nasdaq options exercised into UNTRADEABLE ETF

sorry if this has been discussed before:

i bought sqqq options (with uk registered broker) a while ago, and they exercised last week, I was too late selling the options before expiry.
No harm done I thought ,I simply sell the underlying etf now, which the option exercised into.

only to find out that this is a non-tradeable etf in the uk, for retail investors.
so I’m stuck with something i cannot sell anymore..nice!

broker support tells me this is because the etf (from proshares group) didnt send in required documentation to the broker, so they cannot trade ..(“kids” documents)

what is suggested way forward?
it’s funny that so called documentation for our “protection”, leads me to totally being screwed..hedgefunds ofcourse dont have the problem.
i thought the idea of a stockmarket is that when you can acquire something you can sell it further..doesnt seem to be the case anymore for us, “protected” little people.

this would happen with all proshares products i reckon: qqq, tqqq, sqqq..
it isnt too a farfetched idea to buy sqqq: many sites advice to short an index (in this case nasdaq 100) when selling your positions would lead to too much cgt

 

Try selling the option to get the shares called away (not without risk)?

 

Sell in the money calls until they are called away.

 

thanks zbzb and Apologetik, yes that would be a risky workaround..for now i bought (open-buy) some tqqq calls to compensate for the non-tradeable sqqq etf.

broker should not allow this to happen and have forced a close-sell before expiry..i’m not supposed to know this could happen I think.

 

You can also buy some deep in the money short dated puts (which will have very little extrinsic value) and exercise them immediately. This way you will get out of your stock position right away instead of waiting for someone else to exercise calls you sell.

 

After you close the position get a new broker.

 

You should be able to hold and/or liquidate USA ETF even with mifidII rules and without kid. For what I understand the regulation says you can't buy but you can hold, liquidate and have it assigned. What broker are you using?