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I'm not sure if this should be asked elsewhere, but it seems like a good place as any.

Options have a strike price, they have an underlying instrument, and they have an expiry. They are also either call or put options, but what is the noun to describe that?

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  • $\begingroup$ How about "payoff"? $\endgroup$
    – user357269
    Commented Feb 16, 2022 at 21:08
  • $\begingroup$ "payoff" refers to the amount you receive for exercising an option, which is something different. $\endgroup$
    – quant
    Commented Feb 17, 2022 at 10:25

3 Answers 3

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The "right" or (to make my post long enough) "CP" or "CallPutIndicator"

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  • $\begingroup$ Sounds good to me. So if I talk about the right of an option is it relatively clear what I am talking about? $\endgroup$
    – quant
    Commented Apr 29, 2014 at 1:15
  • $\begingroup$ It is to me. ;-) It doesn't come up very often other than in code. Usually, you'd talk about the calls or the puts. Or the OTMs or ITMs $\endgroup$
    – user508
    Commented Apr 29, 2014 at 1:21
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    $\begingroup$ You mean the moneyness :p $\endgroup$
    – quant
    Commented Apr 29, 2014 at 1:34
  • $\begingroup$ @ArmanSchwarz touché :) $\endgroup$
    – user508
    Commented Apr 29, 2014 at 1:43
  • $\begingroup$ @MattWolf You can sell rights. $\endgroup$
    – user508
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 11:24
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A specific option is generally defined as follows and in the following order:

  • Underlying
  • Exchange/ Trading Class
  • Expiry
  • Strike
  • Call/Put

Whether an Option is European or American generally follows from the above but you can still include a field/property to explicitly mention it.

But for the purpose of this discussion you should not denote whether an option is a call or put by using "Right" because the option is turning out to be an obligation if you hold a short position in the option. I know that some brokers denote a call or put as "Right" but it is inaccurate and can cause confusion. I would recommend to use terminology such as "CallPut" or "PutCall" or "OptionType".

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I would say "option style". From Wikipedia

In finance, the style or family of an option is a general term denoting the class into which the option falls, usually defined by the dates on which the option may be exercised. The vast majority of options are either European or American (style) options.

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    $\begingroup$ That is a separate issue, but thanks for bringing it up. I'm asking about the word describing whether it is a call or put option, not whether it is American or European. $\endgroup$
    – quant
    Commented May 1, 2014 at 22:35

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