Equity Options Fundamentals Workout
- 02:05
Learn what an equity option is and what the standard contract specifications are.
Transcript
In this workout we are asked to identify some key information in regards to an option transaction that Jane has entered into where she has bought an option from John that allows her to buy Apple shares which she can use at any time, up to and including the maturity date. The information about the option that we're given is that the option is in relation to 5,000 Apple shares. That's our quantity, that the strike price here is 150. So Jane has the option to buy Apple shares for $150 should she wish to do so, and she can do that at any point up until the maturity date. The premium is $10 and the time to maturity is one year. The first element of this workout is to identify whether this is a call or a put option and since Jane has the right to buy Apple Shares, this is referred to as a call option. If Jane had bought the option that gave her the right to sell Apple shares at a fixed price, that would be a put option. Exercise type refers to when Jane can use her option and because Jane can use this at any time up to and including the maturity date, this will be referred to as an American option. Next, the question is whether Jane has a long or a short position. Because Jane has bought the option, she has a long position, in this example, John is the counterparty that has a short position. And finally the question asks, what is the total premium payable by Jane? Well, the premium is quoted as $10, but that is a per share premium, and since there are 5,000 shares within this one option contract, the total premium payable is going to be the $10 per share multiplied by the 5,000 shares, which are the underlying assets of this option contract, giving us 50,000 as the total premium payable by Jane.