Here's the popular AAPL stock:
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL
What "is" "Apple stock" ? Well, it is a legal instrument created by Nasdaq. Apple "trades on" Nasdaq, whereas Ford trades on NYSE, Shell trades on LSE, etc.
Let's click the OPTIONS tab on AAPL:
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/options?p=AAPL
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL201023C00119000?p=AAPL201023C00119000
(Wow 45k!)
What the hell "are" these options? Who issues them? Are they CBOT or what?
Mostly, how do I actually tell "what they are". I could not find anywhere, at all, that says "options contracts on AAPL are issued by XYZ and you are looking at the XYZ data for XYZ's AAPL options". How do I learn this?
Is it all the same entity "per exchange" (example, all NYSE stocks have options frameworked by XYZ, whereas all LSE stocks have options frameworked by DEF), or is it all over the place?
If the answer for the AAPL example is "XYZ" then: are there alternate exchanges which issue options on AAPL? If not why not, is there just the one, or what? "The" options on AAPL seem to be the usual ones (eg, click "OPTIONS" on any(?) AAPL chart) but are there others?