An exchange clearinghouse issues the options and guarantees its financial integrity. Correct me if I’m wrong, the same clearinghouse, however, isn’t always the seller (writer) of the options?
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You can go short an option by sell to open' at a broker. When you short a STOCK, you have to borrow the shares, at least in jurisdictions where naked shorting is forbidden, so you are selling existing shares. However, when you go short an OPTION (sell to open’) a new option is created.
If you close out that short option position before it expires and before it is exercised against you, you `buy to close,’ and when that happens, the new option you created ceases to exist. At least with exchange traded options, this is true even if you don’t buy back the actual option you created (eg, when you created it, Bob bought it and he still owns it, but you are able to buy an identical option from Mattie who is looking to sell.) The options clearing house takes care of that.
Similarly, if an option is exercised, the clearing house decides which issuer it will be exercised against, and it won’t necessarily be the investor who originally sold it. When an option is exercised against you, you deliver the payoff to the holder and the new option you created ceases to exist
In short, the clearinghouse isn’t always the seller (writer) of the option, yes or no?
The exchange’s board of directors determine margin requirements. I’m assuming the exchange members or a committee of the members determines the standardized terms?
The clearing house is not always the seller (writer) of the option.
If you go short an option, you are the seller (writer) of the option.
The terms:
contract size is standard
The only terms that need to be set are strike price and expiration date.
Most options exchanges follow a standardized expiration schedule, usually set several months in advance.
The exchanges also set the strike prices, usually in standard increments, and the values they set will depend on current market conditions, the volatility of the underlying asset, and interest rates.
When you sell (write) an option, at least for exchange traded options, the option will have a strike price and expiration date chosen from the strike prices and expiration dates set by the exchange.
For margin requirement, the largest options clearing house in the US is the Options Clearing Corporation, and their margin requirements are fairly complex because they involve Monte Carlo simulations.
Margin Methodology
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