Buying an option when stock market trading is not quite the same as buying a stock. Options are actually a form of leverage, or a way to access a lot of money, with only a little money. The downside to the approach is that it doesn't come without its risks, you can make a large amount of money in options, but you can also lose up to the stock's full value if things don't go right.

A stock option is only an opportunity to buy stock at a given price, regardless of its market value. This does not obligate the purchaser. This means you do not have to purchase the stock (exercise your options) if you think things are not going favorably. However, options are typically time/price dependent. You need to wait until the particular stock reaches a particular price before you "exercise" them, or you need to "exercise" them before a certain time or a certain date.

An option trading strategy is dependent on the number and type of options involved. Often, those options aren't involved in the same kind of process as stock market trading. Rather, options can be found on an exchange market (which includes bonds and futures, for example, as well as stocks and commodities), and also through private dealers. The latter are termed "over the counter" options, and interest rates are involved here.

Figuring out the value of options is problematic. When you own an option, you don't actually own a thing, you own the potential to own a thing. Many models have grown up over the years to figure out what that's worth, and at least one of them has won the Nobel prize in economics for its contributions to financial understanding. Unfortunately most of the pricing models are quite complex and take a fair bit of effort to understand.

But all the models rely on four basic actions: short and long puts and calls. Call and put refer to the option to buy or sell the stock at a fixed price (specifically at the time of the put or call). Long and short refer to different option strategies for managing the puts and calls depending on whether the stock is expected to increase or decrease in stock market trading.

It is important that you understand that financial things can be complicated and hard to understand. You probably won't be able to learn just by starting. If you begin without understanding what you are getting into, you can loose a lot of money really quickly. You don't want to end up broke.