While you could conceivably hold a stock forever, options have a limited life span, usually just a couple of months. After that, it would cease trading altogether. Buying options isn't free. You pay a price called a premium, which is determined by several variables, all of which have to do with the likelihood that the option will be worth something by the time it expires. The first variable is the price of the underlying stock.
Time is the second critical variable.
The more time before an option expires, the more chance the stock has to rise above the strike price. The other major factor influencing an option's price is the volatility of the underlying stock. More volatile stocks have more expensive option premiums, simply because there's a greater chance the stock will move in one's favor. IBM would likely have a lower volatility than Dell Computer, for example, which has historically moved a lot more than Big Blue. Not quite money for nothing One of the advantages to trading options is that it allows speculation on the movement of a stock without having to spring for the stock itself.