All Rights Reserved. SPX is the index, which is the 500 stocks that compose the fund. On the third Friday, the  With the SPX option, and other Index Options, there could be a major development after the options market closes on the Thursday preceding the third Friday of the month (Thursday is the last trading day)… which ends all trading in those options.There could then be an overnight development that causes the underlying index to open way up or down the following Friday (expiration day), but the Index option investor is “locked in.” His last trading day has come and gone, but the settlement price of the Index is determined on the basis of Friday’s market action.Another significant difference between the Index options and the ETF options is that the Index options are “cash settled” and the settlement takes place only on expiration day.

All SPX options, except for those that expire on the third Friday of the month, expire like SPY options—at the close of business on expiration Friday. SPY vs SPX vs /ES vs Options: A Comparison of S&P 500 Derivatives. Guys, I've noticed that whenever ES trends during overnight session, SPY at the NYSE opening will allways gap in the same direction to "catch up" with future's price. SPY options are American-style options and can be exercised anytime between the time of purchase and the expiration date. It's important to understand that one SPX option with the same strike price and expiration equals approximately 10 times the value of one SPY option. SPY pays a quarterly dividend, which is important because traders with  The underlying asset itself does not trade, and it has no shares available to be bought or sold. An ETF is a marketable security that acts like an index fund but is tradable like a common stock on a stock exchange.There are key differences between SPX and SPY options. Close. Index options expire on the third Friday of the month, so their last trading day is the SPY, DIA, QQQ, and IWM are ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) and are American Style options, and both the last trading day and the investor’s expiration day for these options are the same: the third This is a critical difference, and not understanding it can cost an investor dearly. An early exercise can blow your trading plan for any position!

DD. … Therefore, you cannot trade the underlying SPX to hedge options.For this reason, the index fund is cash settled, vs. settled in the underlying shares with the ETF. The market offers a host of different financial instruments, each of which have their advantages and disadvantages. In addition, Bob serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fairfax County (VA) Employees’ Retirement System, which has over $2.8 billion in assets.Hilary Kramer is an investment analyst and portfolio manager with 30 years of experience on Wall Street. Therefore you can typically expect better (more favorable) fills on SPY orders whether you are entering or exiting the position.Finally, there are differences in size of the contracts. SPX options that expire on the third Friday stop trading the day before the third Friday. The following … When it comes to the battle of SPY versus SPX, the first may have more volume, but the second has more value--which leads to a deeper discussion of index and ETF options. The IRS treats these indexes differently from stocks (or ETFs).The Index options get special Section 1256 treatment which enables the investor to have 60% of a gain as long term (at a 15% tax rate), and the other 40% treated as short term (at the regular 35% short term capital gains rate) even if the position is held for less than a year.By contrast, the ETFs are treated as ordinary stocks, and thus if held less than a year, all gains are taxed at the less favorable 35% short-term capital gains rate.Thus the Index options can be better from a tax standpoint.

For example, if an index has a total market cap of $100 billion and one company has a market cap of $1 billion, its weight would be 1%. SPY options dividends are paid quarterly, usually at the options expiration in March, June, September, and December.SPX options are settled in cash since the underlying asset itself is not traded. This means higher commission costs for most traders. SPX options are generally much more expensive than SPY options. For the past 21 years, Jon has helped thousands of clients gain success in the financial markets through his newsletters and education services:Used by financial advisors and individual investors all over the world, DividendInvestor.com is the premier provider and one-stop shop for dividend information and research.Popular tools include our proprietary Dividend Calendar, Dividend Calculator, Dividend Score Card, and many more.From the world's #1 Retirement Expert, Bob Carlson.These 100% legal strategies could make - and save - you a FORTUNE. This means that SPX is cash-settled at the expiration date, so it cannot be exercised prior to expiration as SPY can.