From next March, an option contract on the Dutch AEX index will expire on almost every trading day of the year. London derivatives exchange Liffe said the introduction of daily options follows the success of weekly options on the index. The weekly contract was launched in May last year and now trades over 20,000 contracts a day.
“This new product is designed for investors who want to trade the day-to-day movements in the market, especially those caused by the release of macroeconomic data,” said head of equity derivatives product management Harold Duineveld.
Marcel Kalse of Alex Beleggersbank added, “As market leader, we are very aware of the demand for instruments that are suited to trading strategies based on short-term stock market trends. We believe the new daily options will prove a big hit with investors, just like the weekly options introduced last year.”
AEX daily options will be listed on the trading day immediately preceding the expiry date and will thus have an initial life of two trading days. The first option series, listed on 31 March 2008, will expire the next day. No daily options will expire on Fridays, when weekly and monthly AEX options expire. The contracts will be traded on Liffe Connect.
