Learn How To Trade Options In Our Lifetime Options Course Guide

By Johnny M Junior

Learn how to use a potent tool for investing, such as with an option. Learn how to trade options in our lifetime options course. Every investor should know about options and their benefits and risks.

Options were developed as a way of curbing and managing chances when investing. So, do not pay attention to what you may have been told about options. Well, some of it's true and some of it's just ignorance. Let's talk about some option basics.

Two option strategies are normally used for several reasons, speculation and hedging. Most people know what the word speculating means when it comes to investing. When you purchase stock, you are contemplating the way it will go. Saying investing is a lot less scary than saying speculating. There is never an assurance when purchasing stock. You might convince yourself that AAPL stock will increase, but if it was a guaranteed investment, you would spend every last dime you have. It is necessary to know that investing means taking chances. When you obtain options you are contemplating on what the price will be in the future, the chance you are taking in losing money is controlled, but the opportunity to make money is limitless.

Other than guessing, investors choose options for hedging. A hedge is a means of protecting your portfolio. It is very similar to purchasing insurance. It protects you from disaster, but you hope it will never be used. You can sleep easier at night knowing that you are protected. It's like buying insurance for your home. The chances of your home being completely destroyed are pretty small. Yes, we continue to keep our coverage. We do this because our homes are valuable and the loss would be devastating. As a result, we are more than happy to pay a company to take this risk for us. If you use specific options strategies as a way to hedge the portfolio, you are doing the same thing.

The prices of options are based on the price of an underlying stock as well as many other factors.

After you decide whether you want to hedge or speculate with your options, you will also need to decide which certain options fit your needs. When you look up an options chain, you will discover that there many to choose from. Knowing that you want to hedge or speculate is not enough. You also need to decide if your plan calls for trading a put or a call option, how long you want the expiration date to be, along with what strike price you want to trade. This all sounds Greek if you are new to options, but after a while this all becomes second nature.

The value of an option is established by using a convoluted differential equation.

Option pricing is based on a very complex equation, but we can look at them in a more simple term. Let's just say they are Time Premium + Intrinsic Value.

Each element has a key role in setting the price of an option. Understand that there are only two elements that you can control. You can control the time to expiration and the strike price. Make sure to choose the right expiration and strike price for you. Several rules when doing this include:

Hedging: out of money options, longer expiration and using puts can be a very simplified example.

Speculating: in the money options, short expiration and use calls. Again, this is a very simple strategy, but not one that I would ever do. This is something basic that beginners start with.

A variety of strategies are part of the out or in the money options that every investor should learn. An in the money option is going to cost more money to purchase but, the chance that it will retain value upon expiration is higher. An out of the money option is less expensive but there is a greater risk of it being worth nothing upon expiration.

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