At The Money

  

Categories: Investing, Stocks, Trading

It sounds like something contestants shout during Wheel of Fortune ("Big Money! Atta Money! At-the-Money!") or maybe a kind of specialized racetrack bet ("I'd like the number four horse in the second rate at the money"). But "at the money" actually means that a stock's price matches the strike price of the stock options that an investor has bought.

So if you have the right to buy a share at $50 and then the share actually is at $50 when you go to buy, the share is at the money. Example: Joe Shmoe has paid 3 bucks for the right to buy a share of KO (Coke) for $80. That option expires in a week and the stock is at $76 a share today. If the stock climbs to $80 a share (the bid), then it is said to be "at-the-money" or at the strike price. If it climbs above $80, then it's "in the money"; below $80, it's "out of the money" honey.

Note that KO could be $82.50 and the call option buyer has still lost money on the trade (she paid $3 for the call and KO ended up only $2.50 in the money so she lost half a buck).

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is Good Delivery?11 Views

00:00

Finance allah shmoop What is good delivery All right Well

00:07

here's bad delivery You have been there if a security

00:10

that's traded on an exchange meets the requirements toe permit

00:14

it to be transferred from seller to buyer While then

00:18

the transfer is said to be of good delivery When

00:21

it happens legal transfer happens with no hiccups and well

00:24

life is good But on the other hand if a

00:26

share of stock is say restricted as in a one

00:29

forty four a type situation so that it cannot be

00:33

transferred Well then good delivery of this share cannot be

00:36

realized Recall that a one forty four a restriction is

00:39

a common provisions that insiders like early investors and management

00:43

and founders of a recently i po'd company fall under

00:47

that is for a six months and change after the

00:49

company was first taken public they are restricted from being

00:53

able to transact in there stock They couldn't sell it

00:55

And nobody could take good delivery of those shares Well

00:58

why would there be a provisioned for good delivery in

01:01

the first place Well you can imagine that before the

01:04

various regulatory bodies took hold in america there was all

01:07

kinds of room for fast talking city slickers to sell

01:10

no value Floor tiles of blue sky too ignorant farmers

01:14

who really didn't know what they were buying or that

01:17

various legal hoops had to be jumped through first So

01:20

good delivery actually became a hurdle that brokerages and their

01:23

clients had to pay attention to And well let's hope

01:26

they get it better Then this ups guy We're still 00:01:29.509 --> [endTime] angry about our glasses Yeah

Up Next

Finance: What are Buy Stop and Sell Stop Orders?
10 Views

What are Buy Stop and Sell Stop Orders? An investor makes a buy stop order; the buy stop tells the broker to purchase an asset when its price becom...

Finance: What is Good 'Til Canceled (GTC)?
2 Views

What is Good ‘Til Cancelled (GTC)? GTC orders are trade orders that may be filled at any time unless the investor cancels it. Good til cancelled...

Finance: What are Limit Order, Sell Limit and Stop Limit?
4 Views

What is a limit order, and how can we be sure we never have one of those in place when we go to a doughnut shop?

Finance: What Does "Away from the Market" Mean?
3 Views

What does “Away from the Market” mean? Away from the market just means that a stock is moving away from its benchmark. This happens when the bu...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)