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Options trading isn’t for novices. Find out what you need to get started.
Lucas Downey is the co-founder of MAPsignals.com, and an Investopedia Academy instructor. Updated May 15, 2024 Reviewed by Reviewed by Samantha SilbersteinSamantha (Sam) Silberstein, CFP®, CSLP®, EA, is an experienced financial consultant. She has a demonstrated history of working in both institutional and retail environments, from broker-dealers to RIAs. She is a current CFA level 3 candidate and also has her FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses. Throughout her career, Samantha has used her expertise and various licenses and certifications to provide in-depth advice about household and business-specific financial planning, investing, credit cards, debt, student loans, taxes, retirement, and income strategies.
Fact checked by Fact checked by Vikki VelasquezVikki Velasquez is a researcher and writer who has managed, coordinated, and directed various community and nonprofit organizations. She has conducted in-depth research on social and economic issues and has also revised and edited educational materials for the Greater Richmond area.
Part of the Series Options Trading GuideBasic Options Overview
Key Options Concepts
Options Trading Strategies
Stock Option Alternatives
Advanced Options Concepts
Options are financial contracts that give the holder the right to buy or sell a financial instrument at a specific price for a certain period of time. Options are available for numerous financial products, such as stocks, funds, commodities, and indexes.
Options trading may seem overwhelming at first, but it’s easy to understand if you know a few key points. Investor portfolios are usually constructed with several asset classes. These may be stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and even mutual funds. Options are another asset class, and when used correctly, they offer many advantages that trading stocks and ETFs alone cannot.
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Options are contracts that give the bearer the right—but not the obligation—to either buy or sell an amount of some underlying asset at a predetermined price at or before the contract expires. Like most other asset classes, options can be purchased with brokerage investment accounts.
Options are powerful because they can enhance an individual’s portfolio. They do this through added income, protection, and even leverage. Depending on the situation, there is usually an option scenario appropriate for an investor’s goal.
A popular example would be using options as an effective hedge against a declining stock market to limit downside losses. In fact, options were really invented for hedging purposes. Hedging with options is meant to reduce risk at a reasonable cost.
Here, we can think of using options like an insurance policy. Just as you insure your house or car, options can be used to insure your investments against a downturn.
Imagine that you want to buy technology stocks, but you also want to limit losses. By using put options, you could limit your downside risk and cost-effectively enjoy all the upside. For short sellers, call options can be used to limit losses if the underlying price moves against their trade—especially during a short squeeze.
Options can also be used for speculation. Speculation is a wager on future price direction. A speculator might think the price of a stock will go up, perhaps based on fundamental analysis or technical analysis.
A speculator might buy the stock or buy a call option on the stock. Speculating with a call option—instead of buying the stock outright—is attractive to some traders because options provide leverage. An out-of-the-money call option may only cost a few dollars or even cents compared with the full price of a $100 stock.
Options belong to the larger group of securities known as derivatives. A derivative’s price is dependent on or derived from the price of something else. Options are derivatives of financial securities—their value depends on the price of some other asset. Examples of derivatives include calls, puts, futures, forwards, swaps, and mortgage-backed securities, among others.
In terms of valuing option contracts, it is essentially all about determining the probabilities of future price events. The more likely something is to occur, the more expensive an option that profits from that event would be. For instance, a call value goes up as the stock (underlying) goes up. This is the key to understanding the relative value of options.
The less time there is until expiry, the less value an option will have. This is because the chances of a price move in the underlying stock diminish as we draw closer to expiry. This is why an option is a wasting asset. If you buy a one-month option that is out of the money, and the stock doesn’t move, the option becomes less valuable with each passing day.
Because time is a component of the price of an option, a one-month option is going to be less valuable than a three-month option. This is because with more time available, the probability of a price move in your favor increases, and vice versa.
Accordingly, the same option strike that expires in a year will cost more than the same strike for one month. This wasting feature of options is known as time decay. The same option will be worth less tomorrow than it is today if the price of the stock doesn’t move.
Volatility also increases the price of an option. This is because uncertainty pushes the odds of an outcome higher. If the volatility of the underlying asset increases, larger price swings increase the possibility of substantial moves both up and down.
Greater price swings will increase the chances of an event occurring. Therefore, the greater the volatility, the greater the price of the option. Options trading and volatility are intrinsically linked to each other in this way.
On most U.S. exchanges, a stock option contract is the option to buy or sell 100 shares; that’s why you must multiply the contract premium by 100 to get the total amount you’ll have to spend to buy the call.
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Above, a 2024 Example of Options data page from the Cboe for Apple Inc.
Because options prices can be modeled mathematically with a model such as the Black-Scholes model, many of the risks associated with options can also be modeled and understood. This particular feature of options actually makes them arguably less risky than other asset classes, or at least allows the risks associated with options to be understood and evaluated. Individual risks have been assigned Greek letter names, and are sometimes referred to simply as the “Greeks.”
The basic Greeks include:
Exercising an option means executing the contract and buying or selling the underlying asset at the stated price.
Options trading is often used to hedge stock positions, but traders can also use options to speculate on price movements. For example, a trader might hedge an existing bet made on the price increase of an underlying security by purchasing put options. However, options contracts, especially short options positions, carry different risks than stocks and so are often intended for more experienced traders.
American options can be exercised anytime before expiration, but European options can be exercised only at the stated expiry date.
The risk content of options is measured using four different dimensions known as the “Greeks.” These include the delta, theta, gamma, and vega.
Call and put options are generally taxed based on their holding duration. They incur capital gains taxes. Beyond that, the specifics of taxed options depend on their holding period and whether they are naked or covered.
Options do not have to be difficult to understand when you grasp their basic concepts. Options can provide opportunities when used correctly and can be harmful when used incorrectly. If you’re new to the options world, take your time to understand the intricacies and practice before putting down serious money.
