In finance, a put or put option is a stock market device which gives the owner of the put the right, but not the obligation, to sell an asset (the underlying), at a specified price (the strike), by a predetermined date (the expiry or maturity) to a given party (the seller of the put). The purchase of a put option is interpreted as a negative sentiment about the future value of the underlying. Put options are most commonly used in the stock market to protect against the decline of the price of a stock below a specified price. If the price of the stock declines below the specified price of the put option, the owner/buyer of the put has the right, but not the obligation, to sell the asset at the specified price, while the seller of the put has the obligation to purchase the asset at the strike price if the owner uses the right to do so (the owner/buyer is said to exercise the put or put option). In this way the buyer of the put will receive at least the strike price specified, even if the asset is currently worthless.