The Mechanics of Options
Understanding the nuts and bolts of options is crucial for navigating the field, especially in the world of DeFi where volatility is high.
Let's delve into the details. We will use the ETH as the underlying asset for the examples.
Buying and Selling Options
In options trading, two actions are fundamentally important: buying (or 'going long') and selling (or 'writing'/'going short').
When you buy a call option, you're purchasing the right (but not the obligation) to buy an underlying asset at a predetermined price (strike price) within a certain time period. For instance, you could buy a call option for ETH with a strike price of $1500, expiring in a month. If the price of ETH climbs to $2000 within that month, you can exercise your option, buy ETH at $1500, and immediately sell it for $2000, pocketing a neat profit.
Conversely, when you buy a put option, you're obtaining the right to sell ETH at a predetermined price within a specified timeframe. If you buy a put option with a strike price of $1500, and ETH's price drops to $1000, you could still sell your ETH for $1500, mitigating potential losses.
On the flip side, writing or selling options on ETH involves giving someone else the right to buy (for call options) or sell (for put options) ETH at a predetermined price. The seller receives the premium but bears the obligation to fulfill the contract if the buyer exercises the option.
Option Pricing and its Components
The cost of an option, also known as the option's premium, isn't pulled from thin air. It's calculated based on several key components:
Price of the underlying asset: For example, the current price of ETH.
Strike price: The price at which the option allows you to buy/sell the asset.
Time to expiration: The duration left for the option to be exercised.
Volatility of the underlying asset: This is the expected fluctuation in the price of underlying asset. The more volatile, the higher the premium.
Risk-free interest rate: The return rate on a risk-free investment. In the real world, this is often based on government bonds.
The premium has two main components: intrinsic value and time value.
Intrinsic value is the difference between the current price of ETH and the strike price (if that difference is in the buyer's favor). For example, if you have a call option with a strike price of $1500, and ETH is currently trading at $1800, the intrinsic value of the option is $300.
Time value represents the potential for future changes in the intrinsic value before the option's expiration. The more time remaining until an option's expiration, the higher its time value, as there's a greater chance the underlying asset's price will move favorably.
Understanding Payoff Diagrams
Payoff diagrams are powerful tools that depict the potential profits and losses from different options strategies at varying ending prices for the underlying asset.
For example, if you bought a call option for ETH at a $1500 strike price for a premium of $200, your maximum loss would be the premium if ETH’s price is below $1500 at expiration. If the price rises above $1700 ($1500 strike price + $200 premium), you start seeing profits.
In essence, understanding options mechanics is like having a roadmap for navigating the exciting world of DeFi options trading. With this knowledge, you can make informed decisions and develop sophisticated trading strategies. As we dive deeper into this guide, we'll explore these strategies and learn how to use them effectively in your trading arsenal.
Now that we've laid down the basics of options and their mechanics, it's time to take a closer look at the model that laid the foundation for modern options pricing - the Black-Scholes Model. Created by economists Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, with key insights from Robert Merton, this model provides a theoretical estimate of the price of European-style options. Understanding this model will deepen your knowledge of options and their pricing, and allow you to better assess the fair value of an option. In the next chapter, we'll delve into the details of the Black-Scholes Model and its implications for your options trading strategies.
Last updated