Expiring call options?

If you had sold the calls as a covered call, your stock would be called away if the option expires ITM.

And this is true even if the stock price is ONE CENT above the strike. ( the broker exercises it automatically - check your Ts & Cs of your option agreement ).

If you sold 160 naked call contracts short - I will say that you definitely have cajones. In this case, your naked calls would have little value left - ( the stock is at $70.97 as I write ). So why not buy them back to close and reap your profit?

If you are long the calls ( you bought them ), then you can hope they finish ITM, as you can exercise the call, buy the shares and immediately sell them on Monday morning ( just hope like heck the stock does not go down big upon opening ). If COP closes the day below $72.50 ( very likely, I might add ), then you have lost all of your investment.

Doing naked short calls is a very risky strategy, unless you hedge it with another option. But I am sure you know that already, since you're working with such large amounts.

Edit: Well, COP finished at $71.20, so your calls expired worthless. As you were long the calls, it means you bought them - and you have now lost what you paid for them.

However, let's imagine that COP went up and ended today at $73. Then you have 2 options before the market closes - sell the calls for whatever you can get ( which may result in a gain or loss ); or do nothing and let the broker exercise the calls for you.

If you allow the broker to exercise the calls, then yes, you are obligated to buy COP at $72.50 per share. You get zero back from your calls, because you exercised them. So you will, indeed get a bill from your broker asking you to pay for the shares.

Now you have a choice - if the shares are now yours, you can sell them in the open market ( once it re-opens for trading on Monday ) and use the proceeds to pay for the bill ( if the broker allows you to, it may depend on the relationship you have with them). If the shares take off, you make even more. If they crash - well, you have a bigger loss. I'm certain you know all this.

But, all the above is moot now, because your calls expired worthless. And since you did suppress auto-exercise, you would not have a bill even if the stock had shot up above strike.

Sorry for the loss; I myself hold COP, and believe in its future, especially with the spin off later this year.

The actual exercise occurs on Saturday. If the option has any intrinsic value, it will likely be exercised. Transaction costs for exchange members are virtually nil; plus your broker gets to charge you a commission.

If it is in the money it will exercise. That is the way it works.