Short term options (really short term)

This is a very interesting development for option traders.  The CBOE has added weekly option contracts on individual stocks (known as Weekly's). Because of their short term, Weekly's may be cheaper to use and may provide investors with increased short-horizon opportunities for trading.  This could help investors take advantage of market events, such as earnings, government reports and Fed announcements.  For example,  Weekly straddles may be cheaper to play than monthly's.  New weekly contracts are released at the market open every Thursday and expire the following Friday at the close of the market.  Currently only a limited number of stocks have weekly options, but that list should continue to grow each week.  For a current list of stocks with weekly contracts available for trading visit http://www.cboe.com/publish/weelkysmf/weeklysmf.xls.

Not quite sure where to get latest pricing info on these since yahoo finance is not showing these options on their options page.  Check with your broker about the availability of Weekly's.

Of course, do not assume that the Weekly's will be cheaper than the Monthly's (they should be), or significantly cheaper enough to warrant using over Monthly's.  Until they start getting more wide spread usage, tread with care, please.