Premium difference between SPX and S&P Mini (ES) option premiums

B

Brennen81

Hello,

At the moment, both the SPX and S&P mini (ES) are at prices that match (extremely close) to at the money strikes for their options chains. If I bring up both the ATM put and call for each contract for the same expiry day, the ES premiums are nearly identical, which makes sense. But the SPX puts are way more expensive than their calls.

Why are they this way? Both are European settled.

Thanks for any help.

B
 
Hmm not sure if I understand here is an example of how they were priced at the time.


Using Feb 15th Expiry's


Time: 14:55:40 - SPX price - 2,294.99 - 2,295 Options

PUT - 9.20/9.60
CALL - 7.30/7.70


TIME: 14:58:30 - ES Price 2,290 - 2,290 Options

PUT - 8.25/8.50
CALL - 8.50/9.00

If anything it is the opposite on the ES options. Either way. Both times they were exactly at the money and the SPX puts are way higher for the same remaining days left than the calls and not the case for ES.


Here are the contract descriptions


SPX
Security Type OPT
Underlying SPX IND
Contract Month FEB17
Expiration Date FEB 15 '17
Last Trading Date FEB 15 '17 15:00 CST
Strike 2295



ES
Security Type FOP
Underlying ESH7 MAR 17 '17 FUT
Contract Month FEB17
Expiration Date FEB 15 '17
Last Trading Date FEB 15 '17 15:00 CST
Strike 2290



 
Last edited:
Well, since the expiry is *exactly* the same, the difference between the future contract ES (Mar17) and the SPX index is the only thing that remains.

We have roughly 4.5 pts between the SPX and the ES Mar17 future, and with the difference between the strikes being $5, you've got a 50¢ (roughly) differential. Right as you were gathering that pricing snapshot (14:55 and 14:58) the market moved down -- toward the ES/SPX differential. That could be a dollar right there (between the two factors.)

I have looked lightly at this before, but in strikes at which I might sell -- like a delta of |0.05| to |0.33| or so. I never recorded a persistent bias in to one vehicle or the other. But when markets open tomorrow, I'll surely look again.

FWIW, I would expect any differences to be de minimus as time-to-expiration and distance-from-market grow. We'll see.
 
Interesting. Thanks for your input.

They were like this all day today and yesterday. Whether the market was moving up or down.

I used those different times because it is when each underlying contract was trading right at the money of the option strikes I was analyzing. We have all seen puts higher than calls in some cases where there is a strong sentiment the market is turning down, ex dividend, etc. But in this case both the ES and also if you look at the SPY ATM options, they were both equal premium/time value. Just the SPX options are not.
 
Does one of the 500 companies go ex-dividend in the next week? Because those SPX options will be priced on Spot-Dividends.... I would guess there's about $2 worth of dividend coming up....
 
IB's dividend schedule for SPX... (not always correct though).
upload_2017-2-9_12-1-14.png
 
JackRab said:
Does one of the 500 companies go ex-dividend in the next week? Because those SPX options will be priced on Spot-Dividends.... I would guess there's about $2 worth of dividend coming up....
More...

Since you can buy the basket and short either the SPX or ES options, it is not clear to me that dividend flows should be any different.
 
Robert Morse said:
Since you can buy the basket and short either the SPX or ES options, it is not clear to me that dividend flows should be any different.
More...

Because options and futures are priced on the forward price of the index, so the dividend is already priced in... but not in the index yet.

Same with single stocks... look at put call parity...

That's also the reason why the ES futures trade at a discount... They trade with the dividend priced in.
 
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