E
Early Exercise (assignment)
The exercise or assignment of an option contract before its expiration date.
Equity Options
Options on shares of an individual common stock. See also Non-Equity Option.
Escrow Receipt
A receipt issued by a bank in order to verify that a customer (who has written a call) in fact owns the stock and therefore the call is considered covered.
European Exercise
A feature of an option that stipulates that the option may only be exercised at its expiration. Therefore, there can be no early assignment with this type...
European-Style Options
An option contract that may be exercised only during a specified period of time just prior to its expiration.
Ex-Dividend
The process whereby a stock's price is reduced when a dividend is paid. The ex-dividend date (ex-date) is the date on which the price reduction takes place...
Exercise
To implement the right under which the holder of an option is entitled to buy (in the case of a call) or sell (in the case of a put) the underlying securit...
Exercise Limit
The limit on the number of contracts which a holder can exercise in a fixed period of time. Set by the appropriate option exchange, it is designed to preve...
Exercise price
The price at which the option holder may buy or sell the underlying security, as defined in the terms of his option contract. It is the price at which the...
Exercise settlement amount
The difference between the exercise price of the option and the exercise settlement value of the index on the day an exercise notice is tendered, multiplie...
Expected Return
A rather complex mathematical analysis involving statistical distribution of stock prices, it is the return which an investor might expect to make on an in...
Expiration cycle
An expiration cycle relates to the dates on which options on a particular underlying security expire. A given option, other than LEAPS®, will be assigned t...
Expiration date
The day on which an option contract becomes void. The expiration date for listed stock options is the Saturday after the third Friday of the expiration mon...
Expiration time
The time of day by which all exercise notices must be received on the expiration date. Technically, the expiration time is currently 5:00PM on the expirati...