The Basics of the Put Option
The put option is one of the two choices you have when involved in stock option trading. Many experts say that the put option is perhaps the simplest option of the two—and it also holds a very practical use for people who own stocks. Simply out, when you purchase a put, you gain the right to sell a certain number of security at a specific price before a given time. Here, you actually benefit when the value of the stocks fall. This is why stockholders sometimes buy put options to buffer the loss they will experience in case the value of their stocks does fall.
But how does that work? For example, the stocks of ABC Company is currently worth 40 dollars. At 40 dollars, the stock’s put option contract strikes price should be at two dollars, with the expiry date in a month’s time. You purchase a put option for a single ABC Company stock. A stock option contract encapsulates 100 shares, so the 40-dollar stock is worth 200 dollars in the put stock trading option. If the stock value goes down from 40 to 30 dollars, with your put option that allows you to sell the stock at 40 dollars per share, you earn 10 dollars per share. This gives you 1000 dollars, minus the initial 200-dollar investment. In the end, you will earn 800 dollars in this scenario.
It’s easy to see why this kind of stock market system is lucrative. But it is also risky—although not as much as buying stocks. If the value of the stocks rises from 40 to 50 dollars, you lose 10 dollars per share according to the new value. But at most, you will only lose what you invested, no more and no less. The put option, of course, is best bought by experts in the stock market, since stock option trading only provides a very small margin for success, unless in the usual stock market.
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