Why are there options for stocks that we cannot trade?

Question

I noticed that for some stocks, there are options listed in Yahoo that we cannot trade. For instance, for CVS May 07 expiry, the options that we can trade are those starting with CVS. But if you look under Yahoo Finance for CVS' option chain, you will find some starting with 'CLZ'. But we cannot trade the latter, and obviously, these guys have a different valuation and strikes.

What are these 'untouchable' options anyway?

Thanks Yada Yada and Zman for your quick responses. At least now I understand why there are these 'weird' options out there, and that I should have been able to trade them.

But which brings me to another question: where can I download a listing of standard options for each of the optionable stocks (as I don't really care to trade the non-standard ones)? For instance, back to my CVS example, with that list, I could easily check that the standard options start with 'CVS' and ignore the others. Currently, I need to check each ticker from my online broker's website, which is troublesome.

Answer 1

Some stocks have additional options that were granted via other sources and sometimes are for odd lots, etc.

Occasionally, they'll be listed in some option chains. However, it's best to stay away from those option contracts as the liquidity may be less and it may be for different contract sizes than you're used to.

Further, I've found that in the Yahoo! option chains, there's sometimes inconsistencies in what's even listed. Over the past month or so, whole months of option chains readily available elsewhere have been noticably missing from the Yahoo! display.

Back to your example, I took a look at the options which you mention for CVS and if you exclude adjusted/non-standard option chains, the CLZ series does indeed disappear from my brokerage displays. When I examined them further, if you look at the contract size, you'll see that there's an asterisk, referring you to the options clearing corp for more info.

Here's the link.

http://oic.theocc.com/classes/contract_adjustments/whatyou_01.jsp


Hope that helps!

Edit: It took a little while, but with all my brokerage accounts, I have all my option chains default to showing just standard options. There's usually a profile page you can use to specify the default symbol, timeframe, which options to show, etc. Try that first and if you don't find it, just contact your broker. And if they can't help you fix it, change brokers!!! ;-)

Answer 2

As Yada Yada Yada indicated, the CLZ series consists of adjusted options. The details of this option are given at

http://search.cboe.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=30099&query=cvs&hiword=cvs%20

If you can trade the CVS options you should also be able to trade the CLZ options. My guess is that your brokerage does not allow on-line trades of adjusted options to keep you from accidently trading an adjusted option. However, you should still be able to trade it by contacting your brokerage and having them initiate the trade.