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Ge Stock Option

Option Markets & Instruments (FINC-725)
Internet Project
Spring 2007

Submitted by:
Bhavsar Ankitkumar (0470743)
(201) 360-9586
ajbhavsar@gmail.com

General Electric Stock Option

Introduction:

Option is a right without an obligation to buy or sell quantity of an asset on an exchange, within specified expiration period for a present exercise price in exchange for present premium which must be paid upfront. The first trading in puts and calls began in Europe and in the United States as early as the eighteenth century.

In April 1973 the Chicago Board of Trade set up a new exchange, named the Chicago Board Option Exchange, especially for the purpose of trading options. Since then Option market become increasingly popular with investors. The American Stock Exchange and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange began trading option in 1975. The Pacific Exchange did the same in 1976. By the early 1980s the volume of trading had grown so rapidly that the number of shares underlying the Option contracts traded each day exceeded the daily volume of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In the 1980s market developed in the United States for option in foreign exchange, option on stock indices, and option on futures contracts. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange is the premier exchange for trading foreign exchange options. The Chicago Board Options Exchange trades options on the S&P 500 stock index, the NASDAQ 100 index, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Options Exchanges now exist all over the world.

The over the counter market for options has grown very rapidly since the early 1980s and is now bigger than the exchange-traded-market. One advantage of options traded in the over the counter is that they can be tailored to meet the particular needs of corporate treasurers or fund manager. For example a corporate treasurer who wants a European call options to buy 4.3 million British pounds at an exchange rate of 2.0015 will not...