Do I need cash to sell a call?

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<<<Do I need cash to sell a call?>>>

If you are selling a call you purchased earlier, you do not need anything else. You simply submit a "sell to close" order to sell the option.

If you are selling a call to open a position, you need to meet the margin requirements with either cash or marginable securities in your account.

<<<Let's say I buy a call with a strike price of $100 on XYZ. Then, at some point before expiry, the stock reaches $110 and I want to close the position and call the stock away.>>>

There are three ways to close a long call option position.

(1) You can sell it with a "sell to close" order.
(2) You can exercise the option, in which case you will buy the stock.
(3) You can let the option expire.

Since any one of these closes the position, you cannot both sell and exercise the same option. Once you have done either you no longer have the long option.

If you simply want to close the position the easiest and the almost always the most profitable way is to simply sell the option with a "sell to close" order. That way you do not have to buy the stock.

There is no reason to buy the stock by exercising the option then immediately sell the stock.

<<<Do I need $10,000 in cash to be able to call the stock at $100, or can I just engage in two near-simultaneous trades to buy at $100, sell at $110, and pocket the $1000?>>>

If you have a margin account you never need to have the cash in your account, you could "engage in two near-simultaneous trades to buy at $100, sell at $110." Your profit would almost certainly be higher by simply selling the option with a "sell to close" order, but there is no rule requiring you to make as much money as you can.

f you have a cash account you could probably get away with the two nearly simultaneous transactions, by you would have to be careful to avoid being a considered a "pattern day trader" and to avoid violating the free-riding rule. Just as with a margin account, your profit would almost certainly be higher by simply selling the option with a "sell to close" order, but there is no rule requiring you to make as much money as you can.

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I see another answer indicated you have to notify your broker you want to exercise a week before expiry. That may or may not be true for some markets somewhere in the world, but it certainly is NOT true for exchange traded stock options in the United States. You can notify your broker if you want to exercise the option at least until 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on the third Friday of the month in which the options expire. (Normal stock options expire on the Saturday following the third Friday of the month.)...Show more

If you want to exercise your call option and take possession of the stock, you have to notify your broker at least one week in advance of expiry. And yes, you would need $10,000 in your account to make the purchase of the stock, regardless of method.

If you miss this deadline, then you could pocket the gain on the call option and buy the shares outright if you wish. In this case, you will need $11,000 in your account to make the purchase of 100 shares of stock at $110/sh ($10,000 plus $1,000 profit from call option).

I thing you are a little confused on the terminology, but maybe I already answered your question.

The question "Do I need cash to sell a call?" doesn't make sense by itself....Show more