Options Trading Fundamentals
Calls, puts, the Greeks and income strategies explained simply.
Taught by Aarav Shrestha · Trader & Markets Educator
What you'll learn
- Explain calls, puts, strike, expiry, premium and the 100-share contract multiplier
- Read an options chain and separate each premium into intrinsic and extrinsic value
- Draw payoff diagrams and calculate breakevens for long and short calls and puts
- Interpret delta, gamma, theta and vega and estimate them with a Black-Scholes model in Python
- Structure covered calls, cash-secured puts and vertical spreads with known maximum profit and loss
- Manage exercise, assignment and expiration risk, and recognise the trades to avoid
About this course
Options can reduce risk, generate income or magnify losses, depending entirely on how they are used. This intermediate options trading course is for investors and traders who already understand shares and want to learn options properly before placing a trade. You will learn how call and put contracts work, read an options chain, draw payoff diagrams and understand the Greeks, including delta, gamma, theta and vega, along with implied volatility and time decay. You will then work through income strategies such as covered calls and cash-secured puts, and defined-risk vertical spreads and iron condors, with clear maximum profit, maximum loss and breakeven calculations. The final lesson covers exercise and assignment risk, expiration, earnings and the mistakes behind the largest losses. Short Python examples, including a Black-Scholes calculator, make the maths concrete. This is education, not financial advice.
Course content
7 lessons- 1What an Option IsCalls, puts, strikes, expiries and premiums, and why an option is a right rather than an obligation.Preview
- 2Reading an Options ChainBid, ask, open interest, implied volatility, moneyness and the two parts of every premium.
- 3Payoff Diagrams and BreakevensVisualise profit and loss at expiry for long and short calls and puts, and find each breakeven.
- 4The Greeks and Implied VolatilityDelta, gamma, theta, vega and rho, how implied volatility drives prices, and a Black-Scholes calculator.
- 5Income Strategies: Covered Calls and Cash-Secured PutsGenerating income from shares and cash you hold, the trade-offs involved, and when the wheel makes sense.
- 6Vertical Spreads and Iron CondorsDefined-risk spreads for directional and range-bound views, with maximum profit, maximum loss and breakeven.
- 7Assignment, Expiration and What Not to DoExercise and assignment mechanics, dividend and pin risk, and the mistakes behind the biggest options losses.