What does 'In the Money', 'Out of Money', 'At the Money' mean, with respect to Call Option?
A Call Option is said to be ‘In the Money’ if its strike price is less than the current stock price in the cash segment of the market. Exercising an ‘In the Money’ Call Option will lead to profit for the option holder.
Call Option is ‘At the Money’ if its strike price is equal to price of the underlying i.e. current stock price in the cash segment of the market. Exercising an ‘At the Money’ Call Option will lead to no profit / no loss situation for the option holder.
Call Option is said to be ‘Out of the Money’ if its strike price is more than the current stock price in the cash segment of the market. Option holder must not exercise an ‘Out of the Money’ Call Option as it will lead to loss.
E.g. If share price of ABC Ltd is Rs. 100 in the cash market, a call option will strike price of 90 is ‘In the Money’ call option, whereas a call option with strike price of 110 is ‘Out of Money’ call option and call option with strike price 100 is ‘At the Money’ Call option.
25th Nov 2013 at 02:47 pm