Electronic trading major IG is offering weekly equity options on the platform for some stocks over earning season. This means that traders do not have to call the broker if they want to trade certain equity options. This week it’s Baidu Inc.

IG is also offering Tesla but that will stay on the platform going forward whereas the weekly options will change depending on the particular week of the earnings season.

Equity options are a form of derivative used exclusively to trade shares as the underlying asset. In essence, equity options work in an extremely similar way to other options, such as forex or commodities. They offer the trader the right, but not the obligation, to purchase (or sell) a set amount of shares at a certain level (referred to as the ‘strike price’) before it expires. To buy an option, traders will pay a premium.

These equity options will be available in the main session (14:30 – 21:00 UK time).

You can find them under ‘Weekly US Equity options’ on the left list on IG’s web platform.

This is not the first time IG makes such an offering. In the last week of January, IG offered online trading in options on Apple, Boeing and Facebook stock. Last week, IG offered online trading in Twitter options.