Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• CALL OPTION
  
  Buying a call option gives you the right to buy a fixed quantity of the underlying investment at a specified price, called the strike price, within a specified time period. For example, you might buy a call option on 100 shares of a stock if you expect the market price to increase but prefer not to tie up your money by making the actual purchase. If the price of the stock goes up, you can exercise the option and buy at less than the market price. But if the price doesn't change or it drops, you can simply let the option expire. In contrast, you can sell a call option, which is known as writing a call. That gives the buyer the right to buy the underlying investment from you at the strike price before the option expires. If you write a call, you are obliged to sell if the option is exercised.
  
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