Options Strategies (ON-DEMAND) - OS
Course Summary
Options Strategies is an online training course about how options contracts can be used to achieve objectives in both hedging and for-profit trading. After introducing some useful terminology, the course explores the features that make options valuable for hedging and trading. We discuss the disadvantages of simple options strategies, and how these can be overcome by using combinations of bought and sold options contracts to create options spread strategies. You will learn about collars, three-way collars and other common options spread strategies for hedging. We will explore the use of spreads in directional trading, and you will see how spreads like butterflies and condors can be used in volatility trading. You will also learn about costless hedging structures that provide partial participation in favorable price moves.
Course Content
You will learn to:
- Distinguish between the meaning of the terms directional, non-directional, bullish and bearish as they apply to options spreads
- Recognize the meaning and the implications of the terms debit and credit in options spreads
- Read a payoff diagram for an options spread and recognize its implications for either hedging or trading
- Identify how costless or zero-cost hedging strategies can be constructed
- Point out the balance of protection and participation afforded by an options hedging strategy
- Select the main reasons why hedgers may wish to use options spreads rather than simple long options positions
- Select the main reasons why traders may wish to use options spreads rather than simple long or short options positions
- Point out the difference between directional and volatility plays in options trading
- Recognize a simple collar, a three-way collar and other common options hedging strategies
- Recognize a straddle, a strangle and other common volatility trading spreads
- Recognize simple directional trading spreads such as a call spread
- Identify the concept of partial participation in hedging strategies
Practice exercises and self-assessment quizzes are included to help reinforce key topics introduced throughout the course.
A comprehensive final test will be given at the end of the course.
