Skip to content

CFDs are complex financial instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. CFDs are complex financial instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Intrinsic value definition

What is intrinsic value?

Intrinsic value is a way of describing the perceived or true value of an asset. This is not always identical to the current market price because assets can be over- or undervalued. Intrinsic value is a common part of fundamental analysis, which investors use to assess stocks, as well being used in options pricing.

Visit our shares section

See the fundamentals for various shares and start calculating intrinsic value.

Examples of intrinsic value

In share trading

In share trading, intrinsic value can refer to the 'true' value of a company as perceived by a trader or investor. Different traders will have different ideas of what constitutes intrinsic value for a stock, with some giving prominence to strong fundamentals and others looking at its potential for growth.

In share trading, intrinsic value measures the inherent value of a share, while extrinsic value measures how much of its worth is derived from external factors.

In options trading

In options trading, intrinsic value is the difference between the underlying asset's price and the option's strike price. The method used to calculate intrinsic value will vary depending on the type of option that has been bought – in call options, it is the price of the underlying asset minus the strike price, where as in put options, it is the strike price minus the price of the underlying asset.

Intrinsic value only refers to in the money options – a negative intrinsic value would mean that the option is either at the money or out of the money.

In options trading, there is also the ‘extrinsic value’ of the option to consider. Extrinsic value is calculated as the difference between an option's market price and its intrinsic value. So, if an option has a premium of £50 and an intrinsic value of £30, its extrinsic value would be £20.

Build your trading knowledge

Discover how to trade with IG Academy, using our series of interactive courses, webinars and seminars.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - L - M - N - O - P - R - S - T - U - V - W - Y

See all glossary trading terms

Help and support

Get answers about your account or our services.

Get answers

Or contact us on +971 (0) 4 559 2104 or helpdesk.ae@ig.com.

Our office is open 5 days a week, Monday to Friday from 8am to 7pm (Dubai time). Support line is available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, except for Saturday from 2am to 12noon (Dubai time).