Can a retail investor start a new option that is not available in the existing chain?

tonyf · May 20, 2021

a long shot really, but say there are put options for strikes $100, $101 and $102.

Arm chair investor cares to buy puts at $103 but those are not available.

Is it possible for said investor to ask her broker to simply add a bid of X for puts $103 on an exchange in the hope of someone lifting it?

FSU · May 20, 2021

You can request new strikes be added. I would do this for the SPX (single listed by the CBOE) and the CBOE used to be fairly accommodating. I would simply email them for the request.
Unfortunately about a year ago, they now require you to make the request through your broker and your broker will make the request. They also seem to be less accommodating lately.

There are number of different options exchanges, so I don't know all of the others policies. Best to just contact your broker with the request, but it can be done.

Link to the CBOE's new policy
New-Series-Requests.pdf (cboe.com)

tonyf · May 20, 2021

FSU said:
You can request new strikes be added. I would do this for the SPX (single listed by the CBOE) and the CBOE used to be fairly accommodating. I would simply email them for the request.
Unfortunately about a year ago, they now require you to make the request through your broker and your broker will make the request. They also seem to be less accommodating lately.

There are number of different options exchanges, so I don't know all of the others policies. Best to just contact your broker with the request, but it can be done.

Link to the CBOE's new policy
New-Series-Requests.pdf (cboe.com)

You can become a CBOE TPH if you paid $3000 it seems:

https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Cboe_FeeSchedule.pdf

FSU · May 20, 2021

tonyf said:
You can become a CBOE TPH if you paid $3000 it seems:

https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/membership/Cboe_FeeSchedule.pdf

This would just be the start of your cost if you wanted to trade as a MM on the CBOE. You would need quoting software, data feeds, etc. You would also have to become licensed.
Then you would need to have a clearing firm, which as an individual is very difficult, so you would most likely have to join a JBO which would take a large percentage of any profit you had in addition to requiring a lot of capital.