If you want to know how to trade Options then you will need to understand the advantages and disadvantages of investing in Options. The greatest characteristic of Options is that they are a versatile form of security. An Option can be as speculative or conservative as you like, and what this basically means is that an Option can be used to both protect a position from decline as well as bet on certain movements of the market.
An Option basically works like a contract. Investors and buyers are given the right to purchase or sell various assets (usually stocks) at a certain date and for a specific price. This does not necessarily mean however, that the buyer of the Option is obligated to buy or sell the asset. And if he or she declines to exercise the right given by the Option then the only thing the buyer of the Option forfeits is the amount of money paid for the contract (the Option).
Despite this versatility however, it’s also worth pointing out that there are all kinds of risks involved in trading Options. So if you do decide to speculate with this type of security, it’s important that you know what you’re doing.
Having said that, you can easily make a lot of money through Options trading if you follow certain Options strategies. To sort out which strategy you should follow, it’s important to consider what kind of Options you want to invest in.
It’s important to remember that there are two kinds of Options, the Put Option and the Call Option. Put Options give you the right to sell shares, whereas Call Options give you the right to buy them. In practical terms, a Put Option is only useful if you expect the price of a particular stock to go down before your option expires. On the other hand, a Call Option is only profitable if you expect the price of the stock to go up before your Option expires.
What does this mean?
Well, it’s worth pointing out that most Options strategies are based on speculation on these two types of Options. In the case of Put Options, you should only opt to sell the asset if the price of the stock has decreased. This is because if the price of asset or stock increases then you are forced to sell the asset at a price that is lower than what other are selling it for. On the other hand, if the price of the stock has decreased, you will be able to sell your assets and stocks for prices which are above market value.
On the other hand, what you want to do with Call Options is to buy them at a lower price. In fact, buying an Option guarantees that you will be able to buy these stocks for lower costs than everyone else. And since the cost of the stock goes up, it means that you are able to save a lot of money than people who didn’t buy the Option.
Both Call Options as well as Put Options are based around the idea of price difference. The only way you can make money out of Options is if you are able to make the right predictions on the price of the asset that you want to buy or sell. On the other hand, if you’re prediction is wrong, you can simply forfeit the right of buying the asset. And that’s basically how to trade options.