What are the requirements for a stock to have options listed for it?
Best Answer
178 points
KenTrester answered one year ago …
At this point, there are four requirements a company must meet before its stock can become optionable:
1. The underlying security must be listed on the NYSE, AMEX or the Nasdaq.
2. The closing price must have a minimum per share price for a majority of trading days during the three prior calendar months. (This means it will take AT LEAST three months for IPOs to become optionable, though it's often much longer.)
3. The company must have a minimum of 7,000,000 publicly held shares.
4. The company must have a minimum of 2,000 shareholders.
Keep in mind that these four items are required by all of the options exchanges, but a particular exchange might have different one-time requirements depending upon the circumstances around each underlying equity.
And while a company may not have options that trade on the open markets, private companies can still have employee stock options available.
