ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Options strategies

Options are like a special kind of toy that grown-ups play with when they want to invest money in the stock market. They're like superhero powers that let people make money even when the stock market is going down, or protect them from losing money if it falls too much.

One of the ways that grown-ups use these toy powers is by using options strategies. This is when they combine different options together to make a plan for how to use them to make money or protect themselves from losing money.

For example, one strategy is called a covered call. This is when a grown-up owns a stock and wants to make some extra money from it. They use one option power to sell someone else the right to buy that stock from them at a certain price. This is like saying, "Hey, I'll let you buy my toy for $10 if you want, but only if you do it before next Friday." If the stock stays below that price, the grown-up gets to keep the stock and the $10 they got from the other person. But if the stock goes above that price, the other person will probably want to buy it so they can sell it for more money. In that case, the grown-up sells the stock and gets a profit from the difference between what they sold it for and what they originally paid for it.

Another strategy is called a straddle. This is when a grown-up thinks that a stock might move a lot, but they're not sure which direction it will go. They use one option power to buy the right to buy the stock at a certain price and another option power to buy the right to sell the stock at another price. It's like saying, "I don't know if my toy is going to go up in price or down in price, but I know it's going to move a lot. So I'm going to buy the right to sell it at a low price and the right to buy it at a high price. That way, no matter which way it goes, I'll be able to sell it for more than I bought it for." If the stock doesn't move much, this strategy might not make much money. But if it moves a lot in one direction or the other, the grown-up could make a lot of profit.

There are many other types of options strategies that grown-ups use. Some are simple and some are complicated, but they all involve using different option powers to make a plan for how to invest money in the stock market.