Cookie Policy

Effective as of September 2024

This policy explains how the Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”) uses cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our websites and use our web applications. This policy applies to any Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”) website, application or service that links to this policy or incorporates it by reference. This policy may be amended or updated from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or changes in applicable law.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small text-only files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies allow the website to recognize your device when you revisit and remember certain information about your prior visit such as which pages you visited and the time and date of your visit.

Cookies set by the website owner (OCC) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than OCC are called “third party cookies”.

What type of cookies does OCC use?

The types of cookies our website are:

Strictly Necessary cookies: These cookies are necessary for the website to function. Proper functioning of the OCC site relies on the use of "strictly necessary" cookies. If you don't allow cookies, some features and functionality of OCC's site may not operate as expected.
Analytics cookies: The site also uses "Analytic cookies." These are not strictly necessary to the functionality of the site, so they can be turned off without impacting a user's site experience.

Strictly Necessary cookies

The site cookies listed below are strictly necessary cookies. These cookies help make the website usable by enabling basic functions. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

MSCookieLevel: A system cookie that specifies which cookies are allowed by the visitor. This cookie lasts 12 months.
ASP.NET_SessionId: A system cookie that keeps the user's session ID for security reasons. This cookie lasts for the duration of the session.
CMSCsrfCookie: A system cookie that stores a security token that the system uses to validate form data submitted through POST requests. tg This cookie lasts for the duration of the session.
ARRAffinitySameSite and ARRAffinity: Cookies designed to ensure page requests go to the same server during a visitor's session. This cookie lasts for the duration of the session.
ssoocc: A session cookie created after successful authentication by the user. This cookie lasts 120 minutes.
Amlbcookie: A session cookie used when the user authenticates. This cookie lasts for the duration of the session.
ovationUxpSessionId: A session cookie is used to authenticate users and deliver online help content. This session cookie lasts up to 30 minutes, until the ID token expires.

Analytic cookies

Analytic cookies are used to help OCC analyze certain user behavior, as well as determine how visitors arrived on the site. These cookies will be included in browsers when a site visitor agrees to all cookies. OCC reserves the right to modify our use of cookies as business needs require. Any such modifications will be effective when published on this website.

Analytic cookies in use by OCC include cookies that will:

Indicate if a visitor is new to the site or is a returning user
Store the channel from which a visitor arrived as part of a campaign, such as from an email or a social media site
Store the name of a campaign assigned to a visitor
Store the specific content item through which a visitor arrived as part of a campaign
Store information on all site-related campaigns
Store the reference URL from which a user arrives on the OCC website
Track a visitor's activities while they are on the website
Track marketing test results and maintain consistent page content for a visitor
Track conversions during marketing tests and maintain consistent page content
Track landing and exit page activities
Indicate whether a visitor has already been to a landing page
Behavior tracking. Captures user metrics such as sessions, pageviews, time on page, page depth heatmap/click tracking. Identifies problem areas (such as rage clicking.)
Playback. Records a user completing a task. This provides insights about the navigation, trouble spots, the path the user follows. Playback settings allow for suppression of data (see below) this replaces text/numbers with symbols.
Dev tools for error/bug handling. When an error is encountered, the platform sends an alert. Developers have detailed context and may playback to see the steps that resulted in the error. This also provides reporting.
Site intercept survey. Allows users to provide feedback in the experience to report a problem, share an idea or rate an experience.
Automate user feedback.

OCC uses the following Analytic cookies:

_ga(Google): An analytic cookie that measures web traffic, activity and syncs with Google marketing products. This cookie lasts 2 years.
_gid(Google) An analytic cookie used to store and analyze information about how visitors use our website. This cookie lasts 24 hours.
Ai_session (Microsoft Application Insights) An analytic cookie that collects statistical usage and telemetry information. This cookie lasts 30 minutes.
AI_user(Microsoft Application Insights) An analytic cookie that collects statistical usage and telemetry information. This is a unique user identifier cookie enabling counting of the number of users accessing the application over time. This cookie lasts 12 months.

Cookies and Personal Information

Some of our cookies may collect and store personal information, such as your name, email address or IP address. We are committed to respecting and protecting your privacy and will ensure that personal information we collect is kept and treated in accordance with our privacy policy. For further details on how we handle personal information, please refer to our privacy policy.

Further Information

To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit https://knowcookies.com.