This position would read: NET 102C 3/08/2024.

Let’s break this down to explain each part: 

The first part, NET, is the stock “ticker”, an identifying abbreviation, for the company Cloudflare Inc. This just tells you what company or stock the contract is for. (For example, the “ticker” for the S&P 500 ETF Trust is SPY).

The second part, 102C, actually has two pieces of information. The 102 refers to the “strike”, or the price the stock price must reach for this contract to be “in the money”. 

The C indicates that this contract is a “Call” (whereas a P would be a “Put”) 

The last part of this contract, 3/08/2024, is the expiration date of the contract. This is exactly what it sounds like; the last date this contract can be transacted, and after which, will cease to exist. 

At the expiration date of a contract (in this case, March 8th, 2024), there are 3 potential circumstances that can happen for a call contract. 

• The contract expires in the money, which means the underlying share price’s value is greater than the strike price, or NET > $102. This gives you the option to exercise the contract and purchase 100 shares of Apple at $190 a share. We’ll talk more on exercising later in this section.
• You can also sell the contract beforehand, and collect money from the sale. Depending on certain circumstances, which we will get to later, this may either be a gain or a loss. This option is the most common for retail traders like us.
• NET shares might be less than $102, which means the contract expires worthless, and is then worth $0. Why does it expire worthless? It simply does not make sense to purchase the shares for more than they are worth. If the stock is not $102 or higher, this contract would expire worthless on the expiration date.