Abstract
Options are a special type of financial asset that give the holder the right but not the obligation to buy or sell an underlying security at a predetermined price. Options were first traded in Chicago in 1972, and a decade later in 1982 London opened the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) and is currently the largest options Exchange in Europe. Options contracts have proved very popular for both commodities and financial securities, and among the most popular contracts traded on LIFFE are interest rate contracts, currency contracts and stock-index contracts.
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Further reading
Hull, J.C. (2003) Options Futures and Other Derivatives Prentice-Hall.
Kolb, R.W. (2002) Futures, Options and Swaps 4th edn, Basil Blackwell.
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© 2005 Keith Pilbeam
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Pilbeam, K. (2005). Options. In: Finance and Financial Markets. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26273-1_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26273-1_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-62945-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-26273-1
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