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A
contingent premium option
is a European
option whose
premium is deferred to
expiration and is paid only if
the option expires in-the-money. If it expires at-the-money or out-of-the-money,
no premium is paid and the option expires worthless.
The expiration
value (which equals the payoff) of a
contingent premium call is shown in Exhibit 1:
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A premium is paid for a contingent premium
option only if it expires in-the-money. This will result in a loss
if the option expires only slightly in-the-money, as is illustrated
for a contingent premium call in this exhibit. |
Obviously, the holder of the option will lose money if the
option expires only slightly in the money. The purchaser is betting that the
option will either not expire in the money or that it will expire far in the
money.
A derivatives dealer can assemble a contingent premium option
from more simple instruments. For example, a contingent premium call can be
assembled by selling a cash-or-nothing binary
call option and using the proceeds to purchase a
vanilla
call. The contingent premium option can be priced by valuing the constituent parts.

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