I know that call option gives you the right to buy a stock at a certain price in the future. But, when I signed up to trade, I am totally confused by the layout of the screen. I have no idea what to do. How does it work? I went to the online tutortial but it didnt make sense at all.For example say that I buy MSFT call on Jan 08 expiration date. According to the screen today, these are the numbers:SymbolLastChgBidAskVolOpIntStrikeSymbolLas tChgJan 08 Calls(146 days to expiration)MSFT @ 28.81Jan 08 PutsMQFAD8.609.19.25052,900Trade20MQFMD0.130MSQAX6 .806.86.9051,824Trade22.5MSQMX0.260MSQAJ4.6504.64. 70149,259Trade25MSQMJ0.480MSQAY2.7202.732.760177,4 96Trade27.5MSQMY1.020MSQAK1.3201.311.340435,314Tra de30MSQMK2.110MSQAZ0.500.480.50131,730Trade32.5MSQ MZ4.430MSQAL0.1500.140.150how does it work?thanks!

Don;t make any trades until you know what you're doing. Get and read Options as a Strategic Investment.In the meantime,Symbol is ticker symbol for callLast is most recent priceChg is today's price change, up or downBid/Ask are what buyers/sellers are currently offering and the price they are willing to buy/sell atOpInt is Open Interest - how many contracts of that particular call are open / being tradedRest fades off - maybe says Strike - that would be the strike price

They are for different strike prices. The AD is for a strike price of $20 up through the AL for a strike price of $35. For the AD, my decode is the bid is $9.10, the ask is $9.25, the open interest (that is the number of options that exist right now) is 52,900. the 8.20 is the price at the last trade. Run that all together in the right order and you get the magic code you have in your listing. I think someone is toying with your sanity and you should look for a clearer presentation. It is about money, so it should be seriously clear.