In the case of options with automatic exercise the net value of the option is credited to the long and debited to the short position holders. Typically, exchange-traded option contracts expire according to a pre-determined calendar.
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in size to smallest, they are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. In geology, areas of continental crust include regions covered with water.
In the United Kingdom, the Continent is widely and generally used to refer to the mainland of Europe. An apocryphal British newspaper headline supposedly once read, Fog in Channel; Continent Cut Off. It has also been claimed that this was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s.