Name the instrument before the idea

A ticker does not describe a complete position. Your record also needs the instrument, direction, quantity, currency and relevant contract terms. Owning shares and buying an option on those shares are different positions, even when both refer to the same company. Write enough detail that someone reading the row next month can identify what your calculation meant.

For an equity option, a call holder has the right to buy and a put holder the right to sell the underlying shares. The strike is the contract’s specified purchase or sale price; expiration limits its life. The premium is the option’s quoted price. A holder has a right, while the writer takes the corresponding obligation. Record call or put, strike, expiration and multiplier. Standard contracts commonly represent 100 shares, but adjusted contracts can differ. Verify the actual specification.

You are not choosing an option strategy in this lesson. You are learning to stop a missing label from becoming a calculation error. Add a field for any term you cannot yet explain. Unanswered questions belong in the record; they are a reason to continue learning, not something to hide behind a confident ticker symbol.