Traditional Options Versus Binaries
Trading options is seen by many people as a safe way to speculate on asset prices. In the traditional sense, an option gives you the freedom, but not the obligation, to buy a set amount of an asset at a previously determined price. If the price is right, you can execute the trade and make a profit. Call options are for when you think the price of an asset is going to go up. With these, you agree with a broker on a low price . If the actual price goes above that set amount, you can buy the lot at the lower price and then immediately turn around and sell the lot off at the higher market price. A put option works similarly, but in the opposite direction—so if the price drops, you will be profitable.
The luxury to be able to make this choice is not free. There is a contract price that you must pay, usually determined by how many individual units of the asset you are buying and how far away the expiry is . Because you may execute your option at any time prior to the expiry, the further away the expiration date is, the higher the contract price will be.
Let’s look at an example. Assume you want to buy 1,000 units of Cisco stock. Cisco is currently a $23.00 per share, and you think that it will go up to $26.50. Buying this quantity of stock would typically cost you $23,000 up front, and if Cisco drops in value, you stand to lose a lot of money. But if, instead of buying the stock in the traditional sense, you want to exercise an option, your investment will be much smaller. Assume you can find a six month option a $23.50 per share. When the price reaches your goal of $26.50, you can use your option rights and see a profit of $3,000.
The minus is that a contract costs money. It might be only around $10 for the contract, plus $1 per share. For 1,000 shares, you would be spending $1,010 for the right to make your trade six months from now and profit by $1,990. This might seem like a lot of money for a possibility, but think about it this way: if you bought the share normally and they went down $2 per share, you would lose $2,000 right away. Options offer an extra layer of protection that the stock market does not.
Do not confuse traditional options with binary options. Binary options are not true options because you never actually take ownership of the asset . You also do not have the freedom whether or not to execute the trade at a later time. When you buy an option, your choice making ability (in most cases) vanishes. You must simply wait until the expiration time to see whether you were profitable in your decision or not.
Binary options offer even more protection than traditional options do. You won’t have to ever shell out $1,000 to execute a trade if you do not want to. And if you do decide to trade with this denomination, you will know exactly what your profit rate will be. There is very little guesswork in binary options as the broker stipulates all of the variables prior to the trade’s execution. The only question mark is whether the asset is going to go up or down. This is where you step in as a trader. This should make your job easier since there are few variables that you will need to estimate before you actually begin actively trading.