put
noun
Put — the common shorthand for the right to sell at a fixed price
Definition
The option to sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date
In depth
A put, in this financial shorthand, names the option to sell a given stock, stock index, or commodity future at a specified price before expiration, functioning as the common abbreviated form of 'put option' in everyday trading conversation. The context of financial discussion almost always makes this specialized meaning unmistakable.
Origin
The word shares its root entirely with 'put option,' both drawing on the holder's right to 'put,' or deliver, an asset to the option's seller. Its frequent compression into simple shorthand within trading floors and financial conversation reflects how specialized professional vocabularies often abbreviate formal terms once their meaning becomes contextually self-evident among practitioners.
Usage examples
"She bought a put as protection against a possible market downturn in the coming weeks."
"Traders watched put activity closely, reading it as a signal of growing investor anxiety."
"Selling a put obligates the seller to buy the underlying asset if the buyer chooses to exercise it."
How to use it
Put, used in this financial sense, is common shorthand within trading and investment contexts, distinguishable from the word's many unrelated everyday uses by the surrounding discussion of options, strikes, and expirations.
Related concepts
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