About CME S&P 500 EOM Options

As the name implies, CME S&P 500 EOM options are designed to expire at the end of the month, specifically on the last business day. Together with the quarterly and serial options available on the CME S&P 500 contracts, EOM options double the choices customers have for trading options on CME S&P 500 Futures in any given month.

EOM options differ from quarterly and serial options in several important ways:

• End of month options expire on the last business day of the contract month, which may be attractive to customers following end-of-month accounting practices for their businesses. These options will be available for all 12 calendar months.
• Unlike quarterly and serial options, EOMs use European-style exercise rules. European-style options can only be exercised on the option's expiration date.
• EOMs settle into the nearest expiring quarterly futures contract (CME S&P 500 futures). The table below outlines settlement of hypothetical 2006 CME S&P 500 EOM options:
  
  

  Month	End-of-Month Expiration Date	Underlying Futures
  Jan 2006	1/31	March 2006
  Feb2006	2/28	March 2006
  Mar 2006	3/31	June 2006
  Apr 2006	4/28	June 2006
  May 2006	5/31	June 2006
  Jun 2006	6/30	September 2006
  Jul 2006	7/31	September 2006
  Aug 2006	8/31	September 2006
  Sep 2006	9/29	December 2006
  Oct 2006	10/31	December 2006
  Nov 2006	11/30	December 2006
  Dec 2006	12/29	March 2007

• At expiration, the automatic exercise price for CME S&P 500 EOM options will be determined against the weighted average trading price of the CME E-mini® S&P 500 futures contract (within the last 30 seconds of trading leading to 3:00 p.m. Chicago time.) This "fixing" price will be communicated and disseminated immediately.
• Additionally, CME Clearing will not accept Contrarian Instruction. This means that if an option is in-the-money at expiration, it will be automatically exercised by CME Clearing. Conversely, all options not in-the-money at expiration will be abandoned.

Learn more about the underlying CME S&P 500 futures contract, as well as the quarterly and serial options available on this contract.