If you take no action on expiring options, those that are in-the-money (ITM) by a clearinghouse-defined specific amount will automatically be exercised. For example, options traded on US exchanges that are cleared through the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) will be automatically exercised if they are $0.01 or more ITM, while those trading on Eurex and cleared through Eurex Clearing AG (ECC) must be more than 10 basis points ITM to be automatically exercised.
Use the Option Exercise tool to manually manage your options, for example to exercise an option early, exercise an OTM option, or allow an ITM option to lapse.
Find out more about the criteria for Option Exercise, including the deadline for manual exercise/lapse requests and how deeply in-the-money options must be to trigger automatic exercise, in the Options Exercise section of the Delivery, Exercise and Corporate Actions web page.
Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. For more information read the “Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options” that you can find on the OCC website.