Options for Beginners
Learn options trading with this straightforward and self paced class, teaching you real strategies to increase consistency of returns and put the odds in your favor.

Led by Luke Downey View Instructor Bio

$199.00 $199 USD
Lifetime Access
  • Over 39 lessons with videos, exercises and interactive content
  • Bonus Options Outcome Calculator to help plan and execute trades
  • Investopedia Guarantee

What will I learn?

  • 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

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
  • You will also receive a free month of Lucas Downey's Mapsignals service.

This course is for: intermediate traders looking to begin trading options, and a brokerage account is a prerequisite. It simplifies options buying and selling and—above all—shows you how to “wait for the slow pitch.”

Certificate of Enrollment

Receive an Investopedia Academy Certificate of Enrollment with this course

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 Instructor

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. 

Students are Saying...

Options for Beginners is an outstanding course that is well structured and easy to navigate. I really valued the professional approach of Luke. I now feel confident to go out and do some basic options trades after taking this course.

Daniel Tscherry
Options for Beginners student

The course overall was well done and very informative. I feel more comfortable with options after taking the course and it will be an excellent source for reviewing option concepts. I intend to take some other courses soon!

Scott Stephenson
Options for Beginners Student

As someone looking for a new income path, Investopedia Academy was exactly what I was looking for. Options for Beginners course and Become a Day Trader provided me a foundation of how to trade. The courses helped me understand the big picture of trading and the risks involved.

Eric Figueroa
Conveyer Automation Technician

I needed an entry-level understanding of the markets, and this course provided me with the crisp and clear information I was after. Most courses and sites make trading very complex, but David Green laid out his strategy in a very easy and straightforward manner. David aligned the content of the course perfectly with his day trading strategy; he could be an outstanding Business School Professor too.

Simon Joseph
Engineer

I am really enjoying the Technical Analysis course. They have a great professor that is simple and easy to understand, especially for a beginner like me!

Hung Le Phuoc
Student at MacEwan University