tailieunhanh - Understanding Stock Options

An investor who has sold stock short in anticipation of a price decline can limit a possible loss by purchasing call options. Remember that shorting stock requires a margin account and margin calls may force you to liquidate your position prematurely. Although a call option may be used to offset a short stock position's upside risk, it does not protect the option holder against additional margin calls or premature liquidation of the short stock position. Assume you sold short 100 shares of XYZ stock at $40 per share. If you buy an XYZ 40 call at a premium of 3 1/2, you establish a maximum share. | Understanding Stock Options Benefits Of Exchange-Traded Options Compared To Common What Is An Basic Copyright 1994 The Options Clearing Corporation. 440 S. LaSalle Street Suite 2400 Chicago IL 60605 USA 1-800-537-4258 312 322-6200 All Rights Reserved. Introduction Options are financial instruments that can provide you the individual investor with the flexibility you need in almost any investment situation you might encounter. Options give you options. You re not just limited to buying selling or staying out of the market. With options you can tailor your position to your own situation and stock market outlook. Consider the following potential benefits of options You can protect stock holdings from a decline in market price You can increase income against current stock holdings You can prepare to buy stock at a lower price You can position yourself for a big market move even when you don t know which way prices will move You can benefit from a stock price s rise or fall without incurring the cost of buying or selling the stock outright A stock option is a contract which conveys to its holder the right but not the obligation to buy or sell shares of the underlying security at a specified price on or before a given date. After this given date the option ceases to exist. The seller of an option is in turn obligated to sell or buy the shares to or from the buyer of the option at the specified price upon the buyer s request. Options are currently traded on the following . exchanges The American Stock Exchange Inc. AMEX the Chicago Board Options Exchange Inc. CBOE the New York Stock Exchange Inc. NYSE The Pacific Stock Exchange Inc. PSE and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Inc. PHLX . Like trading in stocks option trading is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC . The purpose of this publication is to provide an introductory understanding of stock options and how they .