what is a call 
a call in finance will usually mean one of two things call may alternatively refer to a company s earnings call or when an issuer of debt securities redeems calls back their bonds call optionsfor call options the underlying instrument could be a stock bond foreign currency commodity or any other traded instrument the call owner has the right but not the obligation to buy the underlying securities instrument at a given strike price within a given period the seller of an option is sometimes termed as the writer a seller must fulfill the contract delivering the underlying asset if the option is exercised 