The Nasdaq OMX Nordic has opened the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm AB market to trading in weekly options, in a move designed to complement existing options products with monthly expiration.
Martin Granlund, head of Nordic derivatives at Nasdaq OMX, said the launch responds to customer demand: "Weeklies provide additional opportunities for investors to tailor their investment strategies more precisely as they offer more expiries, tighter strike price intervals and a decreased tick size," he said. "As a consequence, options will be even more interesting as a risk-management tool."
Weekly options are listed every Thursday after the market closes, enabling investors to trade options expiring in one or two weeks. The OMXS30 index will act as underlying for the weekly options.
Jan Dinkelspiel, country general manager, Sweden at Nordnet, said options provide an efficient means for balancing investment portfolios and tend to be an especially attractive hedging instrument during times of market turbulence.
"The weekly option offering from Nasdaq OMX is an excellent complement to the traditional monthly options and creates flexibility for active investors to act on short-term events rather than being tied into one monthly exercise date," he said.