No, the options automatically expire on the date. It is up to...

No, the options automatically expire on the date.

It is up to you to find the form from the company/registry and follow the instructions on how to "exercise" the options. The registry should be able to help you with this if you need.

Basically, you fill in the form with your identification and how many Options to Exercise, and deposit the cash into the registry (amount = options exercise price * number of options you are converting) and sit back and wait for the new shares to be in your account.

I believe (though have never done this) that you can exercise any amount of options at any time up until the expiry date, including doing this multiple times if you wanted to convert some, then more later. I'm not sure of a minimum conversion (min transaction) amount though. Details should be in the paperwork from the company.

So,

* buy the options on market at a price, or get given them as part of a share purchase plan offering.
* hold them for however long you want
* they will die on the expiry date if you forget about them == cash gone
* sell them on market if you wish
* at any time you may exercise them by paying the company/registry cash (exercise price * number of options to convert) and filling in a form

it is up to you to decide the timing of all of these steps

but if you forget about them, and let them expire, they're gone for good.