But it also had no shortage of detractors who questioned whether the company’s market capitalization of over US$750 billion—as of February 2021—was justified. There are times when you’re more sure that a stock won’t fall than you are that it will rise. You buy a long call when you think the market will go up a lot. You’re optimistic and willing to risk some cash in the hopes of making a multiple of that. In fact, the outcome of long call is better than short put if the underlying stock moves a lot – to either side.

This strategy is referred to as a covered call because, in the event that a stock price increases rapidly, this investor’s short call is covered by the long stock position. With calls, one strategy is simply to buy a naked call option. This is a very popular strategy because it generates income and reduces some risk of being long on the stock alone. The trade-off is that you must be willing to sell your shares at a set price—the short strike price. To execute the strategy, you purchase the underlying stock as you normally would, and simultaneously write—or sell—a call option on those same shares.

1. Investors may choose to use this strategy when they have a short-term position in the stock and a neutral opinion on its direction.
2. The call option seller’s downside is potentially unlimited.
3. Selling a put allows you to generate income as long as the stock doesn’t decline a lot, which comes in handy in stable bull markets.
4. When writing a put, the writer is required to buy the underlying at the strike price.

However, I think it is best to reiterate a few key points before we make further progress in this module. It would help if you remembered that when you buy an option, it is also called a ‘Long’ position. Going by that, buying a call option and buying a put option is called Long Call and Long Put position respectively. Further, here is a table where the option positions are summarized. Time decay was able to fight against any directional losses in this trade.

Nevertheless, the advantage of cash flow goes hand in hand with numerous disadvantages, particularly a less favorable risk and return profile. Being short a call is also a great strategy for a security you are neutral or bearish on. It requires far less capital, has much less risk, and has a greatly outsized potential https://1investing.in/ profit comparatively. Like being short an equity your max loss is still theoretically infinite. With a long call, you have a low probability of success IF you do not close the option early. You are expecting a price move in the underlying stock that will overcome the negative effects of time decay on the option.

Long Call vs. Short Call: The Key Differences

The buyer of the put gets to sell their shares at a specific price. In the iron butterfly strategy, an investor will sell an at-the-money put and buy an out-of-the-money put. At the same time, they will also sell an at-the-money call and buy an out-of-the-money call. Although this strategy is similar to a butterfly spread, it uses both calls and puts (as opposed to one or the other). In the P&L graph above, notice how the maximum gain is made when the stock remains unchanged up until expiration–at the point of the ATM strike.

Amelia writes a short call on ABC at $60 per share with an expiration date one year from now. She is confident ABC will continue declining for a while, or it at least won’t go up much in the next year. Calls can be bought or sold, depending on the option trader’s goals and expectations. Generally, the buyer of the call anticipates that the underlying stock price will rise and uses the call to lock in a discounted price. When you sell a put option, your broker will require funds be held in “margin” should that trade move against you. Since we are short a put option, you may think that is bad.

These strategies also help to hedge downside risk in a portfolio or specific stock. These two investing methods have features in common but also have differences that investors should understand. Puts give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying asset at the strike price specified in the contract.

Supercharge your skills with Premium Templates

Which strategy is better in the particular circumstance depends on the risk profile of the trader, time frame, and anticipated magnitude of the move. Buying calls and playing for the home run isn’t the right move for stocks like these. But you still have a market view you’re confident in and want to profit from. Selling a put allows you to generate income as long as the stock doesn’t decline a lot, which comes in handy in stable bull markets. But while Tesla’s baseline volatility is high compared to the average stock it has it’s own ebb and flow cycle.

Bearish put spread

Maximum risk of a short put is typically very high and equal to strike price minus option premium received. A balanced butterfly spread will have the same wing widths. This example long call vs short put is called a “call fly” and it results in a net debit. An investor would enter into a long butterfly call spread when they think the stock will not move much before expiration.

All traders know this and hence buying puts and calls is expensive to account for the big move. Professional options traders are fond of saying that anytime you trade options, you’re making a bet on volatility, whether you intend to or not. You can buy a call or put option or sell a call or put option. Buyers are said to hold long positions, while sellers are said to be short. A simple long stock position is bullish and anticipates growth, whereas a short stock position is bearish.

When outright calls are expensive, one way to offset the higher premium is by selling higher strike calls against them. For example, suppose an investor is using a call option on a stock that represents 100 shares of stock per call option. For every 100 shares of stock that the investor buys, they would simultaneously sell one call option against it.

Yeah, it’s very slim, but you do have the risk of assignment. If you do get assigned, you simply close out the trade and move on. But the bottom line is we’re typically out of these trades way before expiration. So, the chances of us getting assigned are very slim and it rarely happens. However, if you have a short position on the bearish ETF, if the S&P 500 gains 1%, your short position should gain 1% as well. Of course, specific risks are attached to short selling that would make a short position on a bearish ETF a less-than-optimal way to gain long exposure.

Are Protective Puts a Waste of Money?

It measures how expensive a stock’s options are as a percentile compared to the past 12 months. You sell a put when you think the market won’t go down a lot. By selling a put to another trader, you’re almost acting as a bookie, taking a fee to allow another trader to make a big bet.

You will lose the option premium paid in the beginning, but nothing more. Both options are currently trading at $2 per share, or $200 for one option contract (representing 100 shares of the underlying stock). When you are long an option, your maximum risk is defined by what you paid, and your profit potential is based on the underlying price action and is theoretically infinite. With a short call trade, you have a capped profit of the premium you collect, and the maximum loss is theoretically unlimited. You have a capped max loss and unlimited profit potential with a long call. The main difference is that instead of buying out-of-the-money options, you buy a long call and a long put at the same strike price, which is equal to the currently traded price.