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The Options Clearing Corp. is introducing changes to its margin fee collection system to mitigate risks in the $4 trillion US equity options market. The new system will take snapshots of clearing member risk during the day to account for intraday changes in positions and price moves. This could increase costs for some brokers, especially thinly capitalized firms active in the booming zero-day-to-expiry options market. The changes will start on Sept. 2.

The Options Clearing Corp. (OCC), the central clearinghouse for the $4 trillion-a-day US equity options market, is introducing significant changes to its margin fee collection system. The new measures aim to mitigate risks associated with the surging popularity of zero-day-to-expiry (0DTE) options, which have become a significant part of the market.

Starting on September 2, the OCC will take snapshots of clearing member risk during the day to account for intraday changes in positions and price moves. This system, which has been pushed for by some Wall Street firms, will involve taking a series of risk snapshots every 20 minutes for a 90-minute window starting each day at 11 a.m. Chicago time. The "worst" of these 20-minute periods, known as "peak intraday risk," will be noted by the clearing house. The average of these riskiest moments over a month will be used to calculate the new initial margin charge for the subsequent month. If a participant's peak intraday risk on a particular day rises to more than three standard deviations above the prefund level, the OCC can request additional margin [1].

The OCC had previously been able to make intraday margin calls based on the impact of any price changes to the positions a member reported at the start of the day. However, new trades made later in the day were not accounted for in the existing system. "When a 0DTE trade goes through our system, we never get a chance to margin it," said Massimo Cutuli, chief financial risk officer at the OCC [1].

The changes are expected to result in a more frequent number of smaller margin calls, according to an Aug. 11 letter approving the changes by Securities and Exchange Commission secretary Vanessa Countryman. While retail traders are unlikely to see a direct impact, thinly capitalized broker-dealers and non-bank clearing brokers may face increased costs. The retail traders involved in the zero-day options boom are many steps removed from the clearing process and are unlikely to be directly affected by the changes [1].

The options market has been significantly transformed since the arrival of daily options expiries listed a month ahead of time in 2022. These new products drew on the same pool of enthusiastic retail traders who were drawn to the equity market during the 2021 GameStop short-squeeze frenzy. Now, around 60% of the options on the popular exchange traded funds SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and Invesco QQQ Trust trade on expiry day [1].

Data from Bank of America’s research division estimates that across the 13 most popular tickers, nearly $2 trillion of zero-day options by notional value traded on an average day so far in 2025. By comparison, the total notional value traded daily in the US options market stood at $4 trillion as of July, according to Cboe Global Markets Inc. [1].

References:
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-29/options-clearing-corp-slams-4-trillion-options-market-s-0dte-loophole-shut