Futures and options trading, especially for beginners, is far more intricate than other types of investing, such as equities investing. This is why you should not rush into anything without first learning the ins and outs of the situation.
Firstly, you don’t need a Demat account to deal in the future and options since they are only valid till their expiry date. So you can say that they are more like contracts rather than assets. Well, there’s a lot to understand before we move ahead with investing in it, and here you will get to know it all.
What are Futures and Options?
Futures and Options are one of the major types of stock derivatives in the entire trading market. These are like contracts that are signed by two parties in order to trade a stock asset at a predetermined price or maybe later. Such contracts try to evade the market risks that are involved in stock market trading and this is done by locking in the price beforehand.
Now since the Future and Options are assets in the market, they derive their price from an underlying asset, which is known by the same name only; underlying, like shares, stock market indices, commodities, ETFs, and more. Their basics help individuals to reduce and minimalize future risks through their investments with pre-determined prices. But the thing to remember is, it can cause some substantial profits or losses if any prediction in the market is inaccurate, this is because of the fact that the direction of price movements cannot be predicted or determined in any case.
This was just an introduction to Future and Options, let’s now move ahead and understand them separately as well and know what the difference is between the two.
What is the Difference Between Futures and Options
When it comes to obligations imposed on every individual, Futures, and Options trading are very different from each other. Futures require investors to complete a contract by a pre-set date, while options give them the right to do so.
A futures contract to buy or sell an underlying security must be executed on the exact date and price. An option contract helps the buyer, but the user decides if they profit from a trade.
Well, there’s more to the difference between Future and Options but this was the most and the major of it. Let’s learn about the main Futures and Options types and who should invest in them.
What are the Types of Futures and Options?
Starting with Options, there are two types of options, call option and put option, let’s understand them in brief:
Types of Options-
Option contracts give buyers/holders the right but not the obligation to buy or sell assets.
Here are its two types-
- Call Option- with a call option, the buyer or holder is given the right, however, not the obligation to buy a specified quantity of an asset that has been underlying at the moment.
- Put Option- it is quite the same as the call option, only that, it doesn’t provide the buyer or holder the obligation to sell a specified unity of an asset.
Types of Future-
Contrary to options, futures are the contracts that are to settle once they have been entered. Hence, if you enter into a futures contract, you are certainly obliged to buy or sell the underlying asset. Here are its types-
- Financial Futures- this includes stock futures, index futures, currency futures, and interest rate futures as well.
- Physical Future- This includes commodity future, energy future, metal futures and others.
So these were the types of future and options you have. Now before moving on to knowing who should invest in it, let’s comprehend what is Future and Options trading.
What is Futures and Options Trading?
Futures and options are derivative instruments where traders buy or sell the underlying assets at a pre-determined price. Unlike other aspects of trading, the trader will profit from a price drop whether he buys or sells. However, the trader will have to bear a loss in the opposite price movement.
In future trading, the trader will have to keep a certain percentage or amount of the future value as a margin with their broker to buy or sell the position, while to buy an option contract, the buyer will have to pay for the premium first.
Now that you learned about trading in Future and Options, let’s move ahead and get to know who should invest in Future and Options.
Who Should Invest in the Futures and Options?
Future and Options certainly have a profit potential but they certainly also have a solid risk. This is why futures and options trading may not be for everyone, but let’s take a look:
Hedgers- These are the traders who may get impacted because of a price movement of a certain asset and regarding this, they invest in a derivative contract to hedge off the potential risk involved with the movement of price in the asset.
Speculators- These are the traders who invest in such securities purely with the intention to extract profits from the price fluctuation.
Arbitrageurs- They are the ones who try to make a profit from the differences in the price of an asset because of the current market conditions.
Futures and Options With an Example
No matter how much we study the facts, it’s hard to visualize without an example. Let’s have a look at an example of the Future and Trading to understand it better.
Futures contracts are agreements between buyers and sellers to exchange the underlying asset at a specific future date and price.
For example, XYZ’s futures contract with an expiration date of October 2 is accessible at Rs. 500 (the current value of the XYZ shares in the market is Rs. 550). The buyer is agreeing to buy the company on October 2 for Rs. 500, regardless of what the value of the company is at that time.
The buyer and seller of an options contract agree to trade the underlying asset at a future price. The option buyer has the right but no obligation to buy the company on the agreed date.
I guess that certainly cleared all the remaining doubts of yours, didn’t it?
