Skip to main content

ABC of Options trading

I remember several years ago when I asked one of my brokers to explain what 'Options' was, he told me so many things which made no sense at all to me at that time. Talks about option premiums, calls and puts can be extremely confusing for somebody who has no idea at all about all these things. I will now try explaining it to you using the simple principles of learning things the Happionaire way.

In the past as soon as I learnt about options, I got tempted and traded in them. Since the returns possible are quite high, a lot of us get tempted very easily. Sometimes we made huge profits trading in options and sometimes we made losses. In the end I don’t think I made any substantial amount of money trading in options. Luckily I didn’t risk too large an amount and learnt a lot from the mistakes I made.

'Options' explained in a very simple way by sharing a small story below.

Let us say you want to buy an apartment. After searching a lot you find a nice apartment that costs Rs 10 lakh. (I know many of you might be wondering where we can get Rs 10 lakh apartments.

Since you like the flat so much, you speak to the builder and tell him to block the flat for you. You want to consult with your family and will tell him for sure in one month. The builder tells you that you will have to give him Rs 10,000 to block the apartment. You can either pay him the entire Rs 10 lakh after one month and take the property or alternatively in case your family doesn’t like it you can let it go but you will lose your Rs 10,000.

You think about it, and decide Rs 10,000 is not too big an amount to pay for the flat. You pay the amount and the builder blocks the apartment in your name for a period of one month. Anytime you can pay him Rs 10 lakh and the apartment is yours.

In fact you have fans offering you Rs 15 lakh for the same apartment. You have blocked the flat for yourself at a price of Rs 10 lakh. This means if you sell the flat you will make a profit of Rs 5 lakh. However you have not invested Rs 10 lakh but only Rs 10,000 to block the flat in your name.

You decide to sell the flat at Rs 15 lakh. From that you give the builder Rs 10 lakh and keep the remaining Rs 5 lakh for yourself. This means you have invested Rs 10,000 and in return got Rs 5 lakh in a period of less than a month.

This is a very simple example which tries to help you understand how options work. Your maximum risk in the above case was Rs 10,000 but maximum profit potential was unlimited unlike Futures where the risk can be more than the capital invested.

The above example can be called a Call Option? This type of option increases in value when things go in the positive direction. If you buy a call option for the NIFTY, it will rise as the NIFTY rises. In the stock market, options can be used as tools to minimize risks as well as trading tools.

Options can be traded in a similar way like stocks. For instance you can tell your broker to buy a call option if you are bullish or alternatively you can tell him to buy a put option if you are bearish.

Options need you to be more aware and alert about things happening in the short term. Very few people can do both trading and investing together.

Popular posts from this blog

Retirement planning from a long-term perspective

Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Buy Gold Mutual Funds     `HOW green was my valley'. This title comes from a movie I had watched many years ago. A little boy's journey into adulthood and the story of a Welsh valley's turn of-the-century descent from pristine paradise to despoiled coal mining.   I thought of the title because it is comparatively reflective of a person's life ­ the glorious years when he is earning and the sun down years when he is not having his regular job and, hence, his living standards comes down. The reason is a combination of things. Inflation of food items, transport, increase in health related costs in the later years of life and increase in expenses in almost all basic amenities of life. In India, the social security system is almost non-existent. In some states, wherever it is available, the scales of benefits are extremely modest...

Investment Strategy - What is Sector Rotation Theory?

Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Mutual Funds Online Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)   The economy goes through cycles : it expands for a few years and then contracts. Study of historical data suggests that different sectors tend to perform well on the stock markets during different stages of the economic cycle. While history never repeats itself exactly, some broad patterns tend to recur. Investors can take advantage of the sector rotation theory to move their money from those sectors that have seen their best times to those that are likely to do well in future.   The person who developed the sector rotation theory is Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor's. He developed this theory by studying data on economic cycles going as far back as 1854 provided by the National Bureau of Economic Research ( NBER ) of the US.   When trying to correlate stock-market perfor...

CNX Midcap vs BNP Paribas Midcap Fund

BNP Paribas Midcap Fund - Invest Online   Te  performance of BNP Paribas Midcap Fund  – which has across the last 3 years generated superior returns over the benchmark – especially when the markets have gone down the fund has handsomely outperformed the benchmark preserving the capital of the investors. The fund has been able to do this only due to the superior stock selection process ( BMV approach) that is diligently followed at BNPP.   Highlights of BNP Paribas Mid Cap Fund:   Investment Objective : BNP Paribas Mid Cap Fund gives an investor exposure to invest in the various quality midcap stocks. The fund also has some exposure to large as well as small cap stocks.   Investment Approach : BMV ( Quality and scalability of Business →Good Management → Reasonable Valuation ) with Bottom-up stock picking.   Most of the investors are way happier if the fund that they have invested in is a significant Outperformer in tough times than in Good ti...

Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) set for launch this week

The finance ministry is set to notify the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme ( RGESS ) this week.   Though Finance Minister PChidambaram had approved on September 21, the scheme announced in this year's Budget, and had said that the revenue department will notify the scheme and the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi ) would issue relevant circulars within two weeks, it is yet to become operational.   A senior finance ministry official said the revenue department was expected to notify the scheme any day now to attract retail investors to the equity segment.   He added that Sebi was not required to issue any circular for the operationalisation of the scheme and that after the issuance of the revenue department's notification, investors would be able to avail of the benefits of the scheme.   The official accepted that implementation of the scheme had been delayed due to the deliberations on inclusion of mutual funds ( MF ) in it.   ...

LIC's JEEVAN SHIKHAR

  LIC's Jeevan Shikhar is a participating, non-linked, saving cum protection single premium plan wherein the risk cover is ten times of Tabular Single Premium. The proposer will have an option to choose the Maturity Sum Assured. The premium payable shall depend on the chosen amount of Maturity Sum Assured and age at entry of the life assured. This plan also takes care of liquidity need through its loan facility. The plan will be open for sale for a maximum period of 120 days from the date of launch. 1.   BENEFITS   : a) Death Benefit: On death during first five policy years: Before the date of commencement of risk   :   Refund of Single Premium without interest. Single Premium mentioned above shall not include any extra amount if charged under the policy due to underwriting decision and taxes. After the date of commencement of risk   : "Sum Assured on Death" equal to 10 times the tabular single premium shall be payable. On death after completion of five policy years but b...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now