If crude oil climbs to $30 a barrel at expiration, your call option with a $25 strike price will have a value of $5000 - the $5 per barrel price increase times 1000 gallons. The profit will depend on what you paid for the option to start with. If your total costs (premium plus brokerage commission and fees) were, say, $1000, then your profit will be $4000, the difference between the $1000 you paid for the option and the $5000 you can now sell it for. As mentioned, the same broker who handled the purchase can handle the sale. (Question 17 has more information about selling a profitable option.)

Illustration of profit or loss on a 1000 gallon crude oil (coded "CL") call option if option strike price is $25 a barrel and the cost of purchasing the option was $1000 ($1 per gallon):

If CL futures      Value of      Cost of option       Your profit or
at exp. are:      option at exp.                             loss at exp.

$25 or less            $0                  $1000             $1000 loss
$26                       $1000            $1000             $0 even
$27                       $2000            $1000             $1000 profit
$28                       $3000            $1000             $2000 profit
$29                       $4000            $1000             $3000 profit
$30                       $5000            $1000             $4000 profit
$31                       $6000            $1000             $5000 profit