Nasdaq Pushes Weekly Options on Odd Days for Traders
Published Date: 8/12/2025
Notice
Summary
Nasdaq ISE wants to change its Short Term Option Series Program to allow options that expire on Mondays and Wednesdays for certain stocks and ETFs. The SEC is now deciding whether to approve this change, which could give traders more flexibility and possibly affect trading strategies and costs. The decision is expected by August 19, 2025, and could impact investors who use short-term options.
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 3 mixed.
New Monday & Wednesday Short-Term Options
The Nasdaq ISE proposal would allow up to two additional short-term option expirations on Mondays and Wednesdays for certain qualifying individual stocks and ETFs. The Exchange says this adds investor choice and could lower the premium cost of portfolio protection for those instruments.
Estimated 16% More Option Strikes for Sample Names
Using a sample of nine qualifying securities (including NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, AMZN, AVGO, GOOGL, MSFT, XLF, and META), the Exchange estimates the proposal would add about 16% more strikes for eight of the nine sample securities.
Estimated Additional Strike Breaks (2024): 66
The Exchange's analysis using sample securities indicates the proposal would have resulted in 66 additional strike breaks in 2024 — 22 on Monday expiries after regular trading hours and 44 on Wednesday expiries after regular trading hours.
Commenters Cite Operational Costs and Retail Risks
Commenters warned the proposal could increase operational complexity and costs for broker-dealers and exchanges, raise margin or capital needs for clearing members, and could confuse or harm retail investors via assignment risk and post-close price changes.
Strict Eligibility Criteria for New Expirations
Securities must meet four quarterly criteria to be eligible: (1) individual stocks need market capitalization greater than $700,000,000,000 based on closing price, or ETFs need assets under management greater than $50,000,000,000 based on NAV; (2) monthly options volume (sides) over 10,000,000 in the last month before quarter end; (3) a position limit of at least 250,000 contracts; and (4) participation in the Penny Interval Program.
No Listings on After-Close Earnings Days
The Exchange would not list a Monday or Wednesday short-term expiration for a Qualifying Security if that security has an earnings announcement filed with the SEC that takes place after market close. This exclusion is intended to avoid post-close price volatility that can affect exercise and assignment.
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