Definition Of Options Trading
You want to enter the stock market but would like to limit the investment that you would have to make. Then you need to try option trading. It could give you a much bigger bang for your buck. Option trading commits you to paying a premium in return for a right to buy or sell a specified amount of shares within a specified time period.
Generally these option periods last a month and a specific day of the month is decided for termination of the contract. This is the third Saturday of the month or any other day specified by the exchanges who monitor such trades. The expiry of the period expunges all the rights of the option trader and he cannot make the trade after the date is over.
Concepts
You would have to be deeply involved in stock market trade to understand the difference between stock trading and option trading. If you as a newcomer still want to be involved in option trading you must make an effort to understand terminology used and the ideas behind the concept. The terms by used by traders in option trading are quite specific and have their own meanings. When you go in for option trading you would have to decide a price for the stock you want to trade in , the number of shares, and the time period in which you would make such a trade.
You do not have to exercise your rights during the specified period, but your failure to do so will cause the premium you have paid for such future rights to be forfeited. The premium is charged to you so that you can lock in the agreed price for the time period that you have contracted to honor. So during these period, if you find that the price of the stock has appreciated, you are free at any time to make the balance payment and acquire the shares at the price agreed. On the other hand if the price has gone down and you do not feel that it is worthwhile honoring the option, you can take no action and allow your contract to lapse. You would however forfeit the premium you have paid. This may look like a loss, but would be much smaller than if you had bought the shares at the prevailing price before the start of the options contract.
The stock price may drop or just remain lower the exercise price, the buyer of call option cannot use at all, but can also sell the option and in that way exit the position at a loss or breakeven. Instead, he can hold onto it with the hope that there will be rise in the option of the market value, by depending upon factors such as volatility, expiry time and much more.
Generally though, because of the leverage that options provide, you can control a far larger amount of the underlying stock for a relatively small capital outlay compared with buying or selling the underlying instrument. That is what makes options so attractive because there exists the potential to make far higher return on capital than through merely trading the underlying instrument. When you know what you are doing, there are also far more trading opportunities with relatively lower risk compared to merely buying or selling the underlying.
Terminology
When you opt for option trading you trade in blocks of 100 shares.
Call option: The option giving the right to buy the underlying instrument at the strike price.
The option giving the right to sell the underlying instrument at the strike price is called the “put” option.
Strike price: This is the price of the stocks for agreed on when the option trading contract is made.
You are considered to be “in the money” if your strike price is less than the existing price at the time of the option and you put in a call option, or you put in a put option and the strike price is lower than the existing price.
Out of the money: When the strike price is above the existing price of the stock and you exercise a call option, and when the strike price is below the existing price of the stock and you exercise a put option.
