Options

A call option is a contract that gives the investor the right to buy a certain amount of shares (typically 100 per contract) of a certain security or commodity at a specified price over a certain amount of time. For example, a call option would allow a trader to buy a certain amount of shares of either stocks, bonds, or even other instruments like ETFs or indexes at a future time (by the expiration of the contract).

If you're buying a call option, it means you want the stock (or other security) to go up in price so that you can make a profit off of your contract by exercising your right to buy those stocks (and usually immediately sell them to cash in on the profit). For call options, the lower the strike price, the more intrinsic value the call option has.

Conversely, a put option is a contract that gives the investor the right to sell a certain amount of shares (again, typically 100 per contract) of a certain security or commodity at a specified price over a certain amount of time. Just like call options, a put option allows the trader the right (but not obligation) to sell a security by the contract's expiration date. Just like call options, the price at which you agree to sell the stock is called the strike price, and the premium is the fee you are paying for the put option.

Put options operate in a similar fashion to calls, except you want the security to drop in price if you are buying a put option in order to make a profit (or sell the put option if you think the price will go up). On the contrary to call options, with put options, the higher the strike price, the more intrinsic value the put option has.