Who actually "does" the options, and are there others?

Question

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?

Bob Baerker · Accepted Answer

I can't address some of your questions because they don't make much sense so rather than attempting that, here's a a basic  overview of options and hopefully it can assist you in formulating additional questions that are clearer and more speciific.
An equity option is a standardized contract between two parties to buy or sell an underlying (stock, ETF) at a certain price for a limited amount of time and its value is subject to 6 pricing variables.
A contract is created when two parties open a new position (buy to open and sell to open).  When both parties are closing an existing position, a contract is terminated.  And when one party is opening and the other is closing, the contract just changes hands.  Trading occurs on various option exchanges and the Option Clearing Corp is the issuer of all options and it manages assignment and exercise.

Who actually "does" the options, and are there others?

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