Anyone trade or knowledgeable about options down under. I'm thinking of raising my trading permissions at IB to include options in AU. Do they have a Leaps market? How's liquidity on options on the larger cap stocks? Caveats?
Hey nravo. It's been a few years, but the top 50 or so most active stocks had decent liquidity. I could be mistaken but I think each contract covers 1,000 shares. The ASX web site has a lot of info. http://www.asx.com.au/ good luck kny 3 PS Nobody, and I mean nobody, drinks Fosters over there. They drink VB (Victoria Bitters, it's not bitter). I liked Boags (Tasmania?), can't get it in Chicago. kny 3
Anglogold Trades under the symbol AGG on the ASX, but it does not have options there (it does trade options in the US under the symbol you mentioned, AU). As to the liquidity, there are only about 20 names that trade at least Australian$ 20,000 or more of options, on average, each day. I attached an excel spreadsheet that has the 79 optionable stocks and their DVO (which stands for the Dollar Volume of Options traded - on average over the past five trading days). You can ignore the last four columns which just show the current volatility levels (implied -IV and statistical-SV, plus their current percentiles relative to their past history).
Are options on individual ASX stocks available with IB retail accounts? I know that IB web-site added ASX options few weeks ago. But are these really available for trading? (IB lists some stock option exchanges, but in reality they allow trading of index options only for retail accounts.)
The rub here is that you have to be, according to SEC rules a non-US resident to trade equity or index (but not futures) options on a foreign exchange. (And I do not know the rationale for this.) I am a US citizen living in Sydney for a couple years, thus a non-resident, and I am awaiting IB approval. We'll see what happens. (And whether I will trade any on the market, if approved, is another matter. Options are not big tools here; CFDs and warrants appeal to that type of trader/investor much more than options.
The rub here is that you have to be, according to SEC rules, a non-US resident to trade equity or index (but not futures) options on a foreign exchange. (And I do not know the rationale for this.) I am a US citizen living in Sydney for a couple years, thus a non-resident, and I am awaiting IB approval. We'll see what happens. (And whether I will trade any on the market, if approved, is another matter. Options are not big tools here; CFDs and warrants appeal to that type of trader/investor much more than options.
Hobo take nravo's advice. Aussie options are pretty illiquid except for about 10 companies and even these are pretty illiquid unless close to the money and front month. I do trade them because I live here (australia) but mostly trade US options for obvious reasons. But I do have the currency risks to contend with. Why anyone outside Australia would want to trade aussie options when you can trade US ones instead is beyond me. db
My only reason, and I am still undecided, is that I own some ASX stocks, Commonwealth Bank in particular, and I'm interesting in hedging with puts or maybe writing covered calls. But, as I said, I am undecided and probably leaning against. I would like the option, though, pardon the pun.
I posted this on the announcement thread: Further to our recent launch of Australian equities. Interactive Brokers is now offering the ability to short stock, and to trade the exchange traded options on the Australian stock exchange (ASX). - Commission at A$1.88 per contract plus Australia Clearing House (ACH) fees of A$1.12 per contract - No minimum commission per trade - Quote request functionality is available - Ability to trade spreads native to the exchange, e.g verticals, straddles, buy-writes are all available - Ability to write options - Data feed is included in the ASX Stock Feed - Sign up for options trading permission via account management (due to SEC restrictions the options are not available to US residents)