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To: Spartex who wrote (21293)	3/20/1998 4:23:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Quad, not sure I follow the question, but the person who writes a call is obligating himself to sell the stock at the strike price on or before expiration. The actual shares are not physically moved until and unless assigned. As long as the writer is not assigned, he keeps the option premium received and the stock. He keeps the premium either way, but may lose selling the stock at the strike price if the stock rises above it. The clearing house (OCC) will automatically assign options with 3/4 point or more intrinsic value at expiration. Any option not cashed out with less than 3/4 point value at expiration, just dies I believe, the buyer just put the money in the toilet. Hope this helps. sf

To: Spartex who wrote (21293)	3/20/1998 4:44:00 PM
From: Ben Antanaitis	Respond to of 42771

Quad-K, The shares never changed hands. In fact in a lot of case there never were any shares to begin with, they were 'naked' call contracts. The CALL contract writer just had an obligation to deliver shares if the contract was exercised by the contract buyer. The contract writer has had the premium all the long, it never has to go anywhere, except a part of it to Uncle Sam :-( The deal is that the contract buyer gets nada, zip, he gets to take a total loss on the preimum he paid to buy the contract. Ben A. PS the PUT contracts are the same, only different. Ben A.