real quotes, baked in at publish · as of Aug 5, 2026, 12:00 PT · say “refresh the options desk with today’s prices” to your AI and it republishes this page
Options, without the mystique
An option is a contract about a stock, not the stock itself. One page: what calls and puts actually are, the four positions you can hold, and a simulator wired to real prices so you can feel how the payoff moves before a dollar is real.
The two contracts
A call
The right (not the duty) to buy 100 shares at a set price — the strike — until expiration. You buy calls when you think the stock goes up. Flat until the strike, then it climbs.
A put
The right to sell 100 shares at the strike until expiration. You buy puts when you think the stock goes down — or to insure shares you own. It pays as the stock falls below the strike.
The premium
The price of the contract itself, quoted per share. A $4.50 premium costs $450, because every standard contract covers 100 shares. The buyer pays it; the seller keeps it no matter what.
The four seats
Buy a call: bullish, risk capped at premium. Buy a put: bearish, risk capped. Sell a call: you collect premium, lose if it rips up (uncapped if uncovered). Sell a put: you collect premium, lose as it falls.
The vocabulary
- strike
- The locked-in buy/sell price the contract is about.
- expiration
- The date the right ends. This page prices positions at expiration — the clean version, before time value.
- in the money
- The right is worth using now: stock above strike (call) or below it (put).
- out of the money
- Worth nothing if it expired now. All that's left is hope, which decays.
- breakeven
- The stock price where you neither make nor lose: strike ± premium.
- assignment
- What happens to a seller when the buyer uses the right: you must deliver (call) or buy (put) at the strike.
The simulator — drag the price, read the damage
Your setup saves to this page and syncs to your devices. Payoffs are at expiration; before expiry, time value and volatility move prices too. Education, not advice.
If AAPL finishes at $320.50, this long call is worth $0.55 in the money per share; after the $6.50 premium you are down $595.