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An option is a contract giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation,
to buy or sell an underlying asset (a stock or index) at a specific price on
or before a certain date (listed options are all for 100 shares of the particular
underlying asset).
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An option is a security, just like a stock or bond, and constitutes a binding
contract with strictly defined terms and properties.
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Listed options have been available since 1973, when the Chicago Board Options
Exchange, still the busiest options exchange in the world, first
opened.
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