Expansion of Regular Stock Futures and Options Changes to Twice a Year... Derivatives Market System Improvement 추진

制度 Changes Implemented Starting July 31

The number of regular changes for stock futures and options will be expanded to twice a year. The selection criteria will also be improved to include constituent stocks of the representative market indices, KOSPI 200 and KOSDAQ Global Index.

The Korea Exchange announced on the 15th that it will improve the derivatives market system by implementing regular changes for stock futures and options and listing KOSPI 200 weekly options with Monday expirations. The revised system is scheduled to be implemented from July 31 after gathering opinions from market participants.

Currently, the selection and exclusion of underlying stocks for stock futures and options occur annually in July. This will be changed to twice a year, in March and September. Considering market demand, the plan is to gradually expand to include all index constituent stocks (200 for KOSPI, 50 for KOSDAQ).

Through the regular changes, 25 stock futures (15 KOSPI, 10 KOSDAQ) and 5 stock options (5 KOSPI) will be newly selected as underlying stocks. Eight stock futures (7 KOSPI, 1 KOSDAQ) will be excluded from the underlying stocks. The stock futures scheduled for exclusion will be tradable only until August 10.

The Exchange expects that listing constituent stocks of the representative indices as stock futures and options twice a year will provide investors with diverse trading opportunities.

KOSPI 200 weekly options with Monday expirations will also be additionally listed. This reflects the market sentiment that there is a higher risk of decline as economic events occurring over the weekend are reflected in the Monday stock market. The listing of Monday weekly options is expected to efficiently hedge risks arising over the weekend, including the influence of overseas markets.

If Monday is a holiday, the expiration date of the weekly options will be postponed to the next trading day. KOSPI weekly options are options with a weekly expiration cycle; KOSPI 200 weekly options with Thursday expirations were listed in 2019.

The futures spread system will also be improved. To facilitate investors' rollover transactions (exchanging near-expiry futures contracts for longer-dated ones), negotiated block trades will be allowed for stock index and stock futures spreads. The target products include KOSPI 200, KOSDAQ 150, and stock futures spreads, with price ranges, application times, and quantities matching those of the settlement month contracts.

Negotiated block trades for futures spreads of government bond futures and currency futures were already introduced in 2016. Allowing negotiated block trades for stock index and stock futures spread products will support smooth rollovers upon contract expiration.

The Korea Exchange will solicit market participants' opinions by announcing a draft amendment to the 'Derivatives Market Business Rules Enforcement Regulations' from June 15 to June 22. After the amendment, from July 31, the regular changes for stock futures and options, listing of Monday expiration weekly options, and allowance of negotiated block trades for futures spreads will be implemented.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.