Is it possible for a short option which is in-the-money not to be assigned?

Spread positions can have unique expiration risks associated with them. In the case of U.S. securities options, the OCC will automatically exercise option contracts at expiration only if the option is In-the-Money by $0.01 or greater. If both legs of your expiring option spread are In-the-Money, then the long leg will be auto exercised by the OCC and the short may be assigned. It is possible that a short expiring option leg that finishes In-the-Money is lapsed by the owner and you will not be assigned. For non-U.S. options, please refer to the…

When you sell an option, you provided the purchaser with the right to exercise which they generally will do if the option is in-the-money at expiration. While it is unlikely that holders of in-the-money long options will elect to let the option lapse without exercising them, certain holders may do so due to transaction costs or risk considerations. You can not force an assignment of your short option on the owner of the long option. Always review your position overnight as expiration stock and index option closing transactions will be in your…

If you are assigned on a short stock option at expiration that has a physically delivered underlying your account will take delivery of the stock. Remember that you cannot be both long and short the same contract in your IBKR account and all stock positions are netted out. Assignments are processed as a double random lottery and you will see any assigned stock in your account after IBKR’s overnight system update…

No. There is no provision for issuing conditional exercise instructions to the OCC. The OCC determines the assignment of options based upon a random process which is initiated only after the deadline for submitting all exercise instructions has ended. In order to avoid the delivery of a long or short underlying stock position when only the short leg of an option spread is in-the-money at expiration, the account holder would need to either close out that short position or consider exercising an at-the-money long option…