Availability of LEAPS®

The exchanges used to list LEAPS^® earlier in the year. When did they change the procedures? And why do the exchanges list fewer LEAPS^® than in years past?

In September 2008, the U.S. options exchanges and OCC received Securities and Exchange Commission approval to standardize many of the listing criteria found in the Options Listing Procedure Plan (OLPP). Due to listing of many one-point strikes (16, 17, 18, 19, etc.) as well as other products, such as quarterly options, the options exchanges decided to list LEAPS^® only on products that have an average daily volume of at least 1000 contracts. The dates for next year's LEAPS^® listing can be found in this FAQ's section.