Stock Option Advice:
Day Trading using Options

Understand day trading with options, including leverage, bid-ask spreads, liquidity, execution costs and expiration risk. Read the article →

Advanced Concepts:
What is the Put Call Ratio and How to Use It

Learn how the put-call ratio compares put and call trading volume, how traders interpret it and why context matters. Read the article →

Advanced Concepts:
Understanding Put-Call Parity

Learn how put-call parity links call, put and stock prices, including the role of strike, expiration, dividends and financing. Read the article →

Advanced Concepts:
Understanding the Greeks

Understand delta, gamma, theta, vega and rho: how option values respond to price, time, volatility and interest rates. Read the article →

Options Strategy:
Bull Call Spread: An Alternative to the Covered Call

A Bull Call Spread can use less opening capital than a Covered Call because a purchased call replaces the shares. Read the article →

Stock Investing 101:
Valuing Common Stock using Discounted Cash Flow Analysis

A popular stock valuation approach to discover the fair value of a stock uses a method known as discounted cash flow, or DCF for short. Read the article →

Options Strategy:
Investing in Growth Stocks using LEAPS

How LEAPS calls compare with stock ownership: premium risk, expiration breakeven, price sensitivity and a worked growth-stock example. Read the article →

Options Trading:
Effect of Dividends on Option Pricing

How expected dividends affect calls and puts, ex-dividend prices, put-call parity, early exercise and contract adjustments. Read the article →

Options Strategy:
Dividend Capture using Covered Calls

How dividends, early assignment and trading costs affect covered calls, including a worked assignment example and total-return accounting. Read the article →

Options Strategy:
Leverage using Calls, Not Margin Calls

Compare long calls with stock bought on margin: initial equity, premium, delta exposure, borrowing costs and expiration outcomes. Read the article →

Options Strategy:
Buying Straddles into Earnings

Understand earnings straddles, combined premium, expiration breakevens and volatility crush, with worked gains and losses. Read the article →

Options Strategy:
Writing Puts to Purchase Stocks

Learn how cash-secured puts can lead to stock ownership, including assignment funding, breakeven, substantial downside and closing examples. Read the article →

Options and Futures FAQ: Difference between Futures and Forwards

Futures contracts and forward contracts are very similar derivative instruments but they differ in some ways. Read the full comparison.