By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors looking to hedge their bets or speculate on the direction of Alibaba Group's stock after its expected public sale of shares on Friday, will be able to trade its options in two weeks, as U.S. options exchanges are expected to list contracts on the company.
The Chinese e-commerce company's options will be listed on CBOE Holdings Inc (O:CBOE) and International Securities Exchange Holdings' options exchanges on Sept. 29, pending the company's public sale of shares this week, the exchanges said on Tuesday.
International Securities Exchange Holdings operates two options exchanges, ISE and ISE Gemini, which through August handled about 14 percent of equity and index options contracts in 2014, according to OCC, formerly the Options Clearing Corporation.
CBOE said on Tuesday that it will be listing Alibaba options on the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the C2 Options Exchange once new options listing criteria are met.
The two exchanges together so far account for nearly 29 percent of trading in U.S. stock and exchange options in 2014, per OCC data.
On Monday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised the price range on its initial public offering to $66 to $68, reflecting strong demand from investors for the year's most anticipated debut and potentially the world's largest-ever IPO.
Contract specifications for Alibaba options will be determined when the new listing is certified by OCC prior to trading, ISE said in a statement.
Typically, the other U.S. options exchanges would also offer these options at the same time as long as certain thresholds are met.
A spokesperson for BATS Options exchange, a division of BATS Global Markets, could not be immediately reached for a response on when they plan to list Alibaba options.
(Reporting By Saqib iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Bernard Orr)