losing your money. Say the price goes up when you were expecting it to go down. You now might have to buy the stock at a higher price you sold it at depending on the date agreed upon or if a call comes through on your PUT.
correctamundo once again toddy...you should go get your license bro! [img]{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif[/img]
the liabilities in buying calls or puts is the cost of the "right" to buy or sell (option) on the initial get go...this is called your premium...premiums vary depending on your future price that you have the "right" to buy or sell at...that future price is called your "strike price"...as the strike price moves higher/lower from the current price of the stock, you will note that the premium gets cheaper/expensive...depending on the strategy (put or call)...you OWN the right to buy or sell the stock at the strike price, it has cost you some money for the right to do so, you have the right to "exercise" those rights if it is lucrative to do so obviously...if it is not, you let them expire worthless and you're liability is merely the premiums you've paid
the liabilities in selling calls or puts are a bit different...primarily, you do not have the power to exercise nor do you have to say in just walking away from a worthless option...if it's worthless from your perspective, it is worthy to your counterparty....the BUYER...the one who OWNS the right to buy or sell at the strike price...since you are the seller, you are obligated to buy or sell (determined if it is a call or put) to the EXERCISER at the stated strike price....so you can imagine, if you are the seller of a call (bearish strategy), you've received premiums for selling the contract, you do not own the stock, stock rises to infiniti, you are on the hook to sell the stock at wherever the strike price is (let's say 50 bucks) to the buyer of the call option (who has obviously exercised the option) and since you do not own the stock, you have to buy it in the open market...the stock now costs infiniti...you are FUCKED...selling calls uncovered is considered to be the MOST riskiest option strategy out there...covered would mean that you own the stock to begin with...this is less risky as you are already long the position and there is no need for you to go out into the market to buy the stock.
make sense?