OCC Announces December 2025 Clearing Fee Holiday as Trading Volumes Surge

2025-12-01 · Regulation · QuoteReporter

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, has implemented a full **one-month clearing fee holiday** for all transactions throughout December 2025, according to a regulatory filing released by the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 28, 2025 (Release No. 34-104274; File No. SR-OCC-2025-019).

Effective immediately, OCC will charge **$0.00 per contract** for the entire month — a complete waiver of the standard $0.025 per-contract clearing fee — and will also eliminate the $200 minimum monthly clearing fee. Fees will automatically revert to normal levels on the first trading day of January 2026.

### Why Now? Record Volumes Trump Earlier Fee Hike Concerns

Only eleven months ago, in January 2025, OCC raised its base clearing fee from previous levels to $0.025 per contract, citing rising technology costs (particularly the multi-year Ovation platform modernization), wage inflation, and declining interest income on regulatory capital.

At the time, OCC warned that its Liquid Net Assets Funded by Equity (LNAFBE) — its primary buffer for general business risk — was projected to fall below the regulatory “Target Capital Requirement” by the end of Q1 2025. That forecast proved dramatically conservative.

Instead, **2025 has seen explosive options and futures volume**, pushing OCC’s LNAFBE well above the 110% early-warning threshold established in its Capital Management Policy. As of late November 2025:

– LNAFBE exceeds **110% of Target Capital** (currently ~$314.6 million early-warning level)
– Projections show capital remaining comfortably above both 2025 and 2026 thresholds even after forgoing an estimated **$59.4 million** in December revenue

OCC stressed that the fee holiday fulfills commitments made in the 2025 fee-increase filing: when revenues significantly exceed costs and capital buffers are robust, excess funds should be returned to market participants.

### A Familiar Playbook

This is not the first time OCC has used a fee holiday or refund mechanism:

The move aligns with OCC’s Capital Management Policy, which treats fee adjustments as a core tool for aligning revenue with actual operating expenses and regulatory capital needs.

### Market Impact

For retail and institutional traders, the holiday translates directly into lower transaction costs during what is historically one of the busiest options months of the year (triple witching, year-end rebalancing, tax-related trades, etc.).

A rough estimate based on recent average daily volume (ADV):
– Current ADV ≈ 49–50 million contracts
– Typical December ADV often spikes 10–30% higher
– At $0.025 per contract, the savings could easily exceed **$60–75 million** across the industry for the month

### Regulatory Green Light & Oversight

The fee holiday became effective upon filing under Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act as a non-controversial rule change. The SEC has 60 days to suspend the change if deemed necessary, though such action is considered unlikely given OCC’s strong capital position and history of similar relief measures.

### Bottom Line

In a year that began with warnings of capital strain, 2025 is ending with OCC effectively giving the options market a $60 million+ holiday gift — proof that the unprecedented retail and institutional options boom continues to generate substantial revenue even for the plumbing providers at the center of the ecosystem.

Traders get cheaper execution in December; OCC still ends the year (and begins 2026) with capital well above all regulatory thresholds. Win-win.

*Sources: SEC Release No. 34-104274 (Nov 28, 2025), OCC SR-OCC-2025-019 filing, OCC Capital Management Policy, historical OCC fee schedules.*

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