Options Trading Education
- SteadyOptions provides options education and actionable trade ideas in a complete portfolio approach.
- In our Options Trading Education Center you can find hundreds of articles related to various aspects of options trading.
- The articles are categorized for easy search.
- Learn the insights of options strategies to get an edge to make money in any market.
Blog Posts by Category
The Basics
- Understanding Option Trading
- Options Strategies: An Introduction
- How To Start: Options Basics
- Top 10 Options Trading Strategies
- 10 Basic Facts About Options Trading
- Beginner's Guide To Options Trading
- More Options With Options Trading
- Trading An Iron Condor: The Basics
- What Can You Do With An Option?
- Options Terms: The Glossary
- VIX - The Fear Index: The Basics
- The Life Of An Options Contract
- Option Terminology – Avoiding Confusion
- Market Orders Vs. Limit Orders
- Extrinsic Value Vs. Intrinsic Value
- American Options Vs. European Options: The Differences
- Why You Should Never Use A Stop Loss In Options Trading
- Puts And Calls: Stock Options Explained
- Volatility Skew In Options Explained
- Call Option Payoff
- Buy to Open vs Buy to Close
- Sell to Open vs Sell to Close
- In The Money (ITM) Options Explained
- Out Of The Money (OTM) Options Explained
- Options Volume Vs Open Interest Explained
- Stock Option Strike (Exercise) Price Explained
- Long Straddle Options Strategy: The Ultimate Guide
- Long Strangle Option Strategy: The Ultimate Guide
- How We Trade Straddle Option Strategy
- Straddle Vs. Strangle Options Strategy
- Exploiting Earnings Associated Rising Volatility
- Buying Premium Prior To Earnings - Does It Work?
- Can We Profit From Volatility Expansion Into Earnings?
- Long Straddle: A Guaranteed Win?
- Reverse Iron Condor Strategy: The Ultimate Guide
- Straddle, Strangle Or Reverse Iron Condor (RIC)?
- How We Made 23% On QIHU Straddle In 4 Hours
- Why We Sell Our Straddles Before Earnings
- Selling Strangles Prior To Earnings
- How To Calculate ROI On Credit Spreads
- Long Straddle Through Earnings Backtest
- Straddles - Risks Determine When They Are Best Used
- The Gut Strangle
- Long And Short Straddles: Opposite Structures
- Calendar Spread Option Strategy: The Ultimate Guide
- How We Lost 60% On SPX Calendar
- Why We Sell Our Calendars Before Earnings
- TSLA, LNKD, NFLX, GOOG: Thank You, See You Next Cycle
- Should You Add to A Losing Trade?
- SPX Calendar Spreads: Historical P&L Levels
- Using OTM Directional Calendar Spreads
- 10 Options Trading Myths Debunked
- Options: The Zero Sum Game Myth
- Is Options Trading A Zero-Sum Game?
- If We Win Trading Options, Who Is Losing?
- Why Winning Ratio Means Nothing
- Do 80% Of Options Expire Worthless?
- Selling Options Premium: Myths Vs. Reality
- Debunking The "Trading Options For Income" Myth
- Probability Vs. Certainty Trap
- Are The Markets Rigged?
- Trading Insights From Peter Brandt
- Trading Insights From Steve Burns
- Are You EMOTIONALLY Ready To Lose?
- Are You Ready For The Learning Curve?
- Why Retail Investors Lose Money In The Stock Market
- Why Simple Isn’t Easy
- Thinking In Terms Of Decades
- Can you double your account every six months?
- Is Timeframe Your Biggest Mistake?
- Are You Following "Tharp Think" Rules?
- Top 10 Mistakes New Option Traders Make
- Price Of Options Trading Education
- How To Become A More Profitable Trader
- 5 Stages Traders Go Through
- 10 Fatal Mistakes Traders Make
- Learning To Win By Learning To Lose
- How To Avoid Emotional Mistakes In Trading
- 10,000 Hours Of Trading
- The Power Of Trading Habits
- How Much Do You Need To Trade Options?
- The Importance Of Time In Trading
- Bitcoin: The Greater Fool Theory?
- Top 10 Traits Of Successful Options Traders
- 40 Steps In The Trader’s Journey
- Process Versus Outcome
- Investor Discipline Is The Key To Success
- Buy High, Sell Low: Why Investors Fail
- How To Control Losses And Protect Profits
- 10 Tips: Trade Options Like A Pro And Keep Your Day Job
- Q&A With Mental Game Coach Jared Tendler
- Are Your Emotions Trying To Tell You Something?
- Pros And Cons Of Paper Trading
- Trade Size: Taming The 800-Pound Gorilla
- What Is Margin Trading?
- What Is True Diversification?
- How Position Sizing Impacts Your Returns
- Should You Aim For 100% Gains?
- How To Profit From A Volatile Market
- Short Put Vs Buy And Hold
- Profit With Non-Directional Trading
- Stock Replacement Using Options
- Cons Of Passive Index Investing
- Fatal Flaws In Black-Scholes
- Are You A Hedger Or A Speculator?
- Put Permanent Portfolio
- How To Analyze An Investment Strategy
- Do All Stocks Have The Same Expected Returns?
- Does Option Selling Have Positive Expected Returns?
- The Benefits Of Diversification
- Coming To Peace With Market Volatility
- Coming To Peace With Market Volatility: Part II
- Should You Hedge Or Diversify?
- Building A Diversified Equity Portfolio?
- 3 Principles To A Successful Investment Experience
- The Best Chart I’ve Seen In 2020
- Understanding Growth Vs. Value Stocks
- Lessons From Q1 2016 Earnings Season
- Buying Premium Prior To Earnings - Does It Work?
- Can We Profit From Volatility Expansion Into Earnings?
- How NOT To Gamble On AAPL Earnings
- How Apple Tricked The Options Traders
- Trading Earnings: A Tale Of Two Strategies
- How TSLA Earnings Date Impacted Options Traders
- Why We Sell Our Straddles Before Earnings
- Why We Sell Our Calendars Before Earnings
- How We Made 23% On QIHU Straddle In 4 Hours
- How NOT To Trade NFLX Earnings
- The Less Risky Way To Trade TSLA
- Netflix Tricked Options Sellers... Again
- Betting On AAPL Earnings?
- Amazon Missed, And We Don't Care
- FANG Stocks Killed It. Again.
- What To Do When A Stock Misses Earnings
- How To Trade Apple Earnings With Options
- Lessons From Facebook Earnings Disaster
- How We Made 62% On CF Industries In 2 Days
- Trading Earnings: The Myths And The Reality
- What Is IV Crush - Implied Volatility Crush Explained
- The Use And The Abuse Of The Weekly Options
- The Risks Of Weekly Credit Spreads
- Should You Trade Weekly Options?
- Make 10% Per Week With Weeklys?
- Are Weekly Options A Form Of Gambling?
- Pros And Cons Of Weekly Options
- Synthetic Options Explained
- Synthetic Long Stock For Extreme Leverage
- Synthetic Short Stock – Higher Risk
- Options Equivalent Positions
- The Sell Put And Buy Call Strategy | A Synthetic Long Stock
- The Synthetic Covered Call Options Strategy Explained
- The 10 Best Options Trading Books
- Best Trading Articles 11/19/16
- Best Trading Articles 11/12/16
- Best Trading Articles 11/05/16
- Best Trading Articles 10/29/16
- Best Trading Articles 10/22/16
- Best Trading Articles 10/15/16
- Best Trading Articles 10/08/16
- Best Trading Articles 10/01/16
- Best Trading Articles 09/24/16
- Best Trading Articles 09/17/16
- Best Trading Articles 09/10/16
- Best Trading Articles 09/04/16
- Is Your Risk Worth The Reward?
- Risk Reward Or Probability Of Success?
- Calculating The Probability Of Option Payoff
- Option Payoff Probability
- Probability And Option Risk
- Risk/Reward Vs. Win Ratio
- The Incredible Option Trade In VXX
- Earnings Momentum Trade In Oracle
- Post Earnings Option Trade In Facebook
- Option Trade After Earnings In AutoZone
- Pre-Earnings Momentum Trade In Netflix
- Microsoft Pre-Earnings Momentum Trade
- Post Earnings Trade In FedEx
- Pre Earnings Pattern In Apple
- Earnings Momentum Trading In Google
- PANW Broke The Golden Rule
- How To Profit From PayPal Volatility
- The Volatility Option Trade In Apple
- Two Pre-Earnings Momentum Trades In Alphabet
- Karen The Supertrader: Myth Or Reality?
- Karen Supertrader: Too Good To Be True?
- How Victor Niederhoffer Blew Up - Twice
- The Spectacular Fall Of LJM Preservation And Growth
- James Cordier: Another Options Selling Firm Goes Bust
- Selling Naked Strangles: The Math
- Selling Short Strangles And Straddles - Does It Work?
- Bullish Short Strangles
- Does “Managing Winners” Add Value To Short Strangles?
- Enhancing 60/40 With A Short Strangle Overlay
- Stoking The Embers Of Inflation
- Digging Deeper Into The Inflation Threat
- What is Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH)
- The ABCs Of QE And QT
- Allocating On Blind Faith
- How To Protect Your Blind Side
- Does HFT Harm Individual Investors?
- Are Bonds Still A Good Hedge?
- Weekly Technical Perspective 6/18/2018
- Cash Is (No Longer) Trash
- Investment Ideas For Conservative Investors
- The Importance Of Time Horizon When Investing
- The Value Of Equity Asset Class Diversification
- Island Clusters As Strong Reversals
- Powerful Channel Signal – Combining Bollinger And T-Line
- Great Reversal Signal – 50 MA With 8 EMA
- The Meaning Of Divergent Bars
- Those Golden And Death Crosses
- The Danger Of False Signals
- A Reliable Reversal Signal
- 5 Ways To Identify Fake Forex Broker Reviews
- 7 Ways To Avoid Forex Scams
- GBP/USD: If Boris Johnson Becomes PM, Volatility Will Rise
- BTC/USD Struggles To Maintain Newly Conquered Territory
- 4 Patterns For Forex Profitability
- Tales Of How Big Trades Went Wrong
- Eight Mistakes Every Forex Trader Should Avoid
- Choosing A Broker For Forex Options Trading
Options Strategies
- Long Call Option Strategy
- Long Put Option Strategy
- 4 Alternatives To Buying Call Options
- The Options Wheel Strategy
- Options Strategies: An Introduction
- Market Neutral Strategies: Long Or Short Gamma?
- Understanding Option Trading
- Are Debit Spreads Better Than Credit Spreads?
- What Is The Best Options Strategy?
- The Road Not Taken
- What Can You Do With An Option?
- 7 Best Options Strategies
- Options And Probabilities
- Maximize Returns With Option Overlays
- Index Options Or ETF Options?
- SPX Options Vs. SPY Options: Which Should I Trade?
- Index Options Vs. Stock Options
- 4 Directional Options Trading Strategies
- Buying Deep Out-Of-The-Money (DOTM) Options
- Delta Hedging Your Options Strategies
- What Is Gamma Hedging
- Options Strategies For Small Accounts
- Diagonal Spread Options Strategy: The Ultimate Guide
- Options Spreads: Put & Call Combination Strategies
- Options Trading Strategy: Bull Call Spread
- Options Trading Strategy: Bear Put Spread
- Zero Cost (Costless) Collar Explained
- Uncovering The Covered Call
- Selling Naked Put Options
- The Naked Put, A Low-Risk Strategy
- Covered Calls –Does Rolling Forward Mean Higher Risk?
- Leverage With A Poor Man’s Covered Call
- Selling Puts: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
- 2 Tweaks To Covered Calls And Naked Calls
- Dangers Of The Covered Call
- Naked Options: Redefining High Risk
- Are Uncovered Calls Always High-Risk?
- Exercise Risk Of Uncovered Calls
- Trader Mindsets
- How Much Can I Earn With Options?
- Trader’s Mindset: Oblivious To Risks
- Managing A Losing Trade
- Learn First. Trade Later
- Adaptability And Discipline
- Maybe The Market Will Turn Around
- Trader’s Mindset: Always Collect Cash
- The Art Of Trading Decisions
- Managing Risk For More Than One Position
- My Philosophy On Options Education
- Trade Decisions: Risk Or Profits?
- The Big Loss
- Option Trading And Slippage: The Bid-Ask Spread Explained
- Options Greeks: Theta, Gamma, Delta, Vega And Rho
- Options Vega Explained: Price Sensitivity To Volatility
- Options Theta Explained: Price Sensitivity To Time
- Options Delta Explained: Sensitivity To Price
- Options Gamma Explained: Delta Sensitivity To Price
- Options Rho: Sensitivity To Interest Rates
- Gamma Risk Explained
- Why You Should Not Ignore Negative Gamma
- Why Delta Dollars Will Change Your Trading
- Options Greeks Explained
- Options Greeks Essentials
- Options Greeks: Myths And Realities
- Options Delta And Other Greeks
- Options Time Decay Explained: Understanding Theta
- Estimating Delta For Calls Or Puts
- Estimating Gamma For Calls Or Puts
- What Is Gamma Hedging And Why Is Everyone Talking About It?
- Short Gamma Vs. Long Gamma
- What Is Delta Hedging?
- Option Settlement: The Basics
- Everything You Need To Know About Options Assignment Risk
- How Index Options Settlement Works
- Can Options Assignment Cause Margin Call?
- Assignment Risks To Avoid
- The Right To Exercise An Option?
- Options Expiration: 6 Things To Know
- Early Exercise: Call Options
- Expiration Surprises To Avoid
- Assignment And Exercise: The Mental Block
- Should You Close Short Options On Expiration Friday?
- Fear Of Options Assignment
- Day Before Expiration Trading
- Accurate Expiration Counting
- Expiration Short Strategies
- What Are Cash-Settled Options?
- Trading An Iron Condor: The Basics
- Trade Iron Condors Like Never Before
- Trade Size: Taming The 800-Pound Gorilla
- Should You Leg Into Iron Condor?
- Exiting An Iron Condor Trade
- Iron Condor Adjustments: How And When
- Low Premium Iron Condors
- Iron Condor Adjustment: Can I "Roll" It Forever?
- Why Iron Condors Are NOT An ATM Machine
- Can You Really Make 10% Per Month With Iron Condors?
- Is Your Iron Condor Really Protected?
- How NOT To Trade NFLX Earnings
- Google Killed The Options Sellers.. Again
- The Art Of Trading Decisions
- The Hidden Dangers Of Iron Condors
- Comparing Iron Condor And Iron Butterfly
- Iron Condor Vs. Short Strangle
- Butterfly Spread Strategy - The Basics
- 4 Low Risk Butterfly Trades For Any Market Environment
- Using Directional Butterfly Spread
- Iron Condor Vs. Iron Butterfly
- Performance Reporting: The Myths And The Reality
- Is 5% A Good Return For Options Trades?
- Big Drawdowns Are Part Of The Game
- Should You Care About The Sharpe Ratio?
- Do You Still Believe In Fairy Tales?
- How To Calculate ROI In Options Trading
- It Is Time To Get Real
- All You Need To Know About Auto-Trading
- Can You Time The Market?
- Is 220% Gain Really 220% Gain?
- If I Only Bought Netflix A Decade Ago
- The Numbers Don't Lie
- 4 Levels Of Trading Experience
- Why To Sell A Winning System
- Why Bother With Annualized Return?
- Lessons From Bill Ackman's Comeback
- How To Select The Best Options Broker
- Are You Paying Too Much To Your Broker?
- Don't Feel Bad For Large Brokers
- Brokers And Commissions
- Why You Should NOT Trust Investment Gurus
- 10 Signs Of A Fake Guru
- 3 Words You Won't Hear On CNBC
- Do You Need A Lawyer? I Don't.
- SchoolofTrade: Another Guru Busted
- Debunking Options Guru Advice
- Can You Really Turn $12,415 Into $4M?
- Why We Sell Our Earnings Straddles Before Earnings
- Options Trading Greeks: Vega For Volatility
- Understanding Implied Volatility: Infographic
- How Apple Tricked The Options Traders
- How TSLA Earnings Date Impacted Options Traders
- Few Facts About Implied Volatility: Infographic
- How We Nailed The Implied Volatility Game
- What is Volatility Skew
- How To Trade Volatility
- Selling Options When Implied Volatility Is High
- How To Short Volatility The Right Way
- Types Of Volatility
- What Is An Implied Volatility Crush
- VIX - The Fear Index: The Basics
- 10 Things You Should Know About VIX
- Top 10 Things To Know About VIX Options
- Using VIX Options To Hedge Your Portfolio
- How Does VIX Work?
- The Incredible Option Trade In VXX
- How To Lose $197 Million Trading VIX
- Volatility During Crises
- The Astonishing Story Behind XIV Debacle
- The Lessons From The XIV Collapse
- The Incredible Winning Trade In SVXY
- How Does SVXY Work?
- Holiday Effect In VIX Futures
- My 2015 Personal Account Return: 80.2%
- How To Evaluate Options Trading Service
- 2018: A Year To Remember
- SteadyOptions 2020 - Year In Review
- SteadyOptions 2019 - Year In Review
- SteadyOptions 2018 - Year In Review
- SteadyOptions 2017 - Year In Review
- SteadyOptions 2016 - Year In Review
- SteadyOptions 2015 - Year In Review
- SteadyOptions 2014 - Year In Review
- SteadyOptions 2013 - Year In Review
- Steady Condors 2015 Report: 46.7% Return
- Anchor Trades Strategy Performance
- January 2019 Performance Analysis
- Anchor Trades Portfolio Launched
- How Anchor Survived The 2020 Crash
- Anchor 2019 Performance Analysis
- Leveraged Anchor 2020 Year In Review
- Defining The Anchor Strategy
- Market Thoughts And Anchor Update
- Leveraged Anchor Is Boosting Performance
- Anchor Trades Strategy Performance
- Revisiting Anchor (Thanks To ORATS Wheel)
- Revisiting Anchor Part 2
- Leveraged Anchor Update
- Leveraged Anchor Implementation
- Leveraged Anchor: A Three Month Review
- Anchor Maximum Drawdown Analysis
- Why Doesn't Anchor Roll The Long Calls?
- A More Diversified Anchor Strategy
- Diversified Leveraged Anchor Performance
- The Downside Of Anchor
- Combining Momentum And Put Selling
- Combining Momentum And Put Selling (Updated)
- Steady Momentum ETF Portfolio
- Equity Index Put Writing For The Long Run
- Can You "Time" The Steady Momentum PutWrite Strategy?
- How Steady Momentum Captures Multiple Risk Premiums
- Put Selling: Strike Selection Considerations
- Steady Momentum 2019 Year In Review
- Steady Momentum 2020 Year In Review
- How To Protect Your Blind Side
- Using Options To Hedge Investments
- How To Hedge A Position With Options
- Portfolio Protection Utilizing Calendar Spreads
- Distressed Real Estate Investing
- Investing In Private Companies
- Trading Options – The Binary Way
- Are Binary Options Smart Trades?
- Lookback Options
- Chooser Options
- Ratchet Options
- Barrier Options
- Double Barrier Options
- Ranges Of Exotic Options
Seeking Alpha Articles by Category
Earnings Strategies
- Exploiting Earnings - Associated Rising Volatility
- How To Rent Your Options For Free
- How I Made 20% In 2 Days On A Stagnant Stock
- Why I Dislike Holding Strangles Through Earnings
- Should You Buy Google Straddle Ahead Of Earnings?
- Why CNBC's 'Fast Money' Earnings Plays Might Be Bad Advice
- Lessons From Apple Earnings Trades
- Google Options Underestimated The Risk, Again
- Trading Google Before Earnings
- How To Profit From Sideways Markets
- Take Flight With An Iron Condor For Significant Profits
- A Passive Way To Trade Cisco
- Will Apple Consolidate?
- S&P 500 In A Trading Range? You Can Profit From It
- Is Apple Going To $700, Or Maybe $260?
- Using The 5-10-20 Rule To Trade IBM
- Apple: Dissecting The Butterfly Trade
Trading Apple
- Trading Apple's Pre-Earnings Run
- Why I Wouldn't Trade Apple Right Now
- Whatever You Do, Don't Do This Before Apple's Earnings
- Lessons From Apple Earnings Trades
- Apple: Dissecting The Butterfly Trade
- The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Way To Go Long Apple
- How To Own Apple For A Fraction Of The Full Price
- Why Writing Covered Calls On Apple Might Be A Bad Idea
- Apple Euphoria Peaks - Time For Caution?
- Apple Beats, And I Don't Care
- 10 Rules For Trading Calendar Spreads
- Trading Apple's Pre-Earnings Run
- How To Profit From Gold's Trading Range
- How To Make 1,456% In 1 Week
- My Investment Strategy For 2012
- Google Earnings Trade: Risk Vs. Reward
- 10 Things Active Mutual Fund Managers Won't Tell You
- How To Beat Mutual Funds At Their Own Game
- How To Hedge Your Long Portfolio
- Could This Strategy Be The Holy Grail Of Investing?
- How To Make 1,456% In 1 Week
- Is Diversification Overrated?
- What Is Better: A 50% Gain Or A 15% Gain?