrip or rights issue affecting the underlying share, we will determine the appropriate adjustment, if any, to be made to the related Share Option. These adjustments will take account of the dilutive or concentrative effect necessary to preserve the economic equivalent of the rights and obligations of the parties under the relevant margin trade immediately prior to that event. Exchanges provide details of such corporate events online.

8) When you trade in a currency other than your base currency your profit or loss will be realised in that currency and will be booked to your account in that currency. As a default, we will automatically, and on a daily basis, convert any positive or negative balance on your account in a currency other than your base currency to your base currency. You may change this default at any time by calling us or via our PureDeal platform.

9) Individual Share Options can only be traded over the phone, these contracts are not available online.