Naked Option

Categories: Options, Investing and Trading, Stocks, Legal, ,

When you write, or sell, a call option but don't own the underlying instrument, such as a stock in the case of an equity option, the option is described as naked. Similarly, you write a naked put if you don't have enough cash on hand or in liquid investments to purchase the underlying instrument. Because you collect a premium when you sell the option, you may make a profit if the underlying instrument performs as you expect, and the option isn't exercised. The risk you run, however, is that the option holder will exercise the option. In the case of a call, you'll then have to buy the instrument at the market price in order to meet your obligation to sell. Or, if it's a put, you'll have to come up with the cash to purchase the instrument. If that price of the underlying has moved in the opposite direction from the one you expected, meeting your obligation could result in a substantial net loss. Because of this risk, your brokerage firm may limit your right to write naked options or require that you write them in a margin account.

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Separate Account Fund

Categories: Finance,

Each variable annuity contract offers a number of separate account funds. Each of those funds owns a collection of individual investments chosen by a professional manager who is striving to achieve a particular objective, such as long-term growth or regular income.You allocate your variable annuity premiums among different separate account funds offered in your contract to create a diversified portfolio of funds, sometimes called investment portfolios or subaccounts.If you're comparing different contracts to decide which to purchase, among the factors to consider are the variety of funds each contract offers, the past performance of those funds, the experience of the professional manager, and the fees.In evaluating the past performance and other details of the funds a contract offers, or the funds you are using in the contract you selected, you can use the prospectus the annuity company provides for each separate account fund. You may be able to find independent research on the funds from firms such as morningstar, inc., Standard & Poor's, and Lipper.

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Naked Option

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Separate Account Fund

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