For investors interested in getting started with options, the number of, well, options can seem intimidating. xxxxxx.
In this segment from Motley Fool Live that first aired May 7, Motley Fool Canada analyst Jim Gillies and Fool.com editor/analyst Ellen Bowman discuss xxxxx.
Jim Gillies: With stock, you can both buy a stock or go long or you can short a stock. The Motley Fool, of course, generally is 99.99 percent go long.
Ellen Bowman: Yeah.
Gillies: We're not in the shorting business. We've had a few services over the years that have engaged in minimal shorting, but the stock market goes up, or then it goes down.
Bowman: We'd rather go with it.
Gillies: We'd rather go with it. With puts and calls though you might want to go long or short on a call or on a put. There's different ways or reasons to do that. ... When you go a long on option, you're buying the right to do something, when you go short on option, you take on the obligation of fulfilling what the person who bought it, what they want to do.
