Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Basics Of Stock Option Trading

By Walter Fox

Learning to invest in the stock market can be difficult for beginners. Normally, a great deal of experience is required. Access to someone with knowledge of the markets is can be helpful too. In particular, options trading can be quite complex.

Option trading is much more advanced in the whole scheme of the investing industry. However this article will try to give you the basic on the process so that you can make a decision for yourself whether or not you want to pursue this tactic.

To begin with, there are two categories for options trading. These are similar in concept to buying and selling stocks except that they are far more intricate. The two categories of options trading are called call options and put options.

If you buy a call option, this would give you the right to purchase one hundred stocks at a specific price. You can monitor the stock price until the option expires and determine if you want to exercise the option or not.

Once you have bought your stock options, then you will hopefully see stocks rise thus giving you a profit. The call option is valid until a deadline. So you can either use it until the deadline or exercise your right to use the option, which usually consists of buying or selling at a strike price which is another story.

The second category of stock options trading is called put options. Buying a put option gives you the ability to sell one hundred stocks at a predetermined strike price. This may be difficult to understand at first as it somewhat contradictory to traditional stock trading.

Usually, people will buy put options when they think the price of the stock will go down. This allows them to sell at a predetermined price even if the stock value goes below that price. Put options are a good way to mitigate the risk of your stocks going down in value.

So, consider your options (no pun intended) when you look at the difference between things like futures and options trading. If you know how to do it correctly, options trading systems can be well worth the money and effort put into it. - 16036

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