Trading facts

• Trading days: Are from monday ~ friday
• Trading hours: Equity options (options on stocks) trade @ normal stock market hours is from 9:30 a.m. ~ 4 p.m. EST. (from 15:30 ~ 22:00 CET)
• OPTION trading:
  • An options contract is an agreement between two parties to facilitate a potential transaction involving an asset at a preset price and date
  • Call options can be purchased as a leveraged bet on the appreciation of an asset, while put options are purchased to profit from price declines
  • Buying an option offers the right, but not the obligation, to purchase or sell the underlying asset
  • For stock options, a single contract covers 100 shares of the underlying stock
  • Options are generally used for hedging purposes but can be used for speculation, too. Options generally cost a fraction of what the underlying shares would. Using options is a form of leverage, allowing an investor to make a bet on a stock without having to purchase or sell the shares outright. In exchange for this privilege, the options buyer pays a premium to the party selling the option.
  • In general, call options can be purchased as a leveraged bet on the appreciation of a stock or index, while put options are purchased to profit from price declines. The buyer of a call option has the right, but not the obligation, to buy the number of shares covered in the contract at the strike price. Put buyers, on the other hand, have the right, but not the obligation, to sell the shares at the strike price specified in the contract.
• OPTION contract coding: [ROOT SYMBOL][EXPIRATION DATE 'YYMMDD'][CALL 'C' OR PUT 'P'][STRIKE PRICE 8 NUMBERS / 1000 USD]. Example 'NCLH230414C00012500': ROOT SYMBOL='NCLH', EXPIRATION DATE='2023-04-14', TYPE='CALL', STRIKE PRICE='12.500 USD'
• 'Last week price': The last (close) price known for the last week / as stored in database
• 'Last trade week prices': The last (close) price for each day in the last trade week
• 'Yesterday price': The last (close) price known for previous day / as stored in database
• 'Yesterday prices': The last (close) price for previous day per 2hours since trading start as stored in database
• 'Yestertradeday price': The last (close) price known for previous trade day / as stored in database
• 'Yestertradeday prices': The last (close) price for previous trade day per 2hours since trading start as stored in database
• 'Today prices': The last (close) price for today per 2hours since trading start as stored in database
• 'Last price': The last (close) price known / as stored in database
• 'Highest price': The highest (high) price known ever / as stored in database
• 'Highest watch price': The highest (high) price known since watching the OPTION contract / as stored in database
• Some external info about OPTION trading:
  Summarizing Call & Put Options