{"slug":"when-an-option-isnt-100-shares","qid":"premium_levels","label":"Average near-the-money premium per share, September 2026","post_title":"How Many Shares in an Options Contract?","post_url":"/blog/when-an-option-isnt-100-shares#q-premium_levels","columns":["symbol","avg_premium_usd","median_premium_usd"],"rows":[{"symbol":"MSFT","avg_premium_usd":16.34,"median_premium_usd":15.38},{"symbol":"SPY","avg_premium_usd":11.71,"median_premium_usd":8.9},{"symbol":"AAPL","avg_premium_usd":10.29,"median_premium_usd":9.52},{"symbol":"NVDA","avg_premium_usd":8.87,"median_premium_usd":8.45},{"symbol":"KO","avg_premium_usd":1.73,"median_premium_usd":1.49}],"shape":"ranking","sql":"SELECT\n    underlying_symbol                                AS symbol,\n    round(avg(toFloat64(option_close)), 2)           AS avg_premium_usd,\n    round(quantileDeterministic(0.5)(toFloat64(option_close), cityHash64(ticker)), 2) AS median_premium_usd\nFROM global_markets.options_greeks\nWHERE date >= '2026-09-01'\n  AND date <= '2026-09-30'\n  AND underlying_symbol IN ('AAPL', 'MSFT', 'NVDA', 'SPY', 'KO')\n  AND iv_converged = 1\n  AND volume > 0\n  AND days_to_expiry BETWEEN 20 AND 45\n  AND abs(toFloat64(strike_price) / toFloat64(underlying_close) - 1) < 0.05\nGROUP BY symbol\nORDER BY avg_premium_usd DESC","computed_at":"2026-10-06T16:05:05.077368+00:00","elapsed":0.001401886}