What are LEAPs?
Long-term Equity Anticipation securities, or LEAPs, are equity, index and sector options with very long expiration terms. They were created by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) to offer an alternative for investors with long term investing strategies. The CBOE offers a comprehensive selection of LEAPs. Index LEAPs are available for major US indexes such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, as well as international benchmarks covering markets in China, Europe, Japan and Mexico. LEAPs for industry sectors have also been introduced, covering banking, oil services, telecommunications, healthcare and other important elements of the economy. Equity LEAPs are available for individual companies. Details on current offerings can be obtained from the CBOE. Like traditional options, LEAPs give the holder the right to buy or sell the underlying asset at an agreed upon price over an agreed-upon period of time. While traditional equity options are available with expir
A long term equity anticipation security, aka. LEAPS, is a fancy term for a long dated option with expiration of at least 9 months in the future. LEAPS are currently offered on about 450 equities (including equity indexes such as the Dow Jones – DJX and the S&P500 – SPY) and can be traded with calls and puts just as normal equity options.
Equity LEAPS, or Long-term Equity Anticipation Securities are long-dated put and call options on common stock or ADRs. These long-term options provide the holder the right to purchase, in the case of a call, or sell, in the case of a put, a specified number of stock shares at a pre-determined price up to the expiration date of the option, which can be three years in the future. When do LEAPS expire? When can LEAPS be exercised? As with equity options, the expiration date is the Saturday following the third Friday of the expiration month. All equity LEAPS contracts expire in the month of January. Equity options and Equity LEAPS are subject to “American style” exercise. This means the holder has the right to exercise the options on any business day prior to expiration. How do I know when the next January expiring LEAPS will be listed? All new January expiring equity LEAPS are initially listed on the first business day (usually a Monday) following the expiration in either May, June, or Ju
