Everything you expect from S&P 500 ETF options

Same notional size. Weekly contracts. PM-settled. Liquidity.

With additional benefits of S&P index options

Potentially better tax treatment

If you're an active trader, you work hard to generate profits in your trading account. You study the charts, you watch the day's headlines, and research your entry and exit points before placing an order. If things go your way, you end up with a winning trade in your account. But if you're using a broad-market ETF to trade options on the S&P 500^®, you may be paying more in taxes than you would by using index options. That means you may be giving up more of your hard-earned trading profits.

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Cash settlement vs. share settlement

Options may be "cash settled" or "physically delivered." All equity (single stock) and ETF options physically deliver when exercised or assigned. In other words, at expiration, in-the-money options are exchanged for shares in the underlying security (equity or ETF). SPY ETF options expire into a long or short position in the ETF product. Index options, like Mini-SPX, are cash settled. This key difference is particularly important when we talk about "gap risk."

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No worries of early exercise

Many trading strategies, such as covered-call or spread trading, involve options writing (selling) where the primary risks are market movement and volatility. But there's another risk if you happen to be writing options on dividend-paying equities like SPY ETFs—early assignment. Don't get stuck paying the dividend on your short trade.

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