Course description
Options Trading Masterclass
This intensely practical program will show you how to trade successfully in the $25bn-a-day world of equity options. We demystify the jargon and explain the key concepts in non-technical language. You’ll then be able to test your ideas on our uniquely powerful options trading simulator and receive immediate and incisive feedback.
By the end of the seminar, you’ll have a clear understanding of how options are priced, which trading strategies work best in different circumstances, how to avoid pitfalls that can wipe out your profits, and how to use options successfully to achieve your personal investing objectives.
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Who should attend?
Who Should Attend
Anyone who wants to master options trading and develop successful trading strategies.
Prerequisites
You should already be familiar with the basics of options – calls vs. puts, terminology, exercise styles, and intrinsic vs. time value. You’ll be given access to pre-course eLearning if you want to review these concepts.
Training content
Understanding Time Value
Option trading is all about the premium, and time value is the most important but often least understood aspect of option pricing. Here we give you a clear insight into time value – what it represents, what it gives you, and what influences how much you pay for it.
- What is time value?
- What do you get when you pay for time value?
- Why is time value so important?
- What drives time value?
- Examining the time value of different META options
Option Pricing – An Intuitive Insight
Option pricing is often shrouded in unnecessary complexity and mystique. Here we lift the lid and give you a clear and intuitive insight into how models like the Black Scholes model actually work.
- Understanding option pricing without the math
- Do stock prices really follow a random walk?
- The 3 key questions in option pricing
- Using Monte Carlo to price an option
- How the Black-Scholes model works
- Beyond hockey-sticks
- Exploring recent option prices
- Why American-style options aren’t so great
- What is put-call parity and why is it useful?
- Volatility – historical vs. implied vs. experienced vols
- Volatility smiles and skews
- Volatility and option prices
- Option Greeks
- The practical impact of delta, gamma, theta, vega, and rho
- Option pricing workshop
Option Trading Principles
There are so many ways you can use options, but there are many pitfalls along the way. In this section we reveal how you can successfully implement trading strategies that generate real profits, and how you can avoid some of the common traps that often catch out the unwary.
- Defining your objectives
- Directional trading strategies
- Volatility trading strategies
- Identifying opportunities
- Choosing the right structure
- The story of Charlie and Pete
Options Day-Trading Simulation
Here’s an amazing opportunity to put into practice what you have learned so far, by using our unique Global Traer Cloud simulator. You can try out different trading strategies in a dynamic simulated trading environment and – most importantly – have them assessed by our AI-powered Trade Advisor and the perceptive analysis and comments from our expert instructor.
- Briefing: how to use the Global Trader Cloud simulator
- Practice session
- Intra-day trading simulation
- Debriefing and analysis
Bull, Bear, and Price Enhancement Strategies
Trade shares, and when the market is flat, so is your PnL. Trade options, and you can make money whether the market goes up, down, or moves sideways. Here we show you how to accelerate your profits but not your losses, and how to make a 60% return in just one month from a flat market.
- Why using options beats going long or short shares
- Bull and bear strategies
- 90/10 strategies
- Creating targeted plays
- Butterfly and condor strategies
- Accelerator strategies
- Price enhancement – making money in a flat market
- How to make a 60% profit in a flat market – in just one month!
Trading Volatility with VIX Futures, Options, and ETFs
Volatility is one of the key pricing variables for options and is followed second-by-second by indices like the VIX. If you are interested in trading volatility, this section explains the different ways in which you can buy or sell volatility, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each technique.
- Volatility as an asset class
- What exactly is the VIX?
- Trading the VIX:
- Options
- Futures
- ETFs
- Why trading with VIX futures and ETFs is not trading the VIX
- Avoiding the pitfalls
- Making money with VIX futures
Options Medium-Term Trading Simulation
The wider bid-ask spreads on options often make them more suitable for medium-term trading strategies. This adds an important additional dimension – time decay. Here we explain how theta can make all the difference between a profitable trading strategy and one which looks great but loses money in practice.
- The crucial impact of time decay – theta
- Temporal trading strategies
- Briefing – managing option portfolios over time
- Medium-term trading simulation
- Debriefing and analysis
Practical Issues When Trading Options
In the final section we look at the practicalities of opening and running an options trading account.
- Defining your objectives
- Setting up an options trading account
- Option trading levels – what do they mean?
- Funding the account and margin
- Impact of the bid-offer spread
- Handling assignment on short positions
Course delivery details
What Makes This Course Different?
Two things make this seminar stand out – our award-winning technology and the insight provided by our experienced instructor.
Our Unique Technology – you’ll be using our Global Trader Cloud simulation throughout the course to try out a range of option strategies under realistic trading conditions.
First, the powerful Strategy Evaluator allows you to create, explore, and compare option strategies, and examine their performance.
Next, you can place orders in simulated real time, and explore how the strategy performs as market prices change, and as the simulated days and weeks flow by. Powerful analytics like our Exposure Heatmap highlight vulnerabilities, and our Profit Attribution analysis identifies exactly how your profits or losses are generated.
After every simulation you’ll then get individualized, deep, and incisive feedback from our AI-powered Trade Advisor. This amazing tool analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of your options trading decisions and suggests exactly how you could improve them. You’ll also benefit from the insightful comments and advice from…
Our Experienced Instructor– who is Dr Lawrence Galitz, a world authority on derivatives, especially options. Author of the Financial Times Handbook of Financial Engineering, Lawrence has deep insight into the workings of options and options markets, and an unrivaled ability to demystify complex concepts and make them easy to understand.
“Options have always fascinated me” says Lawrence, “and it’s my aim to ensure that everyone attending this program gains an intuitive understanding of options, gets what all the jargon really means, and learns how to avoid the pitfalls when trading options.”
“There are so many misunderstandings and misconceptions out there”, he says, “and many people have lost money as a result. On this seminar we explain everything clearly, carefully, and correctly, so you can make the right decisions based on sound insight.”
Certification / Credits
CPD: 14 hours
Learning Outcomes
By attending this course, you will:
- Gain a clear and intuitive understanding of how options are priced
- Explore how to create a wide range of option strategies by combining options in different ways
- Develop pro-active and innovative strategies for trading options that achieve your personal objectives and avoid common pitfalls and mistakes
- Trade options in a highly realistic environment using our Global Trader Cloud simulator and receive insightful feedback on your trading performance
- Appreciate the differences between successful day-trading strategies and those that perform better in the medium term
- Examine ways to add value and accelerate your profits in either bull or bear markets, and even how to generate returns when the market is flat
- Discover how to trade volatility using options, futures, or ETFs
- Learn about the practical issues in setting up and managing an options trading account
Why choose ACF Academy?
Over 100,000 professionals trained globally
Award-winning practical financial simulations
Consistently high ratings
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ACF Academy
ACF Consultants are a global leader in providing practical and effective training for financial professionals. Leading banks, companies and financial institutions from all over the world partner with us to develop their people to achieve their goals. They trust our...