The rule in the statute's own words, and a table of common roots with the exchange, IRS or broker page that decides each verdict. Exchanges say "may qualify", so this page does too.
A Section 1256 contract is any regulated futures contract, any foreign currency contract, any nonequity option, any dealer equity option, and any dealer securities futures contract
(26 U.S.C. 1256(b)(1)). For a retail options trader the operative category is
the nonequity option: any listed option which is not an equity option
, where an equity
option is one to buy or sell stock
or the value of which is determined directly or indirectly by reference to any stock or any narrow-based security index
(1256(g)(3) and (g)(6)). So an option on a BROAD-based index is a Section 1256 contract, and an
option on a single stock, a narrow-based index, or an ETF share is not.
Publication 550 says it plainly: Nonequity options include debt options, commodity futures options, currency options, and broad-based stock index options. A broad-based stock index is based on the value of a group of diversified stocks or securities (such as the Standard and Poor's 500 index).
And it adds the step most explainers skip: Cash-settled options based on a stock index and either traded on or subject to the rules of a qualified board of exchange are nonequity options if the SEC determines that the stock index is broad based.
(IRS Publication 550). The verdict rests on an SEC classification, not on how
diversified the index feels.
60% of your capital gain or loss will be treated as a long-term capital gain or loss, and 40% will be treated as a short-term capital gain or loss. This is true regardless of how long you actually held the property.
(Pub 550). A contract opened and closed in one afternoon is still 60% long term.
each section 1256 contract held by the taxpayer at the close of the taxable year shall be treated as sold for its fair market value on the last business day of such taxable year
(1256(a)(1)). An open position is taxed this year on a price no broker export contains.
Use Part I of Form 6781 to report your gains and losses from all section 1256 contracts that are open at the end of the year or that were closed out during the year. This includes the amount shown in box 11 of Form 1099-B.
(Pub 550). One aggregate number, not a row per trade.
Exchanges never say "is". Cboe says index options may be eligible for more favorable tax treatment
and Nasdaq says potentially favorable tax treatments
, because the trader's own facts can
change the answer (a dealer, a hedging identification, a mixed straddle). The table says what
each source says, no further.
| Root | What it is | Verdict | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPX | S&P 500, AM-settled | Section 1256 | Cboe's SPX fact sheet gives the tax row "May benefit from 60% long term, 40% short-term capital gains" (Cboe) |
| SPXW | SPX Weeklys and end of month, PM-settled | Section 1256 | Same fact sheet, the SPX Weekly column carries the same tax row (Cboe) |
| XSP | Mini-SPX | Section 1256 | Cboe: "certain exchange-traded options, including XSP and MRUT, may qualify for 60% long term/40% short-term rates" (Cboe) |
| NDX | Nasdaq-100 | Section 1256 | Nasdaq: "40% of gain (or loss) taxed at a short-term rate, and 60% taxed at a long-term rate, regardless of time held" (Nasdaq) |
| NDXP | Nasdaq-100, PM-settled root | Section 1256, by inference | Nasdaq lists the NDX chain's roots as "NDX & NDXP"; no source states NDXP's treatment by name (Nasdaq) |
| XND | Micro Nasdaq-100 | Section 1256 | Nasdaq: NDX and XND "are considered 'broad-based index options' which may qualify for preferential tax treatment" (Nasdaq) |
| RUT | Russell 2000 | Section 1256 | Cboe: "index options - including SPX, Mini-SPX (XSP), RUT and Mini-RUT (MRUT) - may be eligible for more favorable tax treatment" (Cboe) |
| MRUT | Mini-Russell 2000 | Section 1256 | Named with XSP on Cboe's tax benefit page (Cboe) |
| RUTW, VIXW | Weekly roots of RUT and VIX | Section 1256, by inference | Named as roots of the same options class; no tax statement by root name was found |
| VIX | Cboe Volatility Index | Section 1256 per brokers | tastytrade: "cash-settled index options such as SPX, NDX, RUT, and VIX" (tastytrade); Robinhood lists VIX with 60/40 treatment (Robinhood) |
| DJX, OEX, XEO | Dow 1/100, S&P 100 American and European | Section 1256 per brokers | tastytrade: "Some cash-settled index options, also known as broad-based index options, include: DJX, NDX, NQX, OEX, RUI, RUT, SPX, VIX, XEO, and XSP" (tastytrade) |
| Options on futures | for example options on /ES | Section 1256 | Pub 550: nonequity options "include debt options, commodity futures options, currency options, and broad-based stock index options" (IRS) |
| SPY | ETF on the S&P 500 | NOT Section 1256 | Cboe's fact sheet prints "Standard" in the SPY tax row against the 60/40 row for SPX, SPXW and XSP (Cboe) |
| QQQ | ETF on the Nasdaq-100 | NOT Section 1256 | Nasdaq separates QQQ options, "Settlement Type: Physical Shares of ETF", from the NDX and XND index options it calls tax-advantaged (Nasdaq) |
| IWM, DIA, and every other equity ETF | options on fund shares | NOT Section 1256, by the rule | An option "to buy or sell stock" is an equity option under 1256(g)(6); fund shares are stock on exercise. No page names these tickers; the verdict is the statute's (26 U.S.C. 1256) |
| GLD and other ETFs holding Section 1256 assets | options on a commodity trust | Unsettled | Schwab: "The taxation of options contracts on exchange traded funds (ETF) that hold section 1256 assets isn't always clear." (Schwab) |
| Single stocks, narrow-based indexes | any equity option | NOT Section 1256 | 1256(g)(6): an option on a stock or a narrow-based security index is an equity option (26 U.S.C. 1256) |
| Securities futures and options on them | for a non-dealer | NOT Section 1256 | 1256(b)(2)(A) excludes them; Pub 550: "These contracts are not section 1256 contracts (unless they are dealer securities futures contracts)" (IRS) |
Broker lists disagree at the edges: tastytrade's includes NQX, RUI, MNX and RVX, which no exchange page discusses in a tax context, and Robinhood's is limited to what Robinhood offers. Neither is an exhaustive legal list, and neither is this table.
Treating SPY, QQQ and IWM options as Section 1256 because the funds track broad
indexes. They are options on a FUND, so they are options to buy or sell stock
: equity
options, Form 8949, real holding periods, wash sale rules. Cboe's own fact sheet prints
"Standard" for SPY where it prints the 60/40 line for SPX and XSP. The same rule cuts the
other way for a securities futures contract, which feels like a future and is excluded from
Section 1256 for anyone who is not a dealer (1256(b)(2)(A)).
The statute's only "elect out" is for contracts that are part of a mixed straddle
(1256(d)(1)), and that election shall apply to the taxpayer's taxable year for which made and to all subsequent taxable years, unless the Secretary consents to a revocation
(1256(d)(3)). Form 6781 box A.
If you have a net section 1256 contracts loss for 2025, you can elect to carry it back 3 years. Corporations, estates, and trusts are not eligible to make this election.
(Form 6781; 26 U.S.C. 1212(c)). In each carryback year 60%
is long term and 40% short term, and the carryback is limited to that year's Section 1256
gains.
You can choose only one of the three elections. Use Form 6781 to indicate your election choice by checking box A, B, or C, whichever applies.
(Pub 550). Hedging identification is a business election, not a retail one.
Every contract in an export is classified by root, 19 broad-based index roots on one side and every equity and fund option on the other, with the sentence explaining the verdict printed on the row. The lookalike funds (SPY, QQQ, IWM, DIA, VOO, IVV, VTI, EFA, EEM) are named so the answer is deliberate. The Section 1256 result is aggregated and split 60/40 for Form 6781; everything else goes to the Form 8949 worksheet. A position open on 31 December is listed by name with the mark it needs, rather than folded into a total that looks complete. The 60/40 arithmetic on its own is the split calculator.
Not tax advice. Facts on this page were read from the linked sources on 2026-09-13; the law and the forms change by year, and a preparer reads your own facts. FillStub produces a worksheet from your broker export, and nothing is filed.