The hope is the value of the shares will go up and you’ll be able to sell them for (much) more than you paid. Exercising stock options means purchasing shares of the issuer’s common stock at the set price defined in your option grant. If you decide to purchase shares, you own a piece of the company.

When should you exercise stock options or sell?

Occasionally a stock pays a big dividend and exercising a call option to capture the dividend may be worthwhile. Or, if you own an option that is deep in the money, you may not be able to sell it at fair value. If bids are too low, however, it may be preferable to exercise the option to buy or sell the stock.

What does it mean to exercise stock options?

Some companies also give their employees stock options: the opportunity to buy shares of the company after a set amount of time known as the “vesting period.” What Does it Mean to Exercise Options? To “exercise options” simply means that the holder chooses to buy or sell shares of stock per the stock option agreement.

What should I do with my stock options?

potential appreciation of the price of your company’s common stock. Exercise your stock options to buy shares of your company stock, then sell just enough of the company shares (at the same time) to cover the stock option cost, taxes, and brokerage commissions and fees.

What happens to stock options when they expire?

Stock options have no value after they expire. The advantages of this approach are: the potential appreciation of the stock, thus widening the gain when you exercise them. Exercise your stock options to buy shares of your company stock and then hold the stock.

Can a Fidelity stock option be exercised at the same time?

With this transaction, which is only available from Fidelity if your stock option plan is managed by Fidelity, you may exercise your stock option to buy your company stock and sell the acquired shares at the same time without using your own cash.