A practice where option holders fraudulently claim to have exercised their call options at a specific time in the past, where in reality, the options were exercised much later. Exercise backdating is often performed by executives who wish to illegally reduce the amount of capital gains taxes they have to pay as a result of exercising the options. An executive will save on capital gains tax if he or she sells shares that have been gained from options (which were exercised less than a year ago). The total amount of taxes on any realized profits could be as high as 35%. However, if those option-granted shares were held for over a year, the total amount of taxes paid could be reduced to as low as 15%. Since some executives have options where the total value of underlying securities are worth millions of dollars, so backdating the exercise date would save them tens of thousands of dollars in taxes.
A fence or collar is an option strategy that establishes a trading band around a security or commodity, generally to protect profits. One form of a fence involves the sale of an out-of-the-money call option on an underlying security; all or part of the premium thus received is used to buy a protective out-of-the money put on the security. Both the call and the put have the same expiration date. The call option establishes a ceiling price for the security, while the put option establishes a floor price for it, effectively 'fencing' in the option. A widely used variant of this option strategy involves a "costless collar," where the premium received through the sale of the call roughly equals the premium paid for the purchase of the put. The cost of protection in this case is therefore zero. For example, an investor who wishes to construct a fence or collar around a stock in the portfolio that is trading at $50 could sell a call with a strike price of $53, and buy a put with a strike price of $47, both with, say, three months to expiration. If the premium received from the sale of the $53 call equals the premium paid for the $47 put, this would be a "costless collar", and "fence" in potential losses and profits.
The option with the longer time to expiration in a calendar option spread, which involves buying or selling options with different expirations. In such a spread, the shorter-dated option will be the near option. Because far options have more time to attain an in-the-money status, they are associated with larger premiums. For example, a calendar spread strategy may involve selling May calls and buying October calls on the same stock. In this case, assuming it is April, the October calls would be the far options and the May calls would be the near options.
A specified time, after which the options contract is no longer valid. The expiration time gives a more specific deadline to an options contract on top of the expiration date by giving a time of day. The expiration time will not be the same as the last time to trade the option. Since many public holders of options deal through brokers, they face different expiration times. The last day to trade an option is the third Friday of the expiration month, but the actual expiration time is not until the next day (Saturday). A public holder of an option usually must declare their notice to exercise by 5:00 p.m. on the Friday. This will allow the broker to notify the exchange by the actual expiration time on the expiration date. Furthermore it depends on the exchange, for example the Chicago Board of Trade limits trading on expiring options to 3:00 p.m. Eastern on the last trading day.
The day on which an options or futures contract is no longer valid and, therefore, ceases to exist. The expiration date for all listed stock options in the U.S. is the third Friday of the expiration month (except when it falls on a holiday, in which case it is on Thursday).
An embedded option that allows the firm which purchased the real option to expand its operations in the future at little or no cost. An expansion option, unlike typical options which obtain their value from an underlying security, receives its worth from the flexibility it provides to a company. once the initial stage of a capital project has been implemented, an expansion option holder can decide whether to move forward with the project. In terms of real estate, expansion options provide tenants with the choice to add more space to their living premises. For example, if a company is unsure as to whether or not its newly introduced product will be successful in the market, it can purchase an expansion option. The expansion option will allow the firm to assess the economic environment in the future and determine whether it is profitable to continue developing the particular product. If the firm initially expected to produce 1,000 units five years, exercising the expansion option would let them purchase additional equipment to increase capacity for a price which is below market value. If economic conditions are good and expansion is desirable, the option will be exercised. Otherwise, the expansion option expires.
An embedded option within a project that allows the firm abort their operations at little or no cost. An exit option can typically only be exercised after key developments have occurred within the project. Like any other option, this instrument must be purchased at a cost which factors into the capital budgeting decision, but its value is not determined by the price of an underlying asset. For example, if company XYZ decides to expand their number of operating factories by 10 over five years, an exit option would allow them to abort this operation despite contractual obligations with suppliers and land developers. If, after 2 years, expansion remains a good idea, XYZ can continue to do so. However, if economic conditions have changed, the exit option provides the opportunity to stop further efforts at no cost.
The price at which the underlying security can be purchased (call option) or sold (put option). The exercise price is determined at the time the option contract is formed. Also known as the "strike price". The exercise price is the key to profiting from options. A difference between the fixed exercise price and the market price at the time the option is exercised is what gives it value. Generally, the greater the difference between the exercise and market price at the time an option contract is written, the higher the premium required to purchase the option.