Nasdaq Tweaks ETF Option Strike Steps in Another Market Rule Filing
Published Date: 11/4/2026
Notice
Summary
Nasdaq ISE is updating the price steps for options on certain ETFs that qualify under their rules. This change affects traders who buy or sell these ETF options, making strike prices more flexible for contracts expiring between one and nine months. The update aims to improve trading and is set to take effect soon after approval, with no direct cost impact on investors.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
$0.50 strike steps for certain ETF options
If an ETF is an ETF "Qualifying Security," the Exchange may list option strike prices at $0.50 intervals when the strike price is less than $100 for options that are more than one month and less than nine months from expiration. This change adds finer strike granularity (down from the current $1 minimum) for those eligible ETFs.
Eligibility limits: only ETF 'Qualifying Securities' qualify
The $0.50 strike interval applies only to ETFs that meet the "Qualifying Securities" criteria for a calendar quarter. Those criteria include AUM thresholds (greater than $25 billion under one pathway or greater than $50 billion under another), specified monthly options volume thresholds, participation in the Penny Interval Program, and a position limit of at least 250,000 contracts; any $0.50 series may remain listed if the ETF later fails to qualify, but no additional $0.50 series may be listed until it re-qualifies for a quarter.
Clarified short-term expirations: Table 1 vs Table 2
The rule text clarifies that symbols listed in Table 1 may trade the Table 1 short-term daily expirations regardless of whether they meet the Qualifying Securities criteria, while expirations in Table 2 are available only for a quarter when the security satisfies the Qualifying Securities tests. For example, a symbol named in Table 1 (like GLD) will always have its Table 1 expirations and may additionally have Table 2 expirations only in quarters it meets the criteria.
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