1. What are Long dated Options on "SENSEX®"?

BSE has introduced 'Long Dated Options on "SENSEX® "whereby the members can trade in S&P BSE Sensex (normal lot of 15 only and not 'mini' Sensex) Options contracts with an expiry up to 3 years. 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 quantity at a pre-determined price up to the expiration date of the option, which can be three years in the future.


2. What are Equity Long dated Options?

Equity Long dated Options are currently not available in BSE. However, these are long-dated put and call options on stock.


3.When do Long dated Options expire?

As with normal options, the expiration date is the last Thursday of the month if it is a holiday then expiry will be a day before Thursday.


4. What are the trading hours for Long Dated Options?

As with regular equity options, the trading hours for LONG DATED OPTIONS are from 9:55 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. IST.


5. What are the features of Long dated Options?

Longer Tenure

Investor can use long-term calls to diversify their portfolios. Long term put provide investors with means to hedge current stock holdings.

Longer term Options offer a good alternative to a longer-term trader to gain exposure to a prolonged period in a given security without having to roll several short-term contracts.


6. What option series will be available for Long dated Options?

The options series available for the S&P BSE Sensex (normal lot of 15) Options contracts will be as below:

• The 3 existing serial month contracts (i.e. Near middle and Far month) would continue.
• The following additional 3 quarterly months of the cycle Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec would be available.
• Further, 5 additional semi-annual months of the cycle Jun/Dec would be available, so that at any point in time there would be options contract with up to 3 years tenure available.

These series will be available for trading from 29- February -2008.

To illustrate, from the March series onwards i.e. from February 29, 2008 onwards, the users will get to trade the following Futures and Options contracts on the normal S&P BSE Sensex market lot of 15 :

• Three monthly Futures contracts viz. March, April and May 2008
• Three monthly Options contracts viz. March, April and May 2008
• Three quarterly Options contracts viz. June 2008, September 2008, December 2008
• Five semi-annual Options contracts viz. June 2009, December 2009, June 2010, December 2010 and June 2011