by Recyclersteve » Wed Mar 25, 2020 5:11 am
Options are an incredibly complicated topic. I will assume that Doc went long (not short) the above options. The options are on SLV, which is what is called an exchange traded fund (ETF) that holds physical silver in a vault in London. The options don’t expire until Jan. 22, close to 2 years out. He doesn’t have to wait til the options expire, but can sell them anytime between now and expiration. Loosely speaking, the cost of the option is composed of time value (amount of time til it expires), implied volatility (silver has been much more volatile lately than it normally is, so these options are pricier than they normally would be), and how deep in or out of the money they are. Example: If you bought call options on $50/oz. silver, they would be far cheaper than calls based on $15 silver.
This can potentially get much more complicated. You could start out by selling the options instead of buying them. You could trade bearish options called puts. Some people get really fancy and might own calls and puts at the same time.
Doc was smart enough to buy calls with multiple strike prices, which I personally like. Options frequently expire totally worthless, but by virtue of having so many different strike prices he has likely increased his chances of success. He could potentially lose money on one contract and make a profit of several hundred percent or more on another. Options is a high risk/high reward proposition. Study hard and tread carefully.
Also, some readers may have a ton of questions about options trading. Not to be rude, but don’t expect answers to all of them from someone who isn’t being paid and has to earn a living. This is not a subject where it is easy to be succinct!
Former stock broker w/ ~20 yrs. at one company. Spoke with 100k+ people and traded a lot (long, short, options, margin, extended hours, etc.).
NOTE: ANY stocks I discuss, no matter how compelling, carry risk- often
substantial. If not prepared to buy it multiple times in modest amounts without going overboard (assuming nothing really wrong with the company), you need to learn more about the market and managing risk. Also, please research covered calls (options) and selling short as well.