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Steps To Understand Option Trade For Enlightened Decisions

By Jarrod Hatheway


As a sophisticated investor, you would definitely be interested in option trade. This is simply because option provides you with the type of security that you would find interesting. Therefore, you need to know more about this opportunity before you make a decision on whether it is ideal for you or not. Well, in the next section, you will get to learn some of the basics of this trade to enlighten your decision.

Trading in options is quite risky, just as is the case with all other investments hence you need to understand what it takes. Therefore, it is best to invest only risk capital in this trade. Options can be speculative or conservative. An option is a contract that gives a buyer the right to trade an asset at a certain price and at a certain date without any obligations.

Options do not come with any obligations. However, they are strictly limited to the specified time. The options get their value from something else and they are in two kinds which is put options and call options. The latter grant the holder the right to buy the asset at the stipulated price and at the stipulated date. Usually, a buyer of an option would wish that the price of the stock will go up before the time lapses. Put options give the holder the right to sell the stipulated asset at the stipulated price over the stipulated period. The seller hopes that the price will come down before the period lapses.

Holders are the buyers of options while writers are the sellers of options. Call and put holders are under no obligation to buy or sell. Writers of either call or put options are however under obligation to buy or sell the options. Strike price is the least price at which the stock can be sold or bought before the call or put is exercised for profit.

A trader is said to be 'in the money' when the share price and strike price is different. The difference can be in either direction, for example, the share price is less or more than the strike price. This value of the difference is also referred to as the intrinsic value.

The entire cost of an option is known as premium. Premium is derived by considering the cost of price, strike price, time remaining before expiry of the option as well volatility factors. It is a good idea to invest in options for two main reasons. One, options are speculative and two options help with hedging.

The reason of speculation is important as it determines whether you make huge profits or huge losses from trading options. Therefore, you must try to be as accurate as possible when making the predictions. Hedging will help you insure your investment against downturn.

The main types of options are American and European options. It is possible to imagine that the difference between these is geographical which is not true. There are other types of options such as long term options and exotic options. The former are the options which last more than a year. The latter are non standard and have variations on payoff. You can get the best out of option trade when you have the right information.




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