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To: Todd Pagel who wrote (2922)12/16/1998 11:59:00 PM
From: Millionairess  Respond to of 19700
 
you know tod, i have never held options over a split so i really don't know - i would assume it would work just like regular stock - you would just receive the additional new units and it all would be adjusted at the new price or premium

maybe someone could confirm this

in the case of leaps, there is a high probability of the optionable stock splitting if you hold them for quite awhile - i also hold dell and msft leap calls but i also bought those post split

good luck, m



To: Todd Pagel who wrote (2922)12/17/1998 1:15:00 AM
From: Sowbug  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 19700
 
Todd,

The short answer is nothing bad happens.

There are two different ways a stock split happens, but I can't remember what the difference is (one is that you get a distribution of new stock, like 1 share for every 1 you own in a 2-for-1 split, and the other is something else that ends up the same but it's not a distribution).

The options behave correspondingly: Say AMZN splits 3:1 tomorrow. You owned 100 calls (1 option for 100 shares) through January. In a couple days you'll have 300 calls (3 contracts).

Or CSCO splits 3:2 (this actually happened to me last year) and you own calls. That split happened the other way (i.e., not the distribution), and I ended up with a brand-new type of option contract, where I had 150 calls (i.e., a SINGLE contract for 150 shares) for every 100 I owned before, so the option price/share was adjusted accordingly (e.g., from $9/share*100 shares = $900 to $6/share*150 shares = $900). It was very weird -- the option symbol changed to something with Q's and Z's in it -- but mathematically there was no change in the value of my assets.

I suppose the second way is more advantageous because most brokerages charge a per-contract commission to transact options.