FIN 459 – Introduction to Derivatives – Spring 2018 Options for Beginners
Straightforward options classes and training, teaching you real strategies to increase consistency of returns and put the odds in your favor

Led by Luke Downey & Tom Barkley View Instructor Bios

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$99.00 $99 USD
Lifetime Access
  • One time payment, money back guarantee
  • Self-paced online course, lifetime access
  • Interactive content and downloadable materials

Course Description

Options have an unearned reputation as being “complicated,” but if you know how to sell a home or buy insurance, you can find success with options.

This course will simplify options buying and selling and—above all—show you how to “wait for the slow pitch.”

You’ll learn to:

  • Improve flexibility in your portfolio by adding options
  • Approach Calls as down-payments, and Puts as insurance
  • Interpret expiration dates, and distinguish intrinsic value from time value
  • Calculate breakevens and risk management
  • Explore advanced concepts such as spreads, straddles, and strangles

This course includes:

  • Over 5 hours of on-demand video, exercises, and interactive content.
  • A free Excel spreadsheet that helps you calculate the value of your options over an inputted time and value.

Certificate of Enrollment

Receive an Investopedia Academy Certificate of Enrollment with this course

I really struggled to get past the beginners threshold when it came to my understanding of Options. Investopedia Academy’s Options for Beginners course not only helped me understand, but provided me a foundation to build upon. This makes a big difference for me every day now going forward.

Richard Van Steenberg
Futures Trader

Course Curriculum

Glossary
  • Pre-Test
  • Options Course Intro
  • Course Goals
  • What You'll Need
Understanding Options
  • Understanding Options Intro
  • What Are Options?
  • Intrinsic Value vs. Time Value
  • Greeks
  • Understanding Options Conclusion/Recap
Puts & Calls: Overview
  • Puts and Calls Introduction
  • What are Puts?
  • What are Calls?
  • Buying Options
  • Selling Options
Puts & Calls: Buying & Selling
  • Buying Puts
  • Buying Calls
  • Selling Puts
  • Selling Calls
  • Puts and Calls Conclusion
  • Buying & Selling Review
Calculating Breakevens & Risk Management
  • Breakeven & Risk Management Workbook
  • Calculating Risk Intro
  • Calculating Buying Calls
  • Calculating Selling Calls
  • Calculating Buying Puts
  • Calculating Selling Puts
  • Calculating Risk Conclusion
Patient Analysis
  • Patient Analysis Intro
  • Volatility
  • Time On Your Side
  • Patient Analysis Conclusion
Four Trades: Set-Ups
  • Four Trade Setup Workbook
  • Trade One - Income Trade - Selling Call
  • Trade Two - Income Trade - Selling Put
  • Trade Three - Insurance Protection
  • Trade Four - Stock Replacement
  • Trade Setup Conclusion
Live Examples: Putting The Pieces Together
  • Charts & Grids Intro
  • Live Trade Intro
  • Covered Call Sale
  • Targeted Purchase
  • Buy Insurance
  • Long Exposure
  • Bonus Trade
  • Live Trade Conclusion

About the Instructors

Tom Barkley
Tom Barkley Director, MS in Finance Program & Professor of Finance Practice

Tom Barkley is the Director of the MS in Finance Program and a Professor of Finance Practice at Syracuse University's Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Professor Barkley is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), and a Financial Risk Manager (FRM). Professor Barkley's primary research interests are in market microstructure, asset pricing, derivatives, risk management, capital markets, and international finance. He teaches Derivative Securities, Corporate Finance, and Working Capital Management and his research topics include market microstructure, asset pricing, derivatives, risk management, capital markets, and international finance. Professor Barkley won the Oberwager Award for Outstanding Faculty from the Whitman School of Management in 2013 and the Whitman School of Management Faculty of the Year in 2008 from the MBA Student Association.

Lucas Downey
Lucas Downey Co-Founder of Mapsignals.com

Luke served as Head of ETF Sales at Cantor Fitzgerald. While in this seat, he began to notice the importance that institutional trading activity had on the movements and direction of stocks. He spent years observing these activities and in his free time, with a partner, began designing quantitative models to look for unusual trading activity. He later moved to Jefferies, LLC as an SVP of Derivatives. There he published stock research based around the unusual activity signals he was developing. He later left Wall Street to work on this research full time at MAPsignals.com.