June 16 (Reuters) - Options on SpaceX started trading at a brisk pace on Tuesday, offering investors another avenue to bet on the future of the newly listed shares of Elon Musk's rocket company.
Options allow investors to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price within a set time period, and are used to hedge against risk or to speculate on price movements.
Some 115,000 options contracts changed hands in the first 10 minutes of trading, with calls leading puts 1.7-to-1, according to Trade Alert data.
Calls give the buyer the right to purchase a stock at a set price by a specific date, while puts give the buyer the right to sell at a set price.
Options on SpaceX were the third most heavily traded contracts on individual companies, topped only by Nvidia and Tesla, Trade Alert data showed.
SpaceX shares rose more than 8% on Tuesday, sending its market valuation above Amazon.com and making it the world's fifth-most valuable company.
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
