When writing a covered call, what's the difference between a “net debit” and a “net credit”?
"When you enter into a multi-legged trade where one is a buy and one is a sell, the limit is expressed as either: The gist is that you don't care what each individual piece costs; you only care what the cost of the bundle is. When you put on a buy-write, you are buying stock and selling a (covered) call against that stock.  That trade will always cost money. Putting on a buy-write will always be done at a net debit.  This is because is is normally impossible for a call to be worth more than its underlying stock price.  There are a few possible reasons there would be a""net credit"" option for what's described as a ""buy-write"":" When you buy a stock and sell a covered call, the call can't be valued higher than the stock, right? How can a call on a $10 stock sell for more than the stock?  So, the initial position of a covered call will cost you something. The transaction is a debit  to you. The net amount of the deal, usually prices as per stock/option single share.  For the image showing net credit, it's as if you expect to get paid for you to take this deal. "I am not familiar with this broker, but I believe this is what is going on: When entering combination orders (in this case the purchase of stocks and the writing of a call), it does not make sense to set a limit price on the two ""legs"" of the order separately. In that case it may be possible that one order gets executed, but the other not, for example. Instead you can specify the total amount you are willing to pay (net debit) or receive (net credit) per item. For this particular choice of a ""buy and write"" strategy, a net credit does not make sense as JoeTaxpayer has explained. Hence if you would choose this option, the order would never get executed. For some combinations of options it does make sense however. It is perhaps also good to see where the max gain numbers come from. In the first case, the gain would be maximal if the stock rises to the strike of the call or higher. In that case you would be payed out $2,50 * 100 = $250, but you have paid $1,41*100 for the combination, hence this leaves a profit of $109 (disregarding transaction fees). In the other case you would have been paid $1,41 for the position. Hence in that case the total profit would be ($1,41+$2,50)*100 = $391. But as said, such an order would not be executed. By the way, note that in your screenshot the bid is at 0, so writing a call would not earn you anything at all."
"You're looking at the ""wrong"" credit. Here's the Wikipedia article about the bookkeeping (vs the Finance, that you've quoted) term." Even assuming you were reading the balance sheet correctly it means nothing. What banks mostly care about is cash flow.  Do they have enough extra money to make the payments on whatever they borrow? I have never had a credit card company ask me about assets--they don't care.  They care about income with which to pay the credit card bill. Have a solid record of paying your bills and enough income to pay back what you are trying to borrow and you'll have an excellent credit rating no matter what your net worth.  Whether you are one person or a megacorporation makes no difference. "The term for money owed to you by a company would be a credit balance.  Consider, when an item is credited to your account, it's in your favor. Whereas, money you owe to a company may be referred to simply as a balance, or balance owing, or less frequently a debit balance.  A related term balance due would be the payment you owe in the current period, i.e. not representative of the entire amount owed. I don't think the terms ""positive balance"" or ""negative balance"" are considered idiomatic in business.  Rather, accounting terms like debit and credit have taken hold instead – and are often a source of confusion. But I suggest that if you have a negative balance on a credit card, it's a credit balance in your favor.  Unless they mix it up." From accounting perspective, an unpaid bill for internet services, according to the Accruals Concept, is recorded as a liability under 'Current Liabilities' section of the Balance Sheet. Also as an expense on the Income Statement.  So to answer your question it is both: a debt and an expense, however this is only the case at the end of the period. If you manage to pay it before the financial period ends this is simply an expense that is financed by cash or other liquid Asset on the Balance Sheet such as prepayment for example. For private persons you are generally given some time to pay the bill so it is technically a debt (Internet Provider would list you as a debtor on their accounts), but this is not something to worry about unless you are not considering to pay this bill. In which case your account may be sold as part of a factoring and you will then have a debt affecting your credit rating. I too was very confused when I tried to be tricky and paid down my balance BEFORE the bill date. I thought this would be a great thing because it would show my utilization near zero percent. The opposite happen, it dropped my credit score from 762 to 708. Here is the best example I can come up with when it comes to utilization. Lets pretend you are an insurance company and you trying to figure out who are the best risk drivers. The people that drive 10% of the day are a better risk than the people that drive 50% of the day. The people that drive 50% of the day are a better risk than the people that drive 90% of the day. Here is the rub when people drive 0%. When you look at the people at 0% they appear to be walking, busing or flying. What they are NOT doing is driving. Since they are not driving (using Credit) they are viewed as POOR drivers since they are not keeping up on their driving skills. (Paying bills, watching how they spend, and managing their debt). So, now before the billing date I pay down my balance to something between 5 to 10% of my utilization. After the bill is issued, I pay it off in FULL. ( I am not going to PAY these crazy interest rates). What shows up on my credit report is a person that is driving his credit between 5 and 10% utilization. It shows I know I how to manage my revolving accounts. I know it's dumb, you would think they reward people that have zero debt, I don't hate banks I hate the game. ( I do love me some reward points =)) Gross pay is the total your employer is paying you. Net pay is the amount of money you actually received (should match your check or direct deposit), which is gross pay minus deductions (healthcare, 401k contributions, commuter tax-free programs, etc), taxes (as explained already), 401k loan repayments, garnishments (child support, IRS messes, etc). Typically, a direct debit is set up by the company who will be receiving the money, not by you or your bank. So you need to contact your credit card company, and ask them to set up the direct debit. Based on the definitions I found on Investopedia, it depends on whether or not it is going against an asset or a liability.  I am not sure what type of accounting you are performing, but I know in my personal day-to-day dealings credits are money coming into my account and debits are money going out of my account. Definition: Credit, Definition: Debit First, A credit account is increased by credit transactions and decreased by debits. Liabilities is a credit account and should be a positive number.  A debit account is increased by debit transactions and decreased by credit. Assets is a debit account and should be a positive number.  Equity = Assets (debit) - Liabilities (credit) may be positive or negative.  You currently are subtracting a negative number for a net positive, since your Liabilities is set as a debit account.  How you currently are set -> Equity = Assets (debit) - Liabilities (debit) It is easier to understand if you change the columns from Increase/Decrease to Credit/Debit. I believe this is changed through Edit > Preferences > Accounts > Labels > Use formal accounting labels.  To fix your situation, open up the Loan account and switch columns on the amounts. This will decrease Opening Balances and increase the loan, per your current column headings.  This is a snippet of Opening Balances. You see that Opening Balances is debited and the Loan/Liability account credited. I included Petty Cash to show the reverse. Petty Cash is an asset, so it credits Opening Balances and debits Petty cash. This is a student loan Liability account. As you see, the Opening Balance is debited and decreased. The loan is credited and Liabilities increased. As payments are made, the reverse happens. The loan, being a credit account, is debited and the balance decreases. Opening Balances moves closer to 0 as well. The savings account, being a debit account, is credited and the balance decreases. There has been no change in Equity since Liabilities and Assets decresed by the same amount. 'In credit' means you have money in your account. It would say 'overdrawn' or something similar if you went into overdraft. Most bank registers (where you write down entries) show deposits (+) to account as a CREDIT. Payments, fees, and withdrawals are DEBITs to your bank accounnt. On loans such as credit card accounts, a credit to your loan account is a payment or other reductions of the amount you owe. A charge to your account is a DEBIT to you loan account. They did this just to confuse us! "I'm not sure if this is your point of confusion, but when an account is said to be debited (or credited), the words ""debited"" or ""credited"" are not referring to a type of account (such as ""checking"").  They are referring to an operation that is performed on an account.  The same account can be credited at one time and debited at another time." In view of business, we have to book the entries. Business view, owner and business are different. When capital is invested in business by owner, in future business has to repay it.  That's why, capital always credit. When we come about  bank (business prospective) - cash, bank, fd are like assets which can help in the business. Bank is current asset (Real account) - Debit (what comes into the business)                                        Credit (what goes out of the business) Hence credit and debit differs from what type of account is it.... credit - when business liables debit - what business has and receivables Each company that has an account with the credit card network has to classify themselves as a particular type of business.  The credit card company uses that classification to catagorize the transaction on your statement. If you buy a T-shirt at a grocery, amusement park, gas station, or resturant; the transaction will be labeled by the vendor type.  Look at recent credit card statements, even if they are from different cards, to see how the stores you want to know about are classified. Being long something is the same as owning it (generally). Being short something is the same as selling it, with the intention (actually obligation) of buying it back in the future. Being 'short' means that you benefit when the price falls.  A call is the right to buy a financial asset, most often a share, at some price agreed upon now, while the the right extends for some defined time into the future. A put is the right to sell something you already own for some price defined now but the right extends for some period into the future.  A swaption is an option to enter into a swap. A swap is an agreement to trade cash-flows at defined points in the future, usually some fixed rate for some floating rate (say LIBOR+200bps).  EDIT: Clarified puts.