First time buying options📝study notes

This is my first time buying options, purely by chance. Actually, I don’t understand them at all, but I’m curious—really curious—so I’m learning bit by bit. A lot of the content in options courses is beyond me.

The only thing I grasped from others is: if I lose, I lose the entire premium. So, I looked for a call option where I could accept the potential loss—a $10 premium, AAPL0614-212.5, with a buy price of 0.1. Honestly, I don’t fully understand it, but I’m willing to spend $10 on one option to learn. (I initially thought if the stock rose to 212.5, I could make a lot of money—though I didn’t know how much. My knowledge is still limited. It’s basically betting $10 on whether it’ll hit 212.5, and now it has.)

On the day I bought it, the market value surged past $200. I don’t understand what exercising means, but I saw that clicking “sell” would net me that amount, which was enough. I didn’t sell on the first day, though—I thought the market value would keep accumulating, and sure enough, it rose again the next day. When it hit $450, I took a screenshot to flex to my friends.

(Surprise—I also bought NVIDIA. There’s no way I could afford the actual stock, but options are cheap. I bought six contracts, all thanks to the confidence from my AAPL trade.)

The image below shows last night’s closing price. The day before, it peaked at 8.35, meaning a market value of around $835. Subtracting the $10 premium, I could’ve sold for $825—if I’d sold then? Is that how it works? But I didn’t sell because I fell asleep—it was around 2 or 3 AM. By the close, the market value was back to $200+. If I’d bought ten contracts and stayed up to sell at the peak… damn, over $8K in one night. I’d be laughing in my dreams.

Now AAPL is closing at 2.53. As long as it doesn’t drop to 0.1, I’m not losing, right? Tonight’s the expiration—I have to sell. This hands-on lesson has been incredibly educational, and now I’m bold enough to buy more options.

I also added TSLA last night—heard it might rise.

Here’s how I understand options: if a stock fluctuates wildly in a day, the option’s value swings hard—fast gains, fast losses. But if the stock moves slowly, the option’s value seems to decay over time. Isn’t that called volatility?

(A wild guess: On expiration day, usually Friday, unless there’s a huge surge, profits are slim. If it’s flat, losses creep in? Just a theory. We’ll see tonight.) AAPL is down pre-market—no idea how the session will go. Rumors say there’s bullish news, but who knows? I’ll watch closely and sell opportunistically. Even if I hold till the end and miss the target, the max loss is just $10.

I’ve got some NVDA and TSLA too—both have positive catalysts lately. Wish me luck! First pot of gold from options, hehe!