Net Option Premium

The net option premium is the total amount an investor or trader will pay for selling one or more options, and at the same time purchasing others, for example in an options spread. The combination can include any number of puts and calls and their respective position in each. The net option premium can either be positive, which represents a net cash outflow, or a negative number, which represents a net cash inflow.

The net option premium is useful since often times options traders will engage in spreads or combination strategies that involve two or more options. Since each individual options contract will carry its own premium (i.e. its market price), the net options premium indicates the total outlay or inflow of money for a transaction with multiple legs.

The net options premium will inform a trader what the total outlay or inflow a multi-leg options strategy such as a spread or combination will generate. It can also help the trader tweak the strategy to arrive at a particular total premium amount, including a zero-cost position.

For example, assume an investor wants to take a synthetic covered call position in a particular stock. If the investor pays $2.50 per lot for a put option with a strike price of $55, and then sells a call option at the same strike price for $1.00 per lot. The net option premium in this example is $1.50 ($2.50 - $1.00).

If, on the other hand, the investor pays $0.50 per lot for a put option with the same strike price, and sells a call option for $1.00 per lot, then there will be a net cash inflow (a negative net option premium) of $0.50 ($0.50 - $1.00).

Sometimes a trader will want to initiate an options spread for zero cash outlay, or no-cost. Commonly these are structured as ratio spreads or as zero-cost collars. For instance, if the 55 strike put from the example above is trading at $2.50 and the 50 strike put is trading at $1.25, a trader could buy one of the 55 puts and simultaneously sell two of the 50 puts, generating a one-by-two ratio put spread for zero net premium. Of course, as the underlying stock moves or as time passes, the prices of these options will change differently and the value of the spread will move away from zero, either in favor or against the trader.