But doesn't the individual need to personally have the money to exercise (buy) the option? Exercising an option is worthwhile if the share price is a lot higher than your option price because if you don't have the money you probably can qualify for a loan to buy it because you will be making a profit, but if the share price is lower than option price you would be better to buy on the open market because its less expensive. Do you have to buy full quantity of optioned shares or can you purchase partial quantity?