Opening Purchase

An opening purchase is an order to buy an options contract when you don't already hold a position in it, or when you want to add to one you already have. The word "opening" just tells the broker and the exchange what this trade means for your position: you are starting or growing a long position (a position that profits if the option's value rises), not closing one out.

This matters because options trading always involves saying whether an order is "opening" or "closing." When you buy an option, you're either opening a new long position or, if you already hold a short position in that exact same option, you'd instead be closing it. The label you choose changes how the trade is recorded and reported, and it also affects things like open interest, which is the running count of how many contracts in a given option are currently outstanding.

The nuance that trips people up is confusing "buying" with "opening." Buying is just the direction of the trade — you are paying money to acquire the contract. Opening is about your position before and after the trade. If you previously sold an option to open a short position and now buy the same contract back, that purchase is a closing purchase, not an opening one, even though the mechanical action is identical: you clicked "buy."

An opening purchase can apply to calls (options that gain value as the underlying stock rises) or puts (options that gain value as the underlying stock falls). Either way, it means you're establishing or adding to a long stance in that specific contract.