China launches first equity options, investors bet stock prices to rise

"Still, we are not very much sure about how reasonable these premiums are because it is the first time that equity options are traded in China," he said. "It will take some time to find right pricing for the options."

Implied volatilities of the options, a key indicator on how investors measure risk for movements of underlining assets, were not immediately available.

Initial trading was relatively active, typical for the first day of a new product in China, traders said.

However, analysts have forecast the product will have a slow start due to regulatory restrictions to curb risk, although they believe the gradual rollout of new types of hedging tools will benefit Chinese equity markets in the long run.