From Reuters:
CHICAGO, July 10 (Reuters) - Two of the largest U.S. options exchanges on Monday launched a group of index options with end-of-quarter expirations, highlighting the growing interest among investors in exchange-traded funds.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange, the largest U.S. options mart and the International Securities Exchange (ISE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the top U.S. equity options exchange, said it will list quarterly options on five popular ETFs for a period of one year.
"The quarterly expiration might be more appealing to portfolio managers and other institutions that often rebalance or adjust portfolios quarterly," said Frederic Ruffy, an analyst at Optionetics, a California-based options education firm.
Ruffy also noted the initial listings will offer investors a greater number of expiration months for some of the more popular index products.
The pilot program includes options on the Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (SPY.A: Quote, Profile, Research), Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking stock, (QQQQ.O: Quote, Profile, Research), Diamonds Trust Series 1 (DIA.A: Quote, Profile, Research), iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM.A: Quote, Profile, Research) and Select Sector SPDR-Energy Fund (XLE.A: Quote, Profile, Research).
Regular monthly options typically expire on the Saturday following the third Friday of each month, but the new quarterly options product will expire on the last business day of March, June, September and December.
Quote from optioncoach:
Quarterly??? I did not hear about that actually. Great for long sides but I do not think I want to sell any premium that far out. As you said it gives diagonal spreaders some nice options...