Chapter 300
Options Contracts
300.01. SCOPE
The Bylaws and Rules of the Exchange shall govern all transactions in options contracts on the
Exchange, except as superseded by the Rules in this Section. Options contracts on the Exchange shallbe both "put" and "call" options.

300.02. GENERAL DEFINITIONSAs used in this Section(A) "Act" means the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. (1 et seq., as it may be amended;(B) "Class of options" means options of the same type (i.e., put or call) covering the same underlying
futures contracts;(C) "Commission" means the Commodity Futures Trading Commission;(D) "Exercise price," "strike price," or "striking price" shall be synonymous and mean the price at which
the futures contract underlying the options contract may be purchased or sold upon exercise of theoption.
(E) "Expiration date" shall mean the last day on which an option contract may be exercised into theunderlying futures contract;(F) "NYMEX Risk Factor" means the delta values for each option which shall be determined for eachbusiness day by the Exchange and which shall be available upon request; for the purpose of Member
and Clearing Member Margins, long calls and short puts have negative NYMEX Risk Factors, andshort calls and long puts have positive NYMEX Risk Factors;(G) "Option customer" means the person for whose account an option contract is purchased or sold by
the clearing member or member commission merchant which clears and/or carries the option.
(H) "Option equity" means, on any day, the sum of the settlement premiums, as defined in Exchange
Rule 6.55, on the previous Exchange trading day of all long options minus the sum of the settlement
premiums on such previous Exchange trading day of all short options.
(I) "Original margin of a futures contract" shall be the amount of original margin on outright futures
positions which shall be determined and published by the Exchange in accordance with Rules 4.004.01(F)(3).
(J) "Premium" means the amount agreed upon between the purchaser and seller for the purchase orsale of an option;(K) "Promotional material" include:(1) Any text of a standardized oral presentation, or any communication for publication in any
newspaper, magazine or similar medium, or for broadcast over television, radio, or other electronic
medium, which is disseminated or directed to an option customer or prospective option customer
concerning a commodity option transaction;(2) Any standardized form of report, letter, circulation, memorandum, or publication which isdisseminated or directed to an option customer or prospective option customer; and(3) Any other written material disseminated or directed to an option customer or prospective option
customer for the purpose of soliciting an option transaction, including any disclosure statement
required by Commission Regulation 33.7.
(L) "Purchase price" means the total actual price paid or to be paid, directly or indirectly, by a person toacquire a commodity option. This price includes all commissions and other fees, in addition to theoption premium;(M) "Purchaser" or "holder" means the long clearing member, except as provided in Rule 300.19(A).
Such a person is said to have a "long position";(N) "Seller," "grantor" or "writer" means the short clearing member, except as provided in Rule
300.19(A). Such a person is said to have a "short position";(O) "Series of options" means options of the same class having the same strike price and expiration
date; and(P) "Underlying futures contract" means the futures contract which may be purchased or sold upon theexercise of the option.

300.03. OPTION POSITION DEFINITIONS(A) "At-the-money call or put option" means an option the strike price of which is equal to thesettlement price of the futures contract underlying such option.
(B) "In-the-money call option" means a call option the strike price of which is less than the settlement
price of the futures contract underlying such call option.
(C) "In-the-money put option" means a put option the strike price of which is greater than thesettlement price of the futures contract underlying such put option.
(D) "Out-of-the-money call option" means a call option the strike price of which is greater than thesettlement price of the futures contract underlying such call option.
(E) "Out-of-the-money put option" means a put option the strike price of which is less than thesettlement price of the futures contract underlying such put option.
(F) "Option Spread" means the purchase and sale of put or call options at a stated price difference.
(G) "Conversion" means a combined option and futures position in which the options trader who holds
a long futures position is the grantor of a call option and the purchaser of a put option at the same
strike price; each component position is in the same contract month.
(H) "Reverse Conversion" means a combined options and futures position in which the options trader
who holds a short futures position is the grantor of a put option and the purchaser of a call option at thesame strike price; each component position is in the same contract month.
(I) "Box Spread" means a combined options position in which the options trader is (a) the grantor of acall option and the purchaser of a put option at the same strike price, and (b) the grantor of a put
option and the purchaser of a call option at the same strike price, which strike price is different from thestrike price of the options in (a) above, all of which shall be in the same contract month and the samecommodity.
(J) For the purpose of Clearing Member Margins, "Inter-option spread" means a combined options andfutures position in the same commodity in which the options trader is (a) the grantor of a call option
and the purchaser of an underlying futures contract; or (b) the purchaser of a call option and the sellerof an underlying futures contract; or (c) the purchaser of a put option and the purchaser of anunderlying futures contract; or (d) the grantor of a put option and the seller of an underlying futurescontract.
(K) For the purpose of Clearing Member Margins, "Intra-option spread" means a combined options
position in the same commodity in which the options trader is (a) the grantor of a call option and thepurchaser of a call option; or (b) the grantor of a put option and the purchaser of a put option; or (c) thepurchaser of a put option and the purchaser of a call option; or (d) the grantor of put option and the
grantor of a call option.
(L) For the purpose of Clearing Member Margin Rules, "Ratio Spread" means any combination of
options and futures positions in the same commodity carried in the same account cleared by the
Clearing Member in which the options trader is:(1) long call(s) vs. short call(s)(2) short put(s) vs. long put(s)(3) long call(s) vs. long put(s)(4) short put(s) vs. short call(s)(5) long futures vs. short call(s)(6) long call(s) vs. short futures(7) long futures vs. long put(s)(8) short put(s) vs. short futures
Ratio spreads apply only to positions in Member accounts, and may not include any futures positions or
options positions reported as futures spreads, intra-option or inter-option spreads.

300.04. RIGHTS OF CALL OPTION PURCHASER
The purchaser of a call option contract shall have the right to give notice of exercise at any time prior tothe option's expiration, in which case the Clearing House shall automatically assign to the purchaser along futures contract on the Exchange, the price of which shall be the striking price specified in theoption and the delivery month of which shall be that of the underlying futures contract. In lieu of theexercise, the purchaser of a call option may, at any time prior to the expiration of the option, engage in aclosing sale transaction.

300.05. RIGHTS OF CALL OPTION SELLER
The seller of a call option contract in receipt of a notice of exercise shall automatically be assigned by
the Clearing House a short futures contract on the Exchange, the price of which shall be the striking
price specified in the option and the delivery month of which shall be that of the underlying futurescontract. In lieu of the foregoing, the seller of a call option may, at any time prior to the receipt of anotice of exercise or expiration of the option, engage in a closing purchase transaction.

300.06. RIGHTS OF PUT OPTION PURCHASER
The purchaser of a put option contract shall have the right to give notice of exercise at any time prior tothe option's expiration, in which case the Clearing House shall automatically assign to the purchaser ashort futures contract on the Exchange, the price of which shall be the striking price specified in theoption and the delivery month of which shall be that of the underlying futures contract. In lieu of
exercise, the purchaser of a put option may, at any time prior to the expiration of the option, engage in aclosing sales transaction.

300.07. RIGHTS OF PUT OPTION SELLER
The seller of a put option contract in receipt of a notice of exercise shall automatically be assigned by
the Clearing House a long futures contract on the Exchange, the price of which shall be the striking
price specified in the option and the delivery month of which shall be that of the underlying futurescontract. In lieu of the foregoing, the seller of a put option may, at any time prior to receipt of a notice of
exercise or expiration of the option, engage in a closing purchase transaction.

300.08. NOTICE OF EXERCISE(A) Unless otherwise specified in Rules of the applicable product Chapter, a notice of exercise
shall be effective:
1. only if received by a Clearing Member from a customer not later than 4:15 p.m. on any business dayon which an option contract month is trading, up to and including the expiration date. For purposesof this Rule, “customer” shall include proprietary accounts as defined in Commission Regulation
Section 1.3 (y).
2. only if it is delivered by a Clearing Member to the NYMEX Clearing House not later than 4:30 p.m.,or 45 minutes after the price of the option being exercised or the underlying futures settlement price isposted, whichever is later, on any business day on which an option contract is trading up to andincluding the expiration date. Notice of exercise shall be given to the Clearing House in such form andmanner as the Clearing House shall prescribe.
(B) On the same day it receives a notice of exercise of an option, the Clearing House shall assign thenotice of exercise in accordance with Subsection (D) of this Rule to a seller of an option of the same

series and shall establish, by book entry, positions in the underlying futures contract for both thepurchaser and seller of the option, the price of which shall be the exercised options' strike price. As
soon as practicable, the Clearing House shall notify the seller of such exercise and assignment. Suchfutures contracts and the purchase and sale thereof, in all respects, shall be subject to the Rules of the
Exchange applicable to futures contracts.
(C) On the day a seller receives a notice of exercise from the Clearing House, the seller shall, as soon
as practicable, report such notice to the short option customer to whose account it is allocated. The
seller shall make every effort to notify its short option customers who have granted in-the-money
options which have not been allocated a notice of exercise that the option was not exercised.
(D) The Clearing House shall allocate randomly notices of exercise in a series of options for any given
day among clearing members holding or carrying short positions in the same series of options. Eachclearing member and member commission merchant which carries an options customer account shalldevise, maintain and follow written procedures, subject to the approval of the Exchange, for the fairand non-preferential allocation of notices of exercise among its customers.
(E) Unless otherwise specified in the Rules of the applicable product Chapter, on the last day on which
an option may be exercised, each option held by a clearing member having an in-the-money value will
be automatically exercised by the Clearing House unless the Clearing House receives written
notification from the clearing member at such time as the Clearing House shall prescribe on theoption's expiration date stating that the clearing member elects to abandon such option. The Clearing
House shall make appropriate book entries and allocations for all options automatically exercised inaccordance with subsections (B) and (D) of this Rule.
(F) For the purposes of subsection (E) of this Rule, the in-the-money value of the option shall be basedon the settlement price of the underlying futures contract on the last day of trading in such option.
(G) An option for which the Clearing House has received written instructions to abandon by the timeprescribed by the Clearing House on the last day for exercise of such option shall be deemed
abandoned.
(H) Each clearing member and member commission merchant which carries option customers'
accounts shall exercise due diligence in monitoring such accounts and obtaining instructions from
customers with respect to the handling and disposition of options contracts in such accounts.

300.09. PAYMENT OF OPTION PREMIUM
Except as hereinafter provided, no member commission merchant shall accept any order to purchase
any Exchange option for a customer account unless the premium has been deposited in accordancewith the Rules (or the member commission merchant has issued a call for any premium required andsuch call has not been outstanding more than a reasonable period of time not to exceed threebusiness days except for good cause); provided, however, that the amount to be paid by an option
customer to purchase and grant Exchange options in the same class for the same underlying futurescontract, on any day, shall be the amount, if any, by which the premium for the purchased Exchange
option exceeds the premium for the granted Exchange option. The payment required of the customer
may be made in United States currency or checks payable in United States currency; or available
equity. Such payment may not be made in any other form. Each clearing member of the Exchange
shall receive the full amount of the option premium from each person for whom it clears optionstransactions on the Exchange and shall pay said amount to the Clearing House. All such payments to
the Clearing House shall be made in accordance with the Exchange Rule 9.04. The Clearing House
shall pay the premium to the selling clearing member.

300.10. SALES OF DEEP-OUT-OF-THE-MONEY OPTIONS(A) Each member commission merchant which engages in the offer and sale of option contracts
regulated by these Rules shall, in regard to all sales of deep-out-of-the-money options, provide thecustomer with a full explanation of the nature of such option prior to any transaction.
(B) For purposes of this Rule, a "deep-out-of-the-money option" is defined as an option whose strikeprice is more than X strike prices distant from the strike price closest to the price of the underlying
futures contract, where X equals two (2) plus the number of calendar months remaining to option
expiration, provided, however, that the Exchange may impose additional criteria as appropriate.

300.11. CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS

Each member commission merchant which engages in the offer or sale of option contracts regulated bythese Rules shall, with respect to all written customer complaints retain all written customer complaints,
and make and retain a record of the date the complaint was received, the associated person who
serviced the account, a general description of the matter complained of, and what, if any, action was
taken by the member commission merchant in regard to the complaint.

300.12. PROCEDURES FOR SUPERVISION
Each member commission merchant which engages in the offer and sale of option contracts regulatedby these Rules shall adopt and enforce written procedures pursuant to which it will be able to supervise
adequately all of its options customers' accounts, except that of another commission merchant,
including, but not limited to, the solicitation of any such account.
300.14.A. Solicitation of Options Orders
No member futures commission merchant may solicit or accept an option order from any person who itreasonably believes may be soliciting orders in contravention of Regulation §33.3 of the Commodity
Exchange Act.
300.14.B. Compliance with Disclosure Requirements
Except as provided in Commission Regulation 1.65, no member commission merchant which engages
in the offer or sale of option contracts regulated by these Rules may open an option account for acustomer, except another commission merchant, unless the commission merchant does the following:(A) furnishes the customer with a separate written disclosure statement as set forth in Commission
Regulation 33.7 or includes such statement in a booklet containing the customer account agreement
and other disclosure statements required by Commission rules;(B) subject to the provisions of Commission Regulation 1.55(d), receives from the customer an
acknowledgement signed and dated by the customer that he received and understood the disclosurestatement;(C) otherwise complies with Commission Regulation 33.7; and(D) acquaints itself sufficiently with the personal circumstances of each option customer to determine
what further facts, explanations and disclosures are needed in order for that particular option customer
to make an informed decision whether to trade options.

300.15. PROHIBITED PROMOTIONAL MATERIALNo member commission merchant which engages in the offer or sale of option contracts regulated bythese Rules may publish, distribute or otherwise disseminate any promotional material pertaining tooptions trading on the Exchange which is fraudulent or misleading.

300.17. SALES COMMUNICATIONSNo member commission merchant, in connection with the offer or sale of option contracts regulated bythese Rules, shall make, or cause to be made, fraudulent or high-pressure sales communications.

300.18. SALES PRACTICE AUDITSThe Exchange or its designee shall conduct sales practice audits of its member commission
merchants which engage in the offer or sale of option contracts traded on the Exchange. Such audits
shall be conducted as necessary but at least once yearly and shall address the following matters,
among others:(A) Handling of discretionary options accounts;(B) Internal supervision of options sales practices including high-pressure or fraudulent sales
communications;(C) Compliance with options disclosure requirements;(D) Handling and disposition of customer complaints; and(E) Offer or sale of deep-out-of-the-money options.

300.19. MARGINS ON OPTIONS CONTRACTS
For the period commencing with the Exchange's adoption of a standard portfolio analysis of risk
margining system and continuing for six months, public customer and member customer option
positions shall be margined in accordance with the Exchange's standard portfolio analysis of risk
margining system or as set forth in subsections (A) and (B) below. Thereafter, such positions shall be
margined solely in accordance with the Exchange's standard portfolio analysis of risk margining system.
(A) Public Customer Margins(B) Member Margins(C) Clearing Member Margins
Clearing member options positions shall be margined in accordance with the Exchange's standard
portfolio analysis of risk margining system.

300.20. STRIKE PRICE LISTING AND EXERCISE PROCEDURES
Transactions shall be conducted for option contracts with strike price increments, contrary instructions,and at-the-money characteristics as set forth in the Strike Price Listing Procedures and Exercise
Procedures Table (“Table”) below. In addition, the Exchange may: (1) modify the range of strike prices(including the number of strike prices that will be introduced on each business day); (2) allow dynamic
strike price generation as it deems appropriate to respond to market conditions; and (3) modify
increments between strike prices.

STRIKE PRICE LISTING AND EXERCISE PROCEDURES TABLE
View table here (XLS)
CHANGE HISTORY
300.02 General Definitions: (Amended: 10/06/88)
300.03 Option Position Definitions: (Amended: 10/06/88)
300.08 Notice of Exercise: (Amended: 08/28/89, 11/09/89, 02/26/90, 03/12/93, 10/08/93, 06/13/94)
300.11 Customer Complaints: (Amended: 07/09/90, 09/29/93)
300.14B Compliance with Disclosure Requirements: (Amended: 09/29/93)
300.15 Prohibited Promotional Material: (Amended: 09/29/93)
300.19 Margins on Options Contracts: (Amended: 11/15/91, 05/15/92, 11/15/92)
300.20 Strike Price Listing Procedures: (Adopted: 04/26/99) (Amended: 11/13/16)