Options Trading - Calls and Puts By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Mike_Doering]Mike Doering Like most disciplines, options trading has some lingo peculiar to the world of the options market. Most stock traders have heard of 'calls' and 'puts', but explaining how they work is another matter. Calls and puts are two types of options; there are call options and there are put options. All options are defined by the following characteristics: they pertain to a specific underlying stock they have an expiration date they have an exercise price (a.k.a. a strike price) To help grasp these concepts of calls and puts, it's important to understand that owning calls or puts gives the owner certain rights. Now, if rights are one side of a coin, then obligations are the other side. When a trader buys an option they are buying a right to either buy a particular stock or sell a particular stock. If one trader holds a certain right, then some other trader must have the complementa...