High-Grade Derivatives Index Hits Record Weakness DJ Benchmark:
Spreads on the benchmark high-grade credit derivatives index, which measures the cost of insuring U.S. investment grade corporate debt against defaults, crashed to their weakest ever levels Tuesday as U.S. credit market investors remained gripped with fear.

American International Group Inc :
On Tuesday moved to calm investors shaken by its earlier disclosure that derivatives losses could more than triple to about $5 billion, a development that earned it a rebuke from its auditor for a "material weakness" in internal controls.

Shares up after 12 percent cut:
AIG, the world's largest insurer, said in a statement on Tuesday that the size of any write-down was not expected to be material to the company. AIG shares gained 4 percent to $46.60, after falling nearly 12 percent on Monday to the stock's lowest level in five years.

Naming conventions are used to help identify properties common to many different types of Options.

These include:
American option - an option that may be exercised on any trading day on or before expiration.

Barrier option - any option with the general characteristic that the underlying security's price must reach some trigger level before the exercise can occur.

Bermudan option - an option that may be exercised only on specified dates on or before expiration.

European option - an option that may only be exercised on expiration.

In many cases, Options are traded on futures. A put is the option to sell a futures contract, and a call is the option to buy a futures contract. For both, the option strike price is the specified future price at which the future is traded if the option is exercised.

Futures Contract Regulations by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
All futures transactions in the United States are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an independent agency of the United States Government.