Getting An Option Assignment Isn't Such A Scary Thing
Publicly-traded stocks and other equities often feature options, which are essentially derivatives of the motion of the underlying equity. Stock options are also publicly-traded (unless you're at a company that still gives stock options as performance bonuses). They allow individuals to reduce risk in their portfolio, or (infinitely more fun) to speculate on the movement of the underlying stock or equity. There are two forms of options, and just like regular equities, two ways to play them. In American-style markets, you are free to exercise options at any point prior to expiration. I'll spare you a crash-course in options, since you can get the jist of how they work in many other places. However, many tutorials gloss over a glaringly obvious fact that must not be intuitive to many people, based on my personal experience. It's also extremely simple: It is never optimal to actually exercise a call early , unless the underlying stock is about t...