What's the difference between these two stock options?

Question

I don't understand. Look at the top two June options. Why are they priced differently?

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=XLE&k=90.00

CALL OPTIONS Strike Price at 90.00

Expires Symbol Last Chg Bid Ask Vol Op... Int

Jun 08 HGHFL.X 1.96 0.00 2.01 2.08 176 2,544

Jun 08 XTGFL.X 1.24 Up 0.36 1.37 1.40 734 17,743

Thanks

Answer 1

The XTGFL option is the normal monthly option that expires 6/21/08.

The HGHFL option is a quarterly option that expires 6/30/08.

You can read more about quarterly options at

http://www.cboe.com/micro/quarterly/intr...

Answer 2

It is because they have different deliverables.  One doesn't actually deliver 100 shares upon execution.  This used to be a very rare type of option only available and viewable to people deep inside the industry.  However, it is now becoming more common to have them and to see them listed in places like Yahoo Finance.  The problem, as you have found, is that there is no easy way to look at those quotes and know that.  You'd have to actually look up each ticker symbol in a database that shows the deliverables to know it.  And most people don't have access to that without calling someone at a brokerage firm who has access.  You'll notice that several other months have the same thing going on.