Prices

Prices provided on this website are 15-minute delayed and are based on prices provided by LIFFE CONNECT™, Liffe's electronic trading system. The prices of the underlying equities are also 15-minute delayed and are supplied by the London Stock Exchange. The prices are to help you monitor existing options positions as well as to follow the prices of particular options as the underlying share or index price moves.  The prices are not real-time and they are not prices at which you should expect to deal. Always check the market price of an option with your broker before dealing.

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Price terms explained

All price information in the respective pages is arranged in tables. Individual Equity Options have one of three expiry cycles (January, February or March) such that the three nearest quarterly months of the cycle are listed at any one time. FTSE 100 Index Futures have four quarterly delivery months (March, June, September and December), the nearest four of which will be available for trading at any one time. FTSE 100 Index Options have four quarterly expiry months listed (March, June, September and December) in addition to two serial months such that the nearest three calendar months are available for trading. Individual Equity Options cease trading on the third Wednesday of the delivery month. FTSE 100 Index Futures and FTSE 100 Index Options expire on the third Friday of the expiry month.

An example of Individual Equity Options prices information page is given below:

	Call	An option that provides the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying security/index at a fixed price before or on a fixed date in the future.
	Expiry date	The last date an option can be traded or exercised.
	Put	An option that provides the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying security/index at a fixed price before or on a fixed date in the future.
	Bid	The price at which a trader or market maker is willing to buy a contract.
	Offer	The price at which a trader or market maker is willing to sell a contract.
	Strike	The price at which the option holder has the right to buy or sell. Sometimes called Exercise Price.
	Autoquote prices	Prices generated by LIFFE Autoquote, the Exchange's indicative options pricing model. They are displayed in green.
	Trade	The price at which the last transaction under the volume column took place within that series. If a trade has not taken place then a mid price ie a price between bid and offer is displayed in green.
	Volume	The number of transactions that have taken place in a particular contract.

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Individual Equity Options Prices

Prices for Individual Equity Options are quoted in pence per share. An Individual Equity Option usually represents 100 or 1,000 shares. Therefore in order to work out the price of one contract it is necessary to multiply the quoted price by 100 or 1,000 depending on the contract size of the option. For example, a Vodafone call option quoted at an offer price of 18p would actually cost 18p x 1000 = £180 per contract.

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FTSE 100 Index Options price

For options on the FTSE 100 Index, prices are quoted in index points and each index point is valued at £10. So, to work out the price of a FTSE 100 Index Option, multiply the quoted price by £10. For example, a FTSE 100 Index Option with an offer price of 105 will cost 105 x £10 = £1050 per contract.

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FTSE 100 Index Futures price

For FTSE 100 Index Futures contracts, prices are quoted in index points and each index point is valued at £10 just like the option. In the case of Futures only a proportion of their total market exposure needs to be paid to open and maintain a position.  This means positions can be taken in the underlying instrument by means of a relatively small cash outlay. The percentage of the total market exposure is called a ‘margin’. Traders are obliged to put up what's referred to as 'initial margin'. The 'initial margin' is set at an amount that reflects the maximum overnight change in the contract's value and is returnable. If the price moves against the trader the broker will ask for additional funds to maintain the ratio; a 'margin call'. The amounts that are added to and subtracted from the margin over the life of a contract are known as 'variation margin'. This process is called 'marking to market'.

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LIFFE CONNECT™ prices and Autoquote

LIFFE CONNECT™ is the electronic trading platform on which LIFFE Market futures and options contracts are traded.

All Individual Equity Options prices, FTSE 100 Index Options prices and the FTSE 100 Index Futures prices are taken from the LIFFE CONNECT™ system and are updated on futures and options prices pages on a 15-minute continuous delay.

In the event that 15-minute delayed LIFFE CONNECT™ prices for Individual Equity Options, FTSE 100 Index Options and FTSE 100 Index Futures cannot be provided, prices will be provided as indicative Autoquote prices. Autoquote, developed by the Exchange in conjunction with market participants, is the LIFFE Market's theoretical pricing model for options. It uses mathematical pricing models to calculate an option's 'fair value'. The current mid price for the underlying share quoted on the London Stock Exchange is first fed into the system. Autoquote uses this price, time to expiry, interest rates, dividends and volatility to calculate option premium. These inputs are kept accurate by Exchange Officials. Autoquote prices are disseminated worldwide via quote vendors.

Liffe has introduced a LIFFE Market Primary Market Maker scheme for the benefit of private investors. The scheme ensures the presence of continuous bid and offer prices in many equity option strikes within equity options. The difference between the bids and offers is known as the spread.

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Delayed price updates

The LIFFE equity options market opens at 8:00am and closes at 4:30pm (London time). Prices are updated on a continuous delayed basis. The updates occur throughout the day.

Prices are displayed in tables on each Individual Equity Options page. Above each table of prices you will see:

Charts relating to the FTSE 100 Index Options and FTSE 100 Index Future

The chart relating to the FTSE 100 Index shows the movements of the FTSE 100 Index Future during the trading day, which will update every 15 minutes.

Generally speaking, the price of the FTSE 100 Index Future will not be the same as the level of the Index until the two converge at expiry. However, the FTSE 100 Index Future will tend to move in the same manner as the Index but the difference between the two will primarily depend on interest rates and dividends. The chart, therefore, provides a guide as to the movement of the Index.

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Contract sizes

Make sure you check the size of any contract before dealing. For example, an Individual Equity Option normally represents 1000 shares. There are some equity options that represent 100 shares. These have been classified as a separate group clearly marked as representing 100 shares within the main list of Individual Equity Options. Some contracts have "unusual contract sizes", having been adjusted because of a corporate action.

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