meaning of exercise assignment

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Exercise and Assignment

Options buyers  exercise  their options.

Options sellers are  assigned  when an option is exercised.

Exercising your right

A call option is the right to buy the underlying future at the strike price. The process for activating that “right”, is called “exercising the right” or simply to “exercise” the option. For a call option, that activity is also referred to as “calling the underlying” away from the option seller.

Options buyers (either put or call buyers) are the only ones that control whether an option can be exercised.  Option sellers have the obligation if assigned and thus have no control over the exercise procedure.

A put option gives the owner of the option, the right to “put” the underlying future, to the seller of the option. Imagine if a store offers a “30 day no questions asked return policy”, that is like a “put”. You can “put” the item back on the store’s shelf and get a refund. If you return the item to the store, you have “exercised your right” to sell the item back to the store.

Option buyers are the only options traders who can “exercise” the right. Call owners, those who are “long the call”, can exercise their right to buy the underlying at the strike price. And put owners, those who are “long the put”, can exercise their right to sell the underlying at the strike price.

Being assigned

Sellers of call options are  obligated  to sell you that future, at a specific price. They were paid a premium to take on the risk of having to sell you something at a lower price than the current market.

Similarly, the writers of put options are  obligated  to buy that future at the specific price, that is higher than the current market price.

When an option owner exercises the right embedded in the contract, someone has to be assigned the duty of fulfilling the obligation, and it may not be the original person who sold the option.

The process of assigning options is performed by the central clearing house. CME Clearing using an algorithm to randomize the assignment to the options sellers.

Options owners exercise their contracts when markets move in their favor. Sellers of options accept premium and could be assigned when markets benefit the buyers.

Long call option upon exercise results in long futures

Short call option upon assignment results in short futures position (futures called away)

Long put option upon exercise results in short futures position

Short put option upon assignment results in long futures position (long futures put into their account)

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Exercising Options

The holder of an american-style option can exercise his right to buy (in the case of a call) or to sell (in the case of a put) the underlying shares of stock. .

They first must direct their brokerage firm to submit an exercise notice to OCC. For an option holder to ensure that they exercise the option on that particular day, the holder must notify his brokerage firm before that day’s cut-off time for accepting exercise instructions.

The brokerage firm notifies OCC that an option holder wishes to exercise an option. OCC then randomly assigns the exercise notice to a clearing member. For an investor, this is generally his brokerage firm chosen at random from a total pool of such firms. The firm must then assign one of its customers who has written (and not covered) that particular option.

Assignment to a customer is either random or on a first-in-first-out basis. This depends on the firm’s method. Ask your brokerage firm which method it uses for assignments.

The holder of an American-style option contract can exercise the option at any time before expiration. Therefore, an option writer may be assigned an exercise notice on a short option position at any time before expiration. If an option writer is short an option that expires in-the-money, they should expect assignment on that contract, though assignment is not guaranteed as some long in-the-money option holders may elect not to exercise in-the-money options. In fact, some option writers are assigned on short contracts when they expire exactly at-the-money or even out-of-the money. This occurrence is usually not predictable.

To avoid assignment on a written option contract on a given day, the position must be closed out before that day's market close. Once assignment is received, an investor has no alternative but to fulfill assignment obligations per the terms of the contract.

There is generally no exercise or assignment activity on options that expire out-of-the-money. Owners usually let them expire with no value. Although this is not always the case as post-market underlying moves may lead to out-of-the-money options being exercised and in-the-money options not being exercised.

READ MORE ON ASSIGNMENT (PDF)

What's the Net?

When an investor exercises a call option, the net price paid for the underlying stock on a per share basis is the sum of the call's strike price plus the premium paid for the call. Likewise, when an investor who has written a call contract is assigned an exercise notice on that call, the net price received on per share basis is the sum of the call's strike price plus the premium received from the call's initial sale.

When an investor exercises a put option, the net price received for the underlying stock on per share basis is the sum of the put's strike price less the premium paid for the put. Likewise, when an investor who has written a put contract is assigned an exercise notice on that put, the net price paid for the underlying stock on per share basis is the sum of the put's strike price less the premium received from the put's initial sale.

Early Exercise/Assignment

For call contracts, owners might exercise early to own the underlying stock to receive a dividend. Check with your brokerage firm on the advisability of early call exercise.

It is extremely important to realize that assignment of exercise notices can occur early, days or weeks in advance of expiration day. Investors should expect this as expiration nears with a call considerably in-the-money and a sizeable dividend payment approaching. Call writers should be aware of dividend dates and the possibility of early assignment.

When puts become deep in-the-money, most professional option traders exercise before expiration. Therefore, investors with short positions in deep in-the-money puts should be prepared for the possibility of early assignment on these contracts.

Volatility is the tendency of the underlying security's market price to fluctuate up or down. It reflects a price change's magnitude. It does not imply a bias toward price movement in one direction or the other. It is a major factor in determining an option's premium.

The higher the volatility of the underlying stock, the higher the premium. This is because there is a greater possibility that the option will move in-the-money. Generally, as the volatility of an underlying stock increases, the premiums of both calls and puts overlying that stock increase and vice versa.