How do I trade options with CMC?

Where can I find options?

Once you've opened a spread betting or CFD trading account with us, head to our trading platform or app and navigate to the 'Products' tab. Here you'll find options, alongside indices, forex, shares and so on, as shown below.

When you select ‘Options’, you’ll see a list of all underlying instruments available. We offer options based on the following underlying indices:

• S&P 500
• Nasdaq 100
• FTSE 100
• Euro Stoxx 50
• DAX 40
• CAC 40

The options chain

The options chain is a list of all the available option contracts for a given underlying asset.

To open the options chain, select the options product you’re interested in. A window will open showing you the prices of calls and puts for your chosen underlying asset on a certain expiry date, across a range of strike prices, as in the example below.

The name of the underlying asset is displayed in the top-left corner of the window – in this example, we’re looking at the Germany 40 - Cash.

The current underlying price is centred on the blue line – in the example above, it’s 16,914.72. As you move down the window, the strike price of the options increases.

In-the-money (ITM) calls and out-of-the-money (OTM) puts can be found above the blue line, whereas OTM calls and ITM puts are below the blue line.

At the top of the window, you can switch between the available expiration dates for this underlying asset. On the left and right side of the window, the ‘IV’ columns indicate the current bid and ask implied volatility for each contract.

How do I open an order ticket?

To open an order ticket, choose a price under ‘Buy’ or ‘Sell’ for either a call or put option at the strike of your choice. This will open an order ticket window, like the one shown below.

Example OTC option order ticket

Example spread bet option order ticket

Before placing your order, you need to select your trade size under ‘Contracts’ when using the CFD platform, or the £/pr, €/pt, $/pt when using the spread betting platform. As we offer fractional options, this number can be as low as 0.01. This corresponds to the amount you’re buying or selling. Larger trades require more margin and carry more risk, as profits and losses are magnified by the number of contracts.

There are other settings that you can customise here, too, such as changing the expiry date, order type, option type and strike price. You can also view the estimated margin, an explanation of the cost/spread, and the key information document. Plus, you can view information on the Greeks’ metrics, which measure the factors that influence the price of an options contract and give you insights about the risks.

It's important to note that the implied volatility and Greeks on our platform are estimates and are merely indicative. Although we update these readings regularly, we don’t guarantee their accuracy.

You can find more information on the options contract in the product overview, by selecting the three lines in the top-left of the order ticket and choosing ‘Product Overview’ from the list, or by selecting an options contract in the options chain.

An options order with us is always ‘immediate or cancel’ (IOC). This means that the order will either be filled immediately (either fully or partially) or cancelled. If a partial fill occurs, then a partial cancellation of the unfilled portion of the order will occur.

Expanding the order book will show how many units are available at each price level.

What order types are available?

There are two types of orders you can place through the platform – limit IOC orders and protected market IOC orders. The latter is shown in the example below.

Limit IOC order example

The hypothetical order book below shows a sell price of £9.80 and a buy price of £11.20. The expanded order book shows prices at various sell and buy sizes:

Let’s imagine you were to place a limit IOC order to buy 1,000 contracts with a limit price of £19 (for spread betting, this would be the equivalent of 1,000 £/pt).

Then, just as you place the order, the order book shifts slightly. At the precise moment we receive your order, the order book looks like this:

In this scenario, you would get a fill of 600 contracts (or its equivalent for spread bet options) bought at an average of £14.98 per contract (100 at £12.90 and 500 at £15.40 [ (100 * 12.90 + 500 * 15.40) / 600 = 14.98).

Since you set a limit of £19, the remaining, unfilled portion of your order – 400 contracts – would be cancelled, rather than be executed at the price of £20.10 per unit.

Protected market IOC order example

Now let’s look at a protected market IOC order. The intent of the “protected” aspect of the order is that it limits the level of slippage you may be subject to. As in the previous example, for 100 units the sell price is £9.80 and the buy price is £11.20. The minimum price is £4.80 and the maximum is £18.10. The expanded order book looks as follows:

You place an order to buy 1,000 contracts (or its equivalent for spread bet options), but by the time your order is submitted, the order book changes and looks as follows:

The price set by the platform and detailed on the order ticket will be the maximum price at which any portion of the protected market IOC order will be executed. Once the order is submitted and accepted by the platform, it will work like a limit IOC order, with the maximum price as the limit price – here it's £18.10.

As a result, your order would only be filled with the contracts (or its equivalent for spread bet options) available under this maximum price, which is 500 contracts at £15.40 and 100 contracts at £12.90. This means you would buy 600 contracts at an average price of £14.98 per contract, and the unfilled portion of 400 contracts would be cancelled.

Where can I view my open positions?

After placing your order, you will receive an order confirmation like the one shown below.

Example OTC option order confirmation

Example spread bet option order confirmation

Your open position(s) can then be viewed on the platform under ‘Options Positions’, as shown below. Here, you can monitor the live profit and loss (P&L) of all your open positions. You can close a position by selecting the red cross next to the corresponding position.

Example OTC options open positions

Example spread bet options open positions

• A - Expand position to show an order breakdown if you have multiple orders on the same contract
• B - Instrument name
• C - Expiration date
• D - Strike price
• E - Long/short position indicator
• F - Option type (put/call)
• G - Number of contracts
• H - The average entry price of your aggregate position for this specific instrument
• I - Premium amount
• J - Margin of position
• K - Total P&L
• L - Open an order ticket to sell
• M - Open an order ticket to buy
• N - Close position

How to start trading options with us:

1. 1. Open a CMC Markets trading account, or use your existing CFD or spread bet account.
2. 2. Take and pass our options suitability test