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Buying Put OptionsWhereas a call option conveys the right to purchase (go long) a particular futures contract at a specified price, a put option conveys the right to sell (go short) a particular futures contract at a specified price. Put options can be purchased to profit from an anticipated price decrease. As in the case of call options, the most that a put option buyer can lose, if he is wrong about the direction or timing of the price change, is the option premium plus transaction costs. Example: Expecting a decline in the price of gold, you pay a premium of $1,000 to purchase an October 320 gold put option. The option gives you the right to sell a 100 ounce gold futures contract for $320 an ounce. Assume that, at expiration, the October futures price has--as you expected-declined to $290 an ounce. The option giving you the right to sell at $320 can thus be sold or exercised at a gain of $30 an ounce. On 100 ounces, that's $3,000. After subtracting $1,000 paid for the option, your net profit comes to $2,000. Had you been wrong about the direction or timing of a change in the gold futures price, the most you could have lost would have been the $1,000 premium paid for the option plus transaction costs. However, you could have lost the entire premium. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.
The risk of loss exists in futures and options trading.
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