Archive for the ‘synthetic options’ Category

A brief about Digital Options Trading

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Digital options are also known as binary options. Such options represent the European style of trading options. Digital Options trading is the simplest form of options trading. An investor or trader need to predict the probability of the success to trade a digital option. Also, one must keep in mind that options do expire at specific maturity date and hence predict the plans and plan your moves accordingly. Digital options are the derivatives of the other financial instruments such as shares, bonds, mutual funds, Forex etc and hence are employed in trading in those specific markets.

Digital options or binary options are comprised of two words i.e. binary and options. Binary means only two outcomes are possible and options if referred to as the choice or right given to the owner of option to (trade) do or not to do (trade). Digital options are very simple to trade as these are only traded for a singly payout. It means that the option trader payoff for all or for nothing. This decision is the binary decision that a trader needs to take. Digital options are traded since they provide the advantage of least risk and offer huge returns. They are also capable to increase the purchasing power of the investor.

Once the strike price i.e. the future expected price of the option is achieved in the market, the options can be sold in the market even before the options get expires. The right to exercise he options may not be exercised before the call date of the option.

Digital options do have a risk involved. Digital options are categorized in a special class of options called as the Exotic options. What does the exotic option means? Well the answer to this question is very simple. Exotic options are those options that imitate decision making problems in from of the options buyer or seller in the real world. Digital options are used in the equities, bonds and the securities that are secured by the mortgage. In the options market, you will hear the terms like look back option, Bermuda option and the chooser options. These options are some examples of the exotic options.

Another strategy to trade options and make profits out of it is using buying and trading the synthetic digital options. Synthetic digital options are those options that are formed by the combination of put and call options, their strike prices and also the expiry and maturity period of these options. Synthetic digital options are used in the American style options trading model.

Options are one of the safest financial instruments. They are the life savors of the investors and the traders in several financial markets. But before you start trading the options, it is advised that you learn about them properly and check whether you need them, would you be able to utilize them effectively or not.

Synthetic Positions: Explore more about it

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Synthetic positions can be a nice choice for the people who have just entered into the options trading. Synthetic positions might be a new term to you. To know more about, read ahead.

Synthetic Positions are options positions that are available in the market that have the equal risk and reward profile as their ‘equivalent positions’ have. You might also find a coined term in the market i.e. the synthetics; it is none other than the synthetic options. All of the synthetic positions have their equivalent positions. These options are the super tool that is used by the experts who rule the market. Their moves can change the direction of the market and they use synthetics for daily market making functions.

To understand more, we will take an example; suppose an investor has a synthetic call option that has its equivalent regular call option. The benefit of the synthetics lies in the fact that this investor can possess his profile of the regular call option without actually using its call options for its construction.

Following are the types of the synthetic positions:

  1. The long stock synthetic position: this synthetic option is actually a combination of two regular options. It is formed by combination of a long call option and a short put option corresponding to it.
  2. The short stock synthetic position: this synthetic option is just reverse of the long stock synthetic call option. It is made with a combination of a long put option and its corresponding short call option.
  3. The long call synthetic position: this synthetic option is made by a combination of a long stock option and a long put option.
  4. The short call synthetic position: this synthetic option is also know by the name of covered put option. It is made with a combination of a short stock option and a short put option.
  5. The long put synthetic position:  this type of synthetic option is made with combining a short stock option with a long call option.
  6. The short put synthetic position: the combination of the long stock options with a short call option makes the short put synthetic position. In the options market this particular type of synthetic position is referred to as covered call option.

We have discussed basics of the synthetic positions; they are a very strong financial tool in the options market. The term synthetics have the ‘corresponding’ or equivalents. Here corresponding actually means the strike price of the option and its expiration date. This implies that the corresponding option to the synthetic position has the same strike price as well as the expiration date as of the regular option.