Why would a short option be assigned early? (US options and futures)
A short option can be assigned at any time because the long option holder has the right to exercise whenever they want. Why is this? Equity options are usually American-style. That's not because they trade on American exchanges, but rather, the method in which the owner of the option can choose to exercise their long option, which results in an assignment if you were short the option.
When the holder of a long option submits an exercise request with their broker, the request will go to the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), and they will randomly select a broker with an account holding the short side of the corresponding options contract. The OCC refers to the random options assignment process as the "Assignment Wheel." The "wheel" refers to the random account selection process after an exercise request. The short options holder will see the resulting position after the OCC randomly selects the broker and locates the account with the corresponding short position.