Each contract involves 100 shares/units, so there's effectively some leverage built in which is reflected in day to day changes relative to the underlying asset but not at all in long term tracking.
To pick on Apple as an example, Yesterday, 1/2/2019, Apple closed at $157 today it opened at $143 and that's roughly the price now; that's a decline of ~9.7%.
If you were holding a January 4 put on apple with a strike price of $150 (this contract allows you to sell 100 shares of apple for $150 per share), that contract price changed from about $0.10 per share ($1 contract) to $7 per share ($700 contract) which is an increase of ~7000%. The contract is worth about $7 because apple is trading at $143 which is $7 less than your strike price of $150 and there is very little consideration left for time as the contract expires tomorrow.
If you were holding a January 17, 2020 put on apple with a strike price of $150, that contract price changed from about $15 ($1,500 contract) per share to about $21 per share ($2,100 contract). This is a 40% increaseincrease; which you are free to capture by simply selling your contract.
Apple moved about 10%. A contract expiring tomorrow moved 7,000% and a contract expiring in a year moved 40%. The contract expiring in a year still has a lot of time premium in it relative to the contract expiring in a day.
Bear in mind that in the example of the contract expiring tomorrow, that was worth $0.10 yesterday, had apple not fallen from yesterday's close of $157 through your strike price of $150 to become "in the money" it would have expired at $0. Because no rational person would ever use that contract to sell their 100 shares of apple valued at $15,700 by the market for the $15,000 indicated by your put contract.
When you transact an option, the four major variables are:
- Underlying Asset
- Strike price
- Expiration Date
- Put/Call (you can buy and sell puts and calls)
The strike price is not generally higher than the spot price. The strike price is whatever price is indicated on the contract you bought and does not change.
To your last paragraph. Generally, options are not for investing they are for trading and hedging. Options have contract premium and time decay, at the retail level you can buy pretty long contracts, and buying puts can be a lower risk short-like position but these are not long term investments.
When you're investing the idea is to be in the investment for a long time, you're not going to be in an option for a long time.