Soybean Meal Option Price
The futures soybean meal price, and the soybean meal option price is not the same thing. Option price valuation is not as straightforward as futures valuation. Option premium is comprised of intrinsic value and extrinsic value.
An option has intrinsic value if the market is trading above the strike price of a call option, or below the strike price of a put option. If an option contract has intrinsic value it is called “in the money.” If an option contract does not have intrinsic value it is called “out of the money.”
For example:
If soybean meal is trading at $.30 a $.28 call option is $.02 in the money so the intrinsic value of the option is $1,200.
The extrinsic value of the option is its “time value.” Extrinsic value takes into account the possibility that an option may go in the money by expiration. The more time that an option has, the more extrinsic value it has. As an option approaches its expiration date it loses value. This is called time decay. At expiration an option has no extrinsic value so if the option is out of the money it expires worthless.
Soybean meal option prices do not move in tandem with futures prices. A $1 move in your favor in the soybean meal futures markets does not necessarily equal to a $1 increase in the soybean meal option value. The amount that an option value will increase based upon an increase in its futures price is called its delta. Call option deltas are measures from 0 to 1. As an option goes from “out of the money” to “in the money” its delta increases.
For example:
If a soybean meal call option has a delta of .5 and the price of the soybean meal futures market increases by $1 the value of the option will increase by $.5 or $50.
If you are a speculator with a limited amount of risk capital then soybean meal options may be best way for you to invest in the soybean meal market.
