Glossary

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Series of Options

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See Also:

Option: Option is a contract that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specified quantity of a commodity or other instrument at a specific price within a specified period of time, regardless of the market price of that instrument. There are two types of options: Put Options and Call Options.

Call: There are three meaning of the "Call" term. It could be:
1) An option contract giving the buyer the right but not the obligation to purchase a commodity or other asset or to enter into a long futures position;
2) a period at the opening and the close of some futures markets in which the price for each futures contract is established by auction;
3) the requirement that a financial instrument be returned to the issuer prior to maturity, with principal and accrued interest paid off upon return.

Contract: Contract is a term of reference describing a unit of trading for a commodity future or option. At the same time contract is an agreement to buy or sell a specified commodity, detailing the amount and grade of the product and the date on which the contract will mature and become deliverable.

Cover: Cover is the purchasing futures to offset a short position (same as Short Covering or Covering Short Position). In some situation Cover is referred to as having in hand the physical commodity when a short futures sale is made, or to acquire the commodity that might be deliverable on a short sale.

Expiration Date: Expiration Date is the last date on which an option may be exercised. This is the date on which an option contract automatically expires; the last day an option may be exercised. It is not uncommon for an option to expire on a specified date during the month prior to the delivery month for the underlying futures contracts.

On an option exchange, every 3rd Friday of the month is expiration day for monthly options. A number of option series expire on this day.

At expiration all call options with a higher strike price than the expiration price of the underlying stock/currency or index will be worthless. All series with a lower strike price will have value and will be exercised. In the case of put options the opposite applies.

For all holders of call options it will be optimal when the value of the positions at expiration is as low as possible.

Options expiration date is the most important factor in calculating an options price:

• The Black Scholes formula is used to price a European style option by factoring in current stock price, strike price, time until expiration, level of interest rates, any dividends and the volatility of the underlying security. The binomial model is used to price American style options.
• The binomial model calculates a tree of stock prices for given time intervals within the expiration period of the option using the volatility of a stock and time to expiration to find out how much a stock will increase or decrease in value. This calculation gives all possible prices of a stock. Then, the option prices of the stock are calculated backwards, from expiration to present. These prices are obtained by using risk neutral valuation. Ultimately, we get one price for the option.

Futures: Futures (also called Futures Contract) is a legally binding agreement to buy or sell a commodity or financial instrument at a later date. Futures contracts are normally standardized according to the quality, quantity, delivery time and location for each commodity, with price as the only variable.

Futures Contract: Futures Contract is an agreement to purchase or sell a commodity for delivery in the future: (1) at a price that is determined at initiation of the contract; (2) that obligates each party to the contract to fulfill the contract at the specified price; (3) that is used to assume or shift price risk; and (4) that may be satisfied by delivery or offset.

Instrument: Instrument is a tradable asset such as a commodity, security, or derivative, or an index or value that underlies a derivative or could underlie a derivative.

Put: Put is an option contract that gives the holder the right but not the obligation to sell a specified quantity of a particular commodity or other interest at a given price (the "strike price") prior to or on a future date. Call options is another type of options.

Ring: Ring is a circular area on the trading floor of an exchange where traders and brokers stand while executing futures trades. Some exchanges use pits rather than rings.

Strike Price: Strike Price (Exercise Price) is the price, specified in the option contract, at which the underlying futures contract, security, or commodity will move from seller to buyer. Strike Price is the price at which the buyer of a call (put) option may choose to exercise his right to purchase (sell) the underlying futures contract.

Underlying Futures Contract: Underlying Futures Contract is a specific futures contract that the option conveys the right to buy (in case of a call) or sell (in the case of a put).

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