Options

Corporate actions that affect the underlying security (splits, dividends, mergers, etc.) typically also affect options. In most cases, the original option Instrument is marked with status of "INACTIVE", and a new option Instrument is created for existing positions.

Options corporate events consist of a bit more data because of updates that need to be made to the instrument and option positions.

First, the instrument is updated to reflect that it has undergone a corporate action. This is commonly done by adding a number after the stock ticker within the option symbol. So, for example, if you owned a contract in the underlying ABCD, this would change to ABCD1 in the option symbol.

When an option corporate action event does occur there will be four (4) events created in cases where an account holds a position in an impacted contract:

Two Merger & Acquisition (MAS) transaction events that reflect the options symbol change.
Two Position update events that remove the position quantity in the old symbol and add the position quantity in the new symbol.

The sequence of events you would see are the following:

First MAS event
The first transaction event will be the removing the existing option contract, since it is no longer trading.

{
   "id":"event_84df6755-fb4b-4576-8206-c1294fcd5e34",
   "type":"transactions.created",
   "timestamp":"2026-02-24T21:24:05.822182524Z",
   "payload":{
      "accountID":"33d13a43-0aff-413e-a1e7-e78e9a636ba1.1771880072304",
      "accountNo":"SDNK000024",
      "userID":"33d13a43-0aff-413e-a1e7-e78e9a636ba1",
      "transaction":{
         "accountAmount":0,
         "accountBalance":928979.33,
         "comment":"Removed 3.00000000 shares of AAPL260313C00270000",
         "finTranID":"NB.5b49ed4e-6818-4330-8224-726f34e2608b",
         "wlpFinTranTypeID":"3606c042-2574-444d-a51d-52329e4b4f04",
         "finTranTypeID":"MERGER_ACQUISITION",
         "feeSec":0,
         "feeTaf":0,
         "feeBase":0,
         "feeXtraShares":0,
         "feeExchange":0,
         "positionDelta":-3,
         "instrument":{
            "id":"4f70bcfe-0fc3-4158-9154-2ef7f25ed804",
            "symbol":"AAPL260313C00270000",
            "name":null
         },
         "mergerAcquisition":{
            "type":"OPTION_SYMBOL_CHANGE"
         }
      }
   }
}

In this example, thepositionDelta is -3.

Second event
The second event will be the addition of the new option contract.

{
   "id":"event_10004de2-84a2-4895-afd3-6428f891870d",
   "type":"transactions.created",
   "timestamp":"2026-02-24T21:24:05.836684506Z",
   "payload":{
      "accountID":"33d13a43-0aff-413e-a1e7-e78e9a636ba1.1771880072304",
      "accountNo":"SDNK000024",
      "userID":"33d13a43-0aff-413e-a1e7-e78e9a636ba1",
      "transaction":{
         "accountAmount":0,
         "accountBalance":928979.33,
         "comment":"Added 3.00000000 shares of AAPL260320C00270000",
         "finTranID":"NB.61401d1b-1deb-450e-8a67-e665791a4d6a",
         "wlpFinTranTypeID":"3606c042-2574-444d-a51d-52329e4b4f04",
         "finTranTypeID":"MERGER_ACQUISITION",
         "feeSec":0,
         "feeTaf":0,
         "feeBase":0,
         "feeXtraShares":0,
         "feeExchange":0,
         "positionDelta":3,
         "instrument":{
            "id":"231f08ff-706f-467e-861f-8d28e9c4f134",
            "symbol":"AAPL260320C00270000",
            "name":null
         },
         "mergerAcquisition":{
            "type":"OPTION_SYMBOL_CHANGE"
         }
      }
   }
}

In this example, thepositionDelta is 3.

First Position Update Event
The first position update event will be removing the position in the existing contract.

{
   "id":"event_3129c841-de94-4e5b-a1b4-f69e53a9ba51",
   "type":"positions.updated",
   "timestamp":"2026-02-24T21:24:05.784630966Z",
   "payload":{
      "accountID":"33d13a43-0aff-413e-a1e7-e78e9a636ba1.1771880072304",
      "accountNo":"SDNK000024",
      "userID":"33d13a43-0aff-413e-a1e7-e78e9a636ba1",
      "updateReason":"OPTION_SYMBOL_CHANGE",
      "previous":{
         "costBasis":9.6,
         "openQty":3,
         "symbol":"AAPL260313C00270000",
         "avgPrice":3.2
      },
      "current":{
         "costBasis":0,
         "openQty":0,
         "symbol":"AAPL260313C00270000"
      }
   }
}

In this example, the previousopenQty is 3 and the current openQty is 0.

Second Position Update Event

The second position update event will be adding the position in the new contract.

{
   "id":"event_b5ca4892-01ce-4e12-9817-c066bfd7f468",
   "type":"positions.updated",
   "timestamp":"2026-02-24T21:24:05.825195331Z",
   "payload":{
      "accountID":"33d13a43-0aff-413e-a1e7-e78e9a636ba1.1771880072304",
      "accountNo":"SDNK000024",
      "userID":"33d13a43-0aff-413e-a1e7-e78e9a636ba1",
      "updateReason":"OPTION_SYMBOL_CHANGE",
      "previous":{
         "costBasis":0,
         "openQty":0,
         "symbol":"AAPL260320C00270000"
      },
      "current":{
         "costBasis":9.6,
         "openQty":3,
         "symbol":"AAPL260320C00270000",
         "avgPrice":3.2
      }
   }
}

In this example, the previousopenQty is 0 and the current openQty is 3.

🚧
Orders in Options Instruments after a corporate action is processed
Please note that when an option contract undergoes a corporate action change, that instrument is set to Closing Only. This means that the updated instrument will not be discoverable and you will not be able to submit a BUY_OPEN order in the instrument.
If you own a position in the new instrument as a result of the corporate action, you can still sell the contract.