Option Symbology Initiative

The Options Clearing Corp. (OCC) has announced that on February 12, 2010 they will make dramatic changes to the format of option symbols. The changes to how symbols will be rendered by the OCC are as follows:

Elimination of strike price code in favor of an explicit strike price.

No longer restricting base ticker symbol to a 1-3 character symbol in order to support the option's underlying security symbol within the full option symbol.

This eliminates the need for 'Leap' and 'Wrap' symbols, but requires the addition of the explicit day and year within the option symbol.

Presently, the OCC and the Options Price Reporting Authority (OPRA) are two entities that influence the update of options symbols within the RediNews Ticker Plant and resulting Feed product. Each entity adheres to the basic guidelines of supporting the option's underlying security within the option symbol, the elimination of the strike price code, and retirement of Leap and Wrap symbols. However, to satisfy these goals they each take a different approach to building the option symbol resulting in two different symbol formats.

The OCC has recommended a format that replaces the expiration month code with a month abbreviation and put/call code resulting in a 21-character symbol.

OPRA has decided to continue to use the Expiration Month code which reduces the size of the symbol from 21 characters to 17 characters.

In order to maximize bandwidth efficiencies and reduce the pressure on feed handler processes to keep up with the ever growing option quote and trade message rates, RediNews has chosen to base its Option Symbol format on the symbol presented by OPRA. The symbol structure will be as follows:

	Symbol	Security	ExpMonth	ExpDay	ExpYear	Strike
Current	%MSQDR	MSFT	D	19 (implied)	08 (implied)	R
Revised	%MSFTD190826000	MSFT	D	19	08	26.000

No options will be priced in fractions less than eighth dollars (.125)

RediNews will accept OPRA, OCC, and RNN legacy options symbology in all querys, but will display the new symbol in all returned data.

Expiration Month Codes (no change)

	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC
Calls	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L
Puts	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X

Current Strike Price Codes (will become explicit prices)

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M
5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65
105	110	115	120	125	130	135	140	145	150	155	160	165
205	210	215	220	225	230	235	240	245	250	255	260	265
305	310	315	320	325	330	335	340	345	350	355	360	365
405	410	415	420	425	430	435	440	445	450	455	460	465
505	510	515	520	525	530	535	540	545	550	555	560	565
605	610	615	620	625	630	635	640	645	650	655	660	665
705	710	715	720	725	730	735	740	745	750	755	760	765

N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
70	75	80	85	90	95	100	7.50	12.50	17.50	22.50	27.50	32.50
170	175	180	185	190	195	200	37.50	42.50	47.50	52.50	57.50	62.50
270	275	280	285	290	295	300	67.50	72.50	77.50	82.50	87.50	92.50
370	375	380	385	390	395	400	97.50	102.50	107.50	112.50	117.50	122.50
470	475	480	485	490	495	500	127.50	132.50	137.50	142.50	147.50	152.50
570	575	580	585	590	595	600	157.50	162.50	167.50	172.50	177.50	182.50
670	675	680	685	690	695	700	187.50	192.50	197.50	202.50	207.50	212.50
770	775	780	785	790	795	800	217.50	222.50	227.50	232.50	237.50	242.50

*Not applicable for currency options; call PHLX for further information.