Confused Option with and without ISIN

Hi there,
I am a bit confused and hope that you guys can help me. If I want to buy as a private person an option I have very often the same option (means same maturity and same price) "issued" by a bank which always has an attached ISIN. The bank issues at a specific time a specifc option and sells it to private clients. Are those options traded on the exchange? And then you have the options which do not have any ISIN and which are traded by banks, market makers, hedge funds ... . Those are traded on the exchange.
So now I am confused if there is any link, which option can be traded by whom?
Thank you very much for your answer.
Cheers Chiara

Options/warrents issued by a bank are OTC, they are rarely (never?) exchange traded. the only person who will buy them off you is the issuing bank. Usually they are massively expensive to buy (for what they are), private clients are normally better off steering well clear imo.

Hi thanks for the answer, I figured it out myself. Those who are with an ISIN are listed on the exchange but bid,ask prices are only given by the bank who issued the options. The options without ISIN are "created" by the exchange and then traded mostyl by banks and market makers, so the prices are dependent on demand and supply. As private person you can get acsess to them through a broker. (At least this is the case for Germany)

Chiara said:

Hi thanks for the answer, I figured it out myself. Those who are with an ISIN are listed on the exchange but bid,ask prices are only given by the bank who issued the options. The options without ISIN are "created" by the exchange and then traded mostyl by banks and market makers, so the prices are dependent on demand and supply. As private person you can get acsess to them through a broker. (At least this is the case for Germany)

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I usually buy my options through a US broker (Canadian actually) who trades on the CBOE. The options are specified by their strike/expiry and have an individual ticker. My broker clears through Pershing so they are allocated an ISIN/Common Code/CUSIP if that hasn't been done before and they may or may not be put into the PSL clearing system. If they are then PSL charge and log the progress of the option, if not then you rely on the broker/CBOE.
This may or may not make sense, be relevant or be factual. Make what you will of it.