A Winning Binary Options Strategy

Submitted by: Sean Goudeloc

No single binary options strategy will deliver the same results for all who use it as different people use different ways of reading, analyzing, and playing the ever risky financial trading game. This, however, should not deter you from investing in this opportunity and possibly make a considerable return if that is your desire. The primary goal of every strategy is to establish and develop a detailed plan of action that you can use to minimize the risks involved in financial trading. Sticking to this plan will promote discipline which is essentially disregarding emotions that may only serve to hinder your progress towards profit.

If you wish to invest in binary options, you may find that either a specific trading strategy or a combination of two or more strategies will deliver positive results. Although strategies having to do with binary options are too many to mention, experienced investors have outlined some of the more important ones that may be applied in most cases:

1. Reversal is the binary options strategy wherein you buy an option contrary to an asset’s present trend, especially if the price movement is radical going either up or down. An investor who employs this strategy realizes that the price of an asset will not remain indefinitely at a certain point and may perhaps revert to its original trading value. Reversal takes into account the proven axiom that what goes up must come down and usually at the same speed at which it climbed.

2. The hedging binary options strategy entails safeguarding whatever profit has been made on an asset prior to its maturity, often when there is little time left. An investor will sell an asset to realize his or her present gains in anticipation of any downward price movement. He or she may also retain a portion of the asset and possibly earn more from it if the asset remains in the money all the way up to maturity. The buyer will at the very least get back his or her initial investment along with a little income while leaving the remainder for any last-minute trades. Additional profit can still be realized from the remaining asset but if the opposite is true, any losses will be more than offset by the gains made from the earlier selling before maturity.

3. Double trading is most often used by investors who have a good grasp of what goes on in the financial market. If an investor buys an asset and then sees that it is performing to his or her advantage prior to maturity, he or she may buy more of the same asset as long as the option follows the same movement towards the final price.

4. Pairing or straddling is a variation of double trading. It refers to buying put and call options that are both in the money. If the price upon maturity is anywhere between the two prices at which you bought the asset, you can still generate a return.

Whichever binary options strategy you feel will earn you a substantial return, you must have a good understanding of the market and its trends, the willingness to use your available resources wisely, and the discipline to stick to your chosen strategy every time you trade.

About the Author: If you are looking for more information about binary options strategy, click on http://binary-options-pro.com/ to download our free report on binary options.

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Top Five Reasons to Sell Weekly Call Options

Submitted by: Timothy Leary

An amazing income opportunity is now here with weekly call options. “Weeklys” come out every Thursday and expire the following Friday. There are no new Weeklys in the final week where the monthly options expire. You can just write the next week from the monthly list.

Although Weeklys have been around since 2005, it has only been since the summer of 2010 that the offerings have been expanded to include stocks and ETS like Apple, Amazon. Intel, Microsoft, Research in Motion, Cisco and Las Vegas Sands, to name a few. On the ETF side, there are QQQQ, GDL, GDX, USO, SLV and more, as well as the SPX and the OEX.

How Weeklys Super Size Your Trading Account

You Get to Sell 4 Times a Month!

Selling call options four times a month versus once is a pure gift. An experienced covered call writer can earn A LOT more premium. Doubling the monthlies in many cases is not unreasonable. Also, if you use a long-dated put for protection, this “insurance” can be paid for very fast due to more writes per month.

8 Days a Week Versus 30

Forecasting eight days instead of thirty is a piece of cake; it’s much easier to look at what is happening in the week ahead. One of the biggest complaints about covered call writing is what to do if the stock really runs up and you have to either forgo the increased gains over the call option strike you sold or buy back the call at a much higher price. If this happens, it’s a lot easier to adjust over one week and reset with a new trend the next week.

Accelerated Time Decay

Call writers depend on time decay. With Weeklys, time decay is greatly accelerated. There have been times that calls I sold on Thursday morning on introduction eroded over 30% by Monday’s close. How cool is that? You can write near-the-money calls or at-the-money-calls and collect the higher premiums due to the rapid time decay.

Skip Earnings Week and Relax

How many times have you crossed your legs and held your nose during earnings week? Well, now you can just sit it out. Weeklys offer the ultimate in flexibility. You can also trade the news that week before or after the event. Again, you can be in or out of the market weekly. THAT is flexible.

Selling Weekly Puts for Even More Premium

Weeklys offer an astonishing opportunity to super size returns by selling a naked put or a put spread (to limit risk and to use less margin) for more premium. Just follow normal put selling rules; sell below a strong support point, at least one strike out of the money and maybe more if the premiums are good.

It’s amazing how many experienced investors and fund managers do not know much about weekly options. The word is spreading. There is a lot to know about the various covered call writing strategies for up, down or sideways markets. The more you learn, the more you earn.

About the Author: Tim Leary is a full time trader and writes (sells) covered calls, earning 3% to 5% monthly in bull and bear markets, with limited risk. To get a 50-page covered call writing report, click here. To learn more call strategies click here

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A Winning System For Binary Options

Submitted by: Sean Goudeloc

Choosing a binary options trading system that will work best for you is similar to actual binary options trading in that you have to exercise an eye for detail, a scrutinizing mind, and good judgment. Trading in binary options is inherently risky, but with the possibility of return of a hundred percent or even greater on your initial investment, it would be difficult to ignore such a potentially lucrative opportunity. An effective automated system can streamline all the tasks involved in such trading, thus affording you a considerable edge over other investors and allowing you to make more money than is otherwise possible.

Each binary options trading system made available today has automatic trading as its most prominent feature. An effective system will do all the online trading work for you, even if your computer is nowhere nearby. According to observers, the automation’s most important attribute is the elimination of human emotion—often cited as one of the major obstacles to investing wisely—from the decision-making process. This is especially true in the case of income shortfalls wherein inexperienced investors, having become distraught with their losses, resort to mere guesswork in a hasty yet futile effort to get themselves “out of the red.” Guesswork could result in greater losses whereas informed decisions have a greater chance of earning profit, especially if such decisions are made all the time.

So how then does one choose a winning binary options trading system among a wide selection offering different features and services? Although there is no single system that can be hailed as the best, observers have identified the most important criteria in selecting a system with the potential of making binary options trading more efficient and therefore more profitable. It will depend entirely on the system’s effectiveness in satisfying the user’s needs.

Although a system will afford you tighter control over your trading, it has to have at least a fair degree of user-friendliness. If a system is supposed to make the act of trading easier, any difficulty in using the system, particularly in browsing through and utilizing the included functions, will offset the efficiency expected by clients. If you want to engage in foreign currency trading, make sure the system you will use can support many pairs of currency denominations (e.g., US Dollar-Euro, US Dollar-UK Pound).

Security is always a major concern because you’re essentially entrusting your money to a system that does all the trading for you. A system of 128-bit or higher SSL encryption is often regarded as having the necessary security features.

In trading binary options, even a single penny can mean a lot. If you’re faced with an “out of the money” option, an effective trading system is one that will guarantee you even a little payback to help cut your losses.

Lastly, the binary options trading system that will work best for you is the one whose minimum deposit amount falls within your current financial capacity. Such a feature is especially beneficial for beginning investors who cannot yet afford to part with substantial amounts of their hard-earned savings. Most trading systems require a minimum deposit of $100 though it can go as low as $50 for a few others.

About the Author: If you are looking for more information about binary options trading system, click on http://binary-options-pro.com/ to download our free report on binary options.

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What Are Binary Options?

Submitted by: Chris Carter

In today's trading market there are literally dozens of options for the investor. Day trading, futures trading, commodities trading, FOREX trading (Foreign currency trading) just to name a few and are all viable trading options in today's market. But less are as popular today as binary option trading. Some people have heard of it some and people have not but the fact of the matter is, it is one of the more popular and risk to ROI types of trading in the business.

Here is a little history on options and how binary options evolved before we get started: The trading of options has been around for many decades and for a majority of that time was pretty much unregulated. Option trading was primarily considered OTC or over-the-counter transactions with very little regulation. Then in 1973 the Chicago Board Options Exchange was formed as a venue for trading options with specific regulations. Along with the formation of the Options Clearing Corporation, option traders could now be held to a higher standard of accountability for any trade they make punishable by temporary or permanent suspension for any regulation indiscretions.

Binary options became a derivative of standard options trading early on and itself was primarily an over-the-counter transaction with minimal regulations. Binary options at first were actually one smaller part of much larger complex options and at that time were not considered much of a viable trading option. It wasn't until recent years in the mid 2000’s that binary options would start to gain a foothold. With its increased popularity, in 2007 the Options Clearing Corporation made a change in the rules to allow binary options to be legal tradable contracts on the open market. As you can imagine with this change binary options popularity skyrocketed and in 2008 the American Stock Exchange became the first exchange to offer binary options publicly.

So what is a Binary option? A binary option allows for a payoff that is a fixed amount of an asset or nothing at all. It is a very black and white cut and dried form of option trading. Binary options exist in two main types: cash-or- nothing and asset-or-nothing. From either you are going to get only one of two results, and you are either in the money or out of the money hence the name binary. With a cash-or-nothing binary option a fixed amount is paid in cash if the option expires in the money. With the asset-or-nothing option, the value of underlying security is what pays. For example, let's say you purchase a cash-or-nothing call option on Acme Company’s stock at $50 with a binary payoff of $500. Then at the maturity date if Acme company's stock is trading at $50 or above you receive $500, if it is trading at less than $50 you get nothing including your initial investment.

Due to the Internet and the creation as well as implementation of many extraordinary tools for trading, binary options popularity has soared. Due to the expansion of online trading, now your everyday average day trader can now partake in every form of trading as well as option trading right from the comforts of home and binary options have become the trade of choice.

About the Author: Are you looking for more information regarding binary options ? Visit http://www.binaryoptions101.com/ today!

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Binary Options Demo Account

Submitted by: Jenny M White

Opening a demo account dealing with binary options and with a trusted broker is an excellent method to learn the binary options market. If you are considering risking money to get into the binary options trading, first open a money-free trading account. Demos will teach you how to master your binary options and provides the option to broaden or expand the functionality of your account, start a broader account and use delayed starter options account.

To become successful and profitable, gain a mastery of online trading. If you are happy with the progress you make and find that you are confident in trading, partner with the companies you worked with using their free binary option demo accounts.

Play it Safe before You Invest

Demo accounts provide real life experiences in trading. You actively engage in trading in the current market. Learning about binary options includes experiencing the stock market, reading tables, and following trends. Develop your trading strategy without risking real money. These accounts offer resources for both the novice and the expert trader. Training gives accessibility to broker platforms where you can conduct no-risk trades. Learn how to use analysis tools, plus using platform features.

There are two types of these accounts. The most typical account is the standard free account that permits you access different trading platforms, educational materials and broker features. However, standard accounts do not enable simulated trading. You may want to invest in a demo account that offers the same educational materials of a standard account, but gives you the choice to take part in simulated binary options trading.

There are several brokers that offer demo accounts complete with the opportunity to participate in simulated trading. These brokers are also considered to be highly reputable and perhaps investment houses that you may want to partner with when you open a real trading account.

Broker Investment Houses

OptionFair provides a demo account that offers trading simulators used to experience real trading. This simulator provides trade types to be tested and instruction tools and resources. You have access to trading webinars and tutorials to enhance your learning curve.

Try out OptionBit a broker providing demo accounts with simulated trading inside an actual platform. There are e-Courses and training to those who have never traded. After learning on the demo account, OptionBit offers trading tutorials and a platform identical to the demo account.

A third option is Banc De Binary. Their account comprises of $50,000 in trading funds to be used in the simulated trade tutorial. You will need to establish a conventional account with a deposit of $250 before you have access to the account. This is a bit different than free binary options ones, but if you are serious about entering into binary options trading you will have a huge advantage over those who just use non-funded simulators.

Before entering into the world of binary options trading, use demo accounts that will introduce you into trading without taking risks. Take advantage of the learning techniques to gain a tremendous start in trading.

About the Author: For more information, visit http://www.binaryoptionsexperts.com/ affiliate where affiliate marketers are invited to sign up for a free account and get started marketing & making money right away! For help with your content and Internet marketing, visit this virtual assistants site.

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Benefits of Using Binary Options Trading Software

Submitted by: Jenny M White

Binary options has become a way for many traders to make a little extra money, quickly and easily, sometimes apart from their regular careers. Binary options trading strategies will differ from trader to trader, and what might work for someone else may not necessarily work for you. This is because every trader has a system their own while analyzing the financial markets. It is thus crucial that you create a plan that suits your style of working, taking into consideration all market movements and trends of the assets in which you would like to invest.

More and more traders are now turning to binary options trading software to perfect their trading practices and ensure that their investment sees a profit. This software is generally very user friendly, and binary options trading (broker) platforms ensure this so that clients are not put off.

Binary options is considered by many to be a simple and easy money-maker as it uses just two options: all you have to do is predict whether the asset price will go up or down. This is something you can actually learn on your own by analyzing the financial markets, and the way to do this is to use the software that trading platforms offer online. Here are some of the benefits of using binary options trading software:

· Trading software provides market information in real time, making it easier for you to make correct prediction more often than not, thus lessening the stress or fear of losing your investment.

· The software provides for the setting up of free demo accounts on which you can practice, once again using real-time market information. Thus you can make simulated trades and gain experience before you actually begin trading.

· A demo account also helps you to test trading strategies. This way you can learn how to use various proven strategies and even modify some according to your style, and learn to adapt them according to the ever-changing market.

· The software also provides you with tutorials, tips, forums and videos for support and help with your trading options. Just remember that though most brokers offer free demo accounts, you will probably be expected to make some sort of payment so that you can access the software. Once you sign up as a member, you will be able to download the software.

· This software can also double up as a binary option signals provider, helping you to obtain data and determine the asset's price.

To become a successful binary options trader, you need to learn how the market works and understand its trends. The use of binary options trading software can help you increase your skills and knowledge of binary options trading. At the end of the day, using binary options trading software and learning how to adapt various strategies to your advantage can give you an edge over the competition and help you become a successful trader. Be aware, however, that not all broker platforms offering the use of software will be above board, so be cautious when choosing your broker.

About the Author: For more information, visit http://www.binaryoptionsexperts.com/ affiliate where affiliate marketers are invited to sign up for a free account and get started marketing & making money right away! For help with your content and Internet marketing, visit this virtual assistants site.

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How Call Option Buying Works

Submitted by: Mark Crisp

When you buy a call, you are not required to buy the 100 shares of stock. You have the right, but not the obligation. In fact, the vast majority of call buyers do not actually buy 100 shares of stock. Most buyers are speculating on the price movement of the stock, hoping to sell their options at a profit rather than buy 100 shares of stock. As a buyer, you have until the expiration date to decide what action to take, if any. You have several choices, and the best one to make depends entirely on what happens to the market price of the underlying stock, and on how much time remains in the option period.

Using calls to illustrate, there are three scenarios relating to the price of the underlying stock, and several choices for action within each.

1. The market value of the underlying stock rises. In the event of an increase in the price of the underlying stock, you may take one of two actions. First, you may exercise the call and buy the 100 shares of stock below current market value. Second, if you do not want to own 100 shares of that stock, you may sell the option for a profit.

Every option has a fixed value at which exercise takes place. Whenever an option is exercised, the purchase price of 100 shares of stock takes place at that fixed price, which is called the striking price of the option. Striking price is expressed as a numerical equivalent of the dollar price per share, without dollar signs. The striking price is normally divisible by 5, as options are established with striking prices at five-dollar price intervals for stocks selling between $30 and $200 per share. Stocks selling under $30 have options trading at 2.5-point intervals; and stocks trading above $200 per share have options trading at $10 intervals. When a stock splits, new striking price levels may also be introduced. For example, if a stock is split 2-for-l and it has a current option at 35, the post-split levels would be adjusted to 17 1/2. (In cases of splits, the number of shares and options are adjusted so that the ratio of one option per 100 shares of stock remains constant. In a 2-for-l split, 100 shares become 200 shares at half the value; and each outstanding option becomes two options worth half the pre-split value.)

Example

Profitable Decisions: You decided two months ago to buy a call. You paid the option price of $200, which entitled you to buy 100 shares of a particular stock at $55 per share. The striking price is 55. The option will expire later this month. The stock currently is selling for $60 per share, and the option's current value is 6 ($600). You have a choice to make: You may exercise the call and buy 100 shares at the contractual price of $55 per share, which is $5 per share below current market value; or you may sell the call and realize a profit of $400 on the investment, consisting of current market value of the option of $600, less the original price of $200. (This example does not include an adjustment for trading costs, so in applying this and other examples, remember that it will cost you a fee each time you enter an option transaction, and each time you leave one. This should be factored into any calculation of profit or loss on an option trade.)

2. The market value of the underlying stock does not change. It often happens that within the life span of an option, the stock's market value does not change, or changes are too insignificant to create the profit scenario you hope for when you buy calls. You have two alternatives in this situation. First, you may sell the call at a loss before its expiration date (after which the call becomes worthless). Second, you may hold on to the option, hoping that the stock's market value will rise before expiration, which would create a rise in the call's value as well, at the last minute. The first choice, selling at a loss, is advisable when it appears there is no hope of a last-minute surge in the stock's market value. Taking some money out and reducing your loss may be wiser than waiting for the option to lose even more value. Remember, after expiration date, the option is worthless. An option is a wasting asset, because it is designed to lose all of its value after expiration. By its limited life attribute, it is expected to decline in value as time passes. If the market value of the stock remains at or below the striking price all the way to expiration, then the premium value—the current market value of the option—will be much less near expiration than at the time you purchased it, even if the stock's market value remains the same. The difference reflects the value of time itself. The longer the time until expiration, the more opportunity there is for the stock (and the option) to change in value.

Tip

In setting standards for yourself to determine when or if to take profits in an option, be sure to factor in the cost of the transaction. Brokerage fees and charges vary widely, so shop around for the best option deal based on the volume of trading you undertake.

Example

Best Laid Plans: You purchased a call a few months ago "at 5." (This means you paid a premium of $500). You hoped that the underlying stock would increase in market value, causing the option also to rise in value. The call will expire later this month, but contrary to your expectations, the stock's price has not changed. The option's value has declined to $100. You have the choice of selling it now and taking a $400 loss; or you may hold the option, hoping for a last-minute increase in the stock's value. Either way, you will need to sell the option before expiration, after which it will become worthless.

Tip

The options market is characterized by a series of choices, some more difficult than others. It requires discipline to apply a formula so that you make the best decision given the circumstances, rather than acting on impulse. That is the key to succeeding with options.

About the Author: The Weekly, Stress Free Momentum Stock Trader. Trade less. Make more. No stress. http://www.stressfreetrading.com

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Maximizing Option Trading Profits With Fast Puts And Calls

Submitted by: Frank Smithson

In today's chaotic stock market, the ability to make a profit trading long Option positions (Puts and Calls) depends on being able to capitalize on short-term moves in the price of a stock or index. Stocks are up one day, and down the next - and it's anybody's guess as to what the long-term outlook is. With the price action occurring on a daily basis being more or less a guessing game, the ability to make profits with long option positions depends on being able to buy options that can gain value quickly with a minimum amount of price movement in the underlying security.

In the past, figuring out which option might move the most quickly has been a guessing game. For every equity with options there are several options for each expiration month. In the case of options on Indices, such as SPY or DIA, there are literally dozens of option choices for each month. Clearly, figuring our which of those options will reach a particular target gain on your initial investment, just by looking at the list of choices, is basically a guessing game

The key to a winning Option Trading Strategy it to be able to sort out the relative behavior of all of those options, and find the ones that can make your target investment gain (50%, 100%, etc.) with the least amount of price movement in the stock. The availability of a new Spreadsheet that can analyze and display the behavior of the various option choices, and show clearly which options can provide the desired gains with the least amount of price movement in the stock, eliminates the guesswork.

This analytical spreadsheet provides a number of useful Metrics for characterizing the behavior and future value of options, but the most important are the price gain data in the Matrix displays, which give a visual impression of the rate at which the different options will gain value as the price of the stock or Index changes. This provides the tool for finding the options which gain value at the fastest rate.

The spreadsheet provides two Matrix displays: The first shows the behavior of the options based entirely on the effects of Delta and Gamma, which determine how the price of the options change as the Stock price changes. This set of calculations is most relevant when you expect a very quick move in the stock price - a situation in which time decay (Theta) does not play a significant role. The second Matrix adds to the Delta and Gamma effects calculations of the influence of both Time Decay, and Volatility (Vega). These two variables can be changed independently of each other.

The results of these calculations are illustrated below in two tables. The data in the tables are for Dollar Tree Calls. The first set of values shows the amount that each call will gain based on the increase in the value of DLTR stock shown in the top line of the table (DLTR Price Gain). To make the relative behavior of the different Options clear, each line of the Table shows only the two price gains which bracket the increase in the option Bid price that will allow each option to be sold for double the original price paid, (the Ask price). (The target value can be set to any desired multiple of the initial cost, not just 2x, as in this example):

DLTR @ $35.42, Price changes needed to Double the value of a Call:

Matrix 1 - Delta & Gamma only price gains:

DLTR Price Gain:___ $2.00__$3.00__$4.00__$5.00__$6.00__$7.00__$8.00

DQO CU_______________$1.48___$2.09

DQO CH_______________$1.09___$1.56

DQO CV_________$0.47__$0.76

DQO CI_________$0.31__$0.51

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DQO EH_______________________$1.89___$2.45

DQO EV_______________________$1.56___$2.04

DQO EI________________$0.91___$1.28

DQO EW_______________$0.73___$1.03

(These tables are greatly abridged for publication, and many data columns are not shown.)

The second Matrix shows how these same options will behave at some time in the future and, optionally, with a change from the present value of Volatility (Vega). The number of days into the future, and the change in Volatility, are determined by user input, which allows the exploration of many different "what if?" scenarios:

Matrix 2 - Price Gains after 35 Days and with Volatility at 85% of current value:

DLTR Price Gain:____$2.00__$3.00__$4.00___$5.00___$6.00___$7.00__$8.00

DQO CU__________________* * *___* * *__$1.65___$2.53

DQO CH__________________* * *___* * *__$0.52___$1.28

DQO CV__________* * *____* * *__________________$0.43__$0.76

DQO C___________* * *____* * *__________________$0.18__$0.37

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DQO EH_________________________* * *____ * * *___$1.58___$2.30

DQO EV_________________________* * *____* * *__________$1.50___$2.15

DQO EI___________________* * *___* * *__________$0.66___$1.06

DQO EW_________________ * * * ___* * *__________________$0.72___$1.06

In this second Matrix, the positions occupied by price gain data appearing in Matrix One are represented with asterisks (if they differ from the new positions), providing a clear visualization of the way in which the Options' gains in value have been changed by the effects of Time and Volatility.

The Tables above show how an analysis of multiple options can be used to make choosing the fastest option to purchase for a trade a more systematic process. If we anticipate that DLTR is going to make a quick move upward in price over the next couple of days (perhaps because of an earnings announcement), then using the data from the top table we would buy either the DQO CV Calls, or the DQO CI Calls. In cases like this, where there are two choices for an option based on the fastest rate of price gain, there are other metrics, such as price gain to achieve break-even, which can be used to narrow the choice further.

Based on the results of the analysis, these two Calls should double in value if the price of DLTR stock rises by $2.00 - $3.00 over the next few days, as of the time this data was current (early February 2009). The DQO CU and DQO CH options, by contrast, won't double unless the price of DLTR rises by $3.00 - $4.00. If we were expecting the stock to drop, then we would perform a similar analysis using the Puts for DLTR. This example illustrates the power of this strategy: Buying one of the two fastest options cold result in a 100% profit, after the price of the stock has risen by less than 9%!

On the other hand, if we expect that DLTR will rise gradually over the next several weeks, then we would use the calculations in the second Matrix. Setting the number of days to the expected interval for the trade (in this case, 35 days) and allowing for the likelihood of a 15% decrease in volatility for these options, the best choices for Call options to buy would then be either the DQO CU, or the DQO CH Calls. Note that these March calls will still provide a faster return than the longer expiration options (the the May calls), even though the elapsed time is 35 days. This is not always the case, however.

One of the advantages of the way this data is presented is that anomalies in Option pricing "jump out" at the user very clearly. In the second Matrix, notice that the price gain data for the DQO EI Calls are displaced one position to the left, relative to the DQO EW and DQO EV Calls. This indicates that the DQO EI calls have an advantage over the others under these conditions, and will produce a faster return.

The use of a trading strategy that takes advantage of analytical tools (like the price gain velocity analysis shown here) provides an opportunity to make trading decisions that are based on analytical data, rather than "gut instincts". This provides Option Traders with a more systematic way to make choices when devising an Option trading strategy, and taking an Option position.

About the Author: Frank Smithson is an Option Trader with many years of experience. The Spreadsheet described in this article is available Free at http://www.optionspreadsheet.com For more information on Equity Options, please go to: http://www.options-explained.com

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Steps in Learning to Trade Options

Submitted by: Jason Ng

So, everyone’s making money trading options and you are eager to make the move from good old boring stocks to options trading. That’s good, but how do you get started in options trading? What are the steps of learning to go through before you can trade options effectively?

Step 1: Options Education

Options are extremely complex derivative trading instruments and trading options isn’t as simple as buying low and selling high. In fact, there isn’t just one kind of option and there isn’t just one option for each stock! There can be as many as hundreds of options available for trading on a single stock and all of them behaves differently and at a different rate in response to changes in the price of the underlying stock. All of these characteristics make learning about what options are the first steps in trading options. A lot of beginners make the mistake of starting their options education by randomly buying a few options to see how they behave. That usually leads to more questions about why those options behave the way they do and the inevitable loss also affects trading confidence right from the start. Inevitably, beginners starting out this way would have to come back to the education part. There are a lot of websites such as Optiontradingpedia.com that give good in-depth explanation on how options work for free.

Education for options trading must also include a comprehensive education in technical analysis as the full benefits of options trading can only be obtained from accurate trend analysis and market timing.

Step 2: Paper Trading

After you have obtained a comprehensive understanding of how options work it is now time to put your knowledge to the test. No, this is not when you should simply fund an options account and start trading with real money. Most reputable online options accounts offer a function known as “virtual trading”. This is a function which allows you to practice options trading using real prices with identical trading interface but using fake money rather than real ones. Virtual trading, or paper trading, is the most important step in verifying your options trading knowledge before you do it for real. Very often, beginners will find the confidence they build up in the education phase fizzle out really quickly in virtual trading as they see the fallacies of their methods and perhaps even find holes in their options knowledge which requires more education to patch up. Those options beginners who went ahead with real trading following their theoretical options education usually end up losing all their money and quitting options trading altogether. This is why paper trading is such an important step in the overall options learning process. In fact, it is recommended that the virtual trading phase be at least 6 months to ensure you are not missing anything. It is like practicing in the baby pool after learning the swimming strokes on land.

Step 3: Single Contract Real Trading

After you have mustered enough confidence through an extended options virtual trading practice, it is time to take your knowledge and experience into the real money options trading world. However, it is not yet time for you to start trading your entire savings or retirement account full force. This is time for you to practice using real money trading only one contract at a time. Single contract real options trading training allows you to experience the real emotional stress of trading real money and also allows you to get familiarized with using real money interface while risking only a small, limited amount of money. Such single contract real options trading practice is critical due to the fact that most beginners make their first losses through execution mistakes such as clicking on a wrong link, using a wrong order or placing an advanced order wrongly. Such unnecessary losses can be significant if a lot of money is committed right from the start and its impact on trading confidence cannot be undermined. Trading only single options contracts may be inefficient in terms of commissions for some options brokers but it allows such mistakes to be made with relatively low level of pain on your capital. As such, it is recommended for a beginner options trader at this stage to keep trading only single contract until no more executional mistakes are made moving on to the next step.

Step 4: All Out Options Trading

All out trading is when you are truly ready to make options trading a true source of additional income or income replacement. This is when you will commit significant amounts of money in order to produce a meaningful profit trading options. However, coming out of single contract real trading, one should not immediately commit all the money one can muster all at once. Emotional stress increases as capital involved increases. Indeed, an options trader who can handle trading thousands of dollars may not have the emotional strength to handle trading hundreds of thousands and such a surge in emotional stress usually lead to dire consequences. It is again just like learning to swim; you don’t jump straight into the deepest end by rather move deeper gradually as your confidence and competence increases. As such, one should trade options with more and more money only as one’s trading confidence and competence increases.

Indeed, learning to trade options effectively without damaging one’s trading confidence along the way is the only way to ensure long term success in options trading. This is why adhering to the steps in learning to trade options are so important. These are the exact steps which I put all my Star Trading System and Ride the Flow System students through in order to ensure that all of them master options trading for life and become truly profitable options traders. If I can, so can you!

About the Author: Jason Ng is the Founder and Chief Option Strategist of Masters 'O' Equity Asset Management and author of Optiontradingpedia.com and Futurestradingpedia.com. Learn more about Option Trading and Futures Trading.

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The Importance of Having a Binary Options Practice Account

Submitted by: Jenny M White

Binary options trading is one of the simplest ways to make some money over short periods of time. However, it is still as risky as any other type of trading. So you need to understand how the system actually works to be able to become a good trader and turn your investment into a profit, especially if you are a newcomer. Because binary options trading is a comparatively new way of trading in the financial markets, the best way for traders to gain experience and understand how to make it work to their advantage is to prepare for the real thing using a binary options practice account.

How Practice Accounts Work

Most binary options brokers, or trading platforms, offer practice accounts along with real accounts where you are given some fake cash to practice trading. You will be given access to the same information on asset prices, trends and patterns as you would if you were actually trading. Trading is done in four categories: forex, commodities, stocks and indexes. You may know how to trade in one format but each category has a different method. A binary options practice or demo account will allow you to practice in your chosen method before you start real trading.

Because the practice account allows you to simulate actual trading, you will learn what you need to do to place a binary options trade. You will learn how to identify good assets, how much to speculate on them and which way the asset will move. You should keep practicing until you are an expert. One of the things a demo account cannot teach you is how to accept a loss, so the better skilled you are at trading the fake money, the more confident you will be once you actually start trading.

How To Open A Practice Account

When binary options was a rather new trading concept, not many brokers offered free practice accounts. Now, however, with it catching the imagination of more and more investors, brokers allow clients to practice on demo accounts, and have also made it easy to open one. Even then, most brokers will require you to have a real account - with a certain amount of money deposited - along with the practice one. The reason brokers will ask you to do this is to make sure that only investors who are serious about binary trading get on board. However you won't have to use the real account until you are very certain that you are ready to take on the real deal. The good thing here is that if you feel, after using the practice account, that this type of trading is not for you, all you have to do is withdraw your money and close the account.

Having a binary options practice account will help you take the business more seriously. Not only does it give you a goal to work towards but also helps you gain experience without the risk and teaches you the skills of the trade, but it also gives you a better chance at making greater profits when you start trading for real.

About the Author: For more information, visit http://www.binaryoptionsexperts.com/affiliate where affiliate marketers are invited to sign up for a free account and get started marketing & making money right away! For help with your content and Internet marketing, visit this virtual assistants site.

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Learning How to Trade Options

Submitted by: Brian Lovett

Many investors first experience with stock options is buying a call or put as a cheap way to play an expected move on a stock. Unfortunately, those investors don't understand how option prices are determined and therefore a majority of options end up expiring worthless.

When you buy a call option expecting the stock price to rise or a put option expecting the stock price to drop, you have to understand how options are priced. When buying an option need to understanding terms like option delta, implied volatility, theta decay and proximity of the option strike price to the underlying stock.

You can evaluate these factors by having an understanding of the Greeks which are the factors that help determine an options price.

The delta will tell you how much an option will move for each $1 move in the underlying stock. So if you own a call option with a delta of .40 and underlying stock price moves up $1 then your option's price will increase $.40 a contract. So the more in the money the option is, the higher the delta. Many people make the mistake of buying an out of the money call option because they expect the stock to move up but if the delta is too low then the option won't appreciate as quickly as the move in the stock.

Implied volatility is very important to understanding whether or not you are overpaying for an option. If a stock just had a big move like a gap up then the options price will jump with an increase in the volatility. If you buy an option with high volatility and the stock starts moving sideways after the initial big move then that volatility will decrease and your option will decrease in value too, even if the stock doesn't move anywhere. Be careful overpaying for high volatility.

Time decay(also called theta decay in the greeks) reflects how fast an options price decreases each day as you get towards option expiration. Time decay will increase exponentially in the last couple weeks so if you buy an option in the front month too close to expiration you could end up seeing the premium decay faster than the benefit of an increase in price you would get if the underlying stock price moved in the direction you wanted.

As you can see there are multiple factors that you must consider when trading options. I only just touched on the basics of stock options and understanding how to trade options.

A solid understanding of option pricing is essential for being profitable in option trading. There is a significant amount of options trading strategies and methods for playing the markets.

Fortunately for the retail trader the quality of information, online brokers, and options analysis tools that have become available in recent years is phenomenal and allows an individual investor to trade many of the option strategies that were only done by professional traders.

You can visit my site for a review of an excellent product called Trading Pro System that covers the basics for learning how to trade options as a business.

About the Author: Brian has followed the stock market for 15 years and writes for www.KineticTrader.com Read my review about a quality program for learning how to trade options for income called Trading Pro System

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What Is Options Trading?

Submitted by: Andy Poon

An option contract is an agreement between two parties to buy/sell an asset (In this case, the asset refers to stock) at a certain price and specific date.

It is called an option because the buyer is not obliged to carry out the transaction. If, over the life of the contract, the asset value decreases, the buyer can simply elect not to exercise his/her right to buy/sell the asset.

There are two types of option contracts - Call options and Put options. A Call option gives the buyer the right to buy the underlying asset, while a Put option gives the buyer the right to sell the underlying asset.

A simple example: Peter buys a Call option contract from Sarah. The contract states that Peter will buy 100 Microsoft shares from Sarah on the 5th May for $25. The current share price for Microsoft is $30.

Note: this is an example of a Call option as it gives Peter the right to buy the underlying asset.

If the share price of Microsoft is trading above $25 on the 5th May, then Peter will exercise the option and Sarah will have to sell him Microsoft shares for $25. With Microsoft trading anywhere above $25 Peter can make an instant profit by taking the shares from Sarah at the agreed price of $25 and then selling the shares on the open market for whatever the current share price is and making a profit.

The $25 value, which is stated in the agreement, is referred to as the Exercise (or Strike) Price. This is the price at which the asset will be exchanged.

The date (in this case 5th May) is known as the Expiry (or Maturity) Date. This date is the deadline for the option contract. At this date, the option buyer is to decide if a transaction of the underlying asset is to occur.

Outcomes: Let's imagine that at the expiration date, Microsoft is trading at $30, then Peter will buy the shares from Sarah at the agreed $25 and then he can sell them back on the open market for $30 and make an instant $5.

Alternatively, if Microsoft is trading at $20, then buying the shares from Sarah at $25 is too expensive as he can buy them on the open market for $20 and save $5. In this situation, Peter would choose not to exercise his right to buy the shares and let the options contract expire worthless. His only loss would be the amount that he paid to Sarah when he bought the contract, which is called the Option Premium - more on that a little later. Sarah would, however, keep the option premium received from Peter as her profit.

All in all, there are more than 50 strategies you can deploy in options trading by combining many different strike prices and expiration. But do you need to know all?

The good news is you do not have to!In fact, most of them allow you to make money very slowly or limited.

About the Author: Find out more about options trading and its strategies to profit big time from the market by visiting http://www.BuyLowSellHighTips.com

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Delta Neutral Options Trading Strategies - Profiting From Time Decay and Volatility

Submitted by: Gavin McMaster

Delta is the amount by which the price of an option moves for every dollar move in the underlying security. For example, an at-the-money call option which has a delta of 0.50, the option price will increase by $0.50 for every $1 move in the underlying security. If you were to purchase 2 at-the-money call options, your delta would be 1, and your position would move inline with the underlying. Deep in-the-money calls will have a delta close to 1, and deep out-of-the-money the option, calls will have a delta close to 0.

My Favorite Delta Neutral Strategy

Basically this strategy means selling multiple out-of-the-money puts (positive delta) and selling the underlying stock (negative delta) in order to obtain a delta neutral position. This trade can be risky, so you need to ensure you comprehend the trade before attempting it. These are some of the factors I look for when determining whether to use this trading strategy:

* Generally I pick a stock I'm slightly bullish on. The reason being that as underlying stock increases in price, my delta will increase. This is due to the delta on the short stock position remaining at -1 while the delta on my puts will increase. So the best scenario for me is that the stock rises slightly.

* This is also a trade that will benefit from decreasing volatility, so I pick a stock that has high volatility that I think will decrease in volatility over the course of the trade. The other benefit of high volatility stocks is that you receive more income for your out-of-the-money puts. Although, as with everything be aware that the greater the reward, the higher the risk!

* I pick a stock that I know a lot about. Picking a stock that you know little about just because it fits with your option strategy is a recipe for disaster.

* I plan in advance how I will manage the trade and whether I will dynamically hedge the delta. As the underlying security moves, so will my delta so that I am no longer in a delta neutral position. Before I make the beginning trade I will know what I plan to do in this scenario. If I am bullish on the underlying and my delta becomes positive (i.e. I now have a long exposure), I may leave the trade as is because I am happy with a slightly long bias. Otherwise I might short more stock to get my delta back to zero. I would also plan how often I was willing to do this, as commissions will start to add up and eat into my profits.

* This is a fairly risky strategy, so I generally do not use too much of my capital.

In the past, stocks on which i have successfully used this options trading strategy include RIMM and EWZ. For more information on this options trading strategy and other options strategies, please visit Options Trading IQ. This site is aimed to help you learn everythign you need to know about options trading and improve your overall investment IQ.

About the Author: Gavin McMaster http://optionstradingiq.com

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Binary Options Trading Courses

Submitted by: Jenny M White

Binary options trading courses are designed to teach you how to utilize fixed amounts and know your potential returns or losses before you purchase. To make a trade, investors predict long or short on any financial product against a fixed expiry limit. You will also learn that one drawback to binaries includes the unavailability of an asset being traded or sold before the expiration time. Learn to receive a good payback in a short amount of time by learning how to be savvy enough to predict the correct up or down price.

Courses are often divided into many easy lessons.

· Find a reputable broker. There are many brokers online and in brokerage houses. Do watch out for brokers who offer to teach about trading in binaries, but demand high fees. It is possible to trade without broker involvement.

· There are distinct times during the day, week or month when you should start your trades. Looking for underlying assets require understanding characteristics. Set courses will teach you how to deal in assets in specific time slots and whether you should be spontaneous or look for options that are more long term trades.

o Stocks have time intervals of about six hours on a daily basis. Learn how to monitor when stocks are moving. This knowledge will help you predict the price and expiry times.

o Commodities are generally handled between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm EST. Trading before or after these times will prove to be expensive.

o Currency markets are available 24/7, but specific foreign currencies will only be viable during particular time zones.

· Courses will teach you how to use cross market assets. You will learn the risks involved in movement and volume of assets. Learn how to research assets, determine what asset is actually a better trading option, and discover how to read trading charts to compare assets.

· Learn about pivot points. These are tools for binary options trading that teach you how to use price actions at every level of resistance and support. Follow the teachings of advanced traders to learn how to avoid making false predictions. Before using pivot points practice on demo platforms.

· Before trading in binaries, learn how to postpone expiry times. If you extend the expiration time of binaries you have a better chance of your prediction being realized. Using Roll forward options can be employed when you see that you will definitely lose your investment. Roll forward should only be used in emergencies and with broker permission. Your particular broker may require a fee to extend the expiry time.

Stay abreast of the financial, commodities and stock markets as well as current affairs to help maintain your investment when trading in options. Use a reliable broker who will provide you with the best tools for binary trading. You will lose less if you learn to employ a good technical analysis of the trade, understand the market and comprehend the platform you are using. You can learn these lessons on your own, but taking a binary options trading course will set your feet on the right path.

About the Author: For more information, visit http://www.binaryoptionsexperts.com/affiliate where affiliate marketers are invited to sign up for a free account and get started marketing & making money right away! For help with your content and Internet marketing, visit this virtual assistants site.

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What Are Binary Options Trading?

Submitted by: Chris Carter

Binary options trading is a very exciting potentially high risk high reward form of trading options. One of the draws to binary option trading is that in the time that it takes most contract options to expire usually one hour, you can make a substantial return on your investment. Exciting for some but may be too risky for others given the different types of personalities of investors. Nevertheless whether you are a conservative or a risk taker binary option trading can be exciting and lucrative.

Before you can understand how to trade binary options you must first have an understanding of exactly what a binary option is and how it works. Simply put a binary option is when a trader purchases a contract on an underlying asset and tries to predict whether the assets value will increase or decrease over the life of the contract. If the value of the asset increases at the end of the contract you will be considered in-the-money and if the value has decreased at the end of the contract you will be considered out-of-the money. And just for the record I'm sure that the phrase in-the-money is much more appealing to you and is fairly self-explanatory.

Here for example is how it may work. Let's say for the sake of this example that you are an online trader. You would go to one of the many binary options brokers websites and select an asset that you are interested in. You would then find the contract on that particular asset, purchase either a call contract if you believe it will end higher or a put contract if you believe it will end lower. A majority of binary options have an initial starting length of one hour. You can purchase binary option contracts generally up to 5-15 minutes before they expire but the majority start at one hour in length. Within that one hour time span your asset will most likely fluctuate up and down in value (price) but this has no relevance on whether you end up in the money or out of the money. The only thing that matters is the actual value of the asset at the expiration of the Contract.

When your contract matures or expires if you’ve selected the correct option you will be considered in the money. Most ROI’s (Return on investment) for binary options range between 150% up to 185% of your initial investment. Here's an example for you. Let's say you purchased a call contract for $500 on a new hot tech company currently at $85 per share with a one-hour maturity date and a 160% payout. If at the expiration of that contract this new hot company was at $86 you would be in the money and would receive a return of $800. That's a $300 return on your investment in a one-hour span. Can you see how this can excite your everyday trader? Obviously there is risk to every investment and you could have just as easily finished out of the money with no return on investment and a majority of your initial investment would be lost. You must due your research in order to make educated investment decisions.

Either way you view binary option trading it is a very exciting form of trading. Whether you are a part time recreational trader or a full-time investor, binary options trading can be very lucrative at any level of experience.

About the Author: Are you looking for more information regarding Binary options trading ? Visit http://www.binaryoptions101.com/ today!

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Can You Make a Living Trading Options

Submitted by: Jason Ng

Can you make a living trading options? In fact, has anyone ever made a living just trading options?

This is a question that a lot of beginners who has yet to start learning about options asked me. In fact, for some of them, it seems like being able to make a living out of solely trading options is the only motivation for them to learn it in the first place.

Well, having traded options for more than fifteen years, I regard myself a professional options trader and I would say the possibility exist for making a living out of only trading options if you are really good at it. However, as a responsible financial adviser, the golden adage still goes, Never Put All Your Eggs In One Basket.

The right way to financial stability, security and freedom is to make sure you have multiple streams of income. Nobody should depend solely on their job income for their livelihood as the risk of retrenchment always exists. Nobody should depend solely on real estate rental income for their livelihood as the risk of default on payment and non-rental exists. Likewise, nobody should depend solely on options trading for their livelihood as the risk of the market making an unexpected move that wipes out short term gains exists. There are no perfect ways of making money and that is why we DIVERSIFY!

While it is possible to make your main income through options trading when you get really good at it, you will still need to augment your income with other residual sources such as real estate rental or even your job income in order to hedge against risk. Yes, financial stability is a science and an art which requires effort and time to get right. There is no shortcut and no quick fix. There isn’t a single method of making money which could allow you to rest on your laurels for the rest of your life. That is why the super rich still spend so much time making money and investing their money.

Personally, while I make my main income from options trading, I actually have about thirteen other streams of residual income to help me through the tough times such as the 2008 market crash which caught me somewhat by surprise and I wasn’t able to react fast enough on my options trades to avoid initial losses. If I had not my other sources of residual income, I would have gone without food and would have defaulted on my mortgages during those few tough months when I didn’t make an income from my options trading at all.

Yes, all means of making money have their ups and downs. There are no perfect investments. As such, even though it is possible to make a living from options trading, my advise is that you should treat options trading as another weapon in your arsenal to financial freedom and security. Every mean of money making that you learn gives you that edge and allows you to survive under more market and economic conditions.

To learn more about how you can profit with options trading under all market conditions, visit our Options Trading website at Optiontradingpedia.com .

About the Author: Jason Ng is the Founder and Chief Option Strategist of Masters 'O' Equity Asset Management and author of Optiontradingpedia.com and Futurestradingpedia.com. Learn more about Options Trading and Futures Trading.

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Call And Put Option: Option Trading Basic Fundamental Theory

Submitted by: Alexander Chong

It is very common that stock is transacted in blocks divisible by 100, which is called a round lot.  A round lot has become a standard trading unit on the public exchanges for quite sometime ago. In stock market, we have the right to buy and sell an unlimited number of shares as long as there are people are willing to sell and we are willing to buy at the price that the seller has fixed. Usually, for a brokerage firm, they set their commission for a transaction for minimum 100 units of share at a certain price. If we buy less than 100 units of share, they still impose us this commission. For an example, if we buy 100 units share and pay the brokerage firm USD 30 for the buy and sell transactions, they also charge us that amount: USD 30 also, if we only buy and sell 1 units of share. The amount of commission that the brokerage firm charges for the stock transaction is varied from one and other. Some brokerage firm may charge less but they require you to trade a lot in one transaction. So, each unit of option is representing 100 units of share.  

In fact, there are two types of options that are call and put option. Call option gives its owner the right to buy 100 units of share of a company at a specified price that has been agreed between the call option owner and the seller within certain period of time. So, within this period of time, if the stock price goes up, the call option price will also go up and vice versa. The second type of option is put option. This option gives its owner the right to sell 100 units of share of a company at a specified price that has been agreed between the put option owner and the seller within certain period of time. Put option seems like the opposite of call option. If the stock price goes up within this period of time, the put option price will go down. Either call or put option can be bought or sold. As long as there are people willing to sell, there will be people willing to buy. There are four permutations that are possible exist during the transaction of an option. The first one is buying a call option meaning that buy the right for yourself to buy 100 units of share. Second is selling call option meaning that sell the right to buy 100 units share from you to someone else. The third one is buying a put option meaning that buy the right for yourself to sell 100 units of shares. The last one is selling a put option meaning that sell the right to sell 100 units of share to you to someone else.    

 

The other way to make these differences clearer is always remember that the call option buyer hopes the stock price will go up and the put option buyer looking for the price per share to fall. For the opposite side, a call option seller is hoping the stock price will maintain or fall. Whereas, put option seller is hoping that the stock price will go up. If the option buyer no matter dealing with the calls or puts option is correctly predicting the price movement of the stock, then they will gain profit from their action. For option, there is another obstacle we have to face besides estimating the direction of the stock price movement. This obstacle is that the change of the stock price has to be taken place before the deadline of the option. As a stockholder, we may be able to predict a stock’s long-term prospects by waiting for a long-term change of the stock. However, for option holder, we may not have that kind of opportunity. This is because options are finite; they will lose all their value within a short period of time, usually within a few months. However, it has long-term options that can last up to one to three years. Due to this limitation, time will be an important factor to determine whether an option buyer can earn a profit or not.  

Foremost, option is granting the buyer an intangible right to buy or sell 100 units of share at an agreed price between the buyer and seller of the option. Therefore, option is just an agreement regarding to 100 units of share of a specific stock and to a specific price per share. Therefore, if the buyer buys an option at the wrong timing, then, the buyer will not able to make any profit. Wrong timing means that the stock price does not move or does not move substantially when the deadline has arrived. When we buy a call option, it seems like we are agreeing that we are willing to pay the price that being asked to acquire a contractual right. The right provided that we may buy 100 units of share of stock at a specified fixed price per share, and this right exists at the time we purchased the option until the deadline of the option. Within the time we purchased the option until the deadline of the option, if the stock price goes up more than the fixed price indicated in the option agreement, this call option will become more valuable. Just think that we buy a call option that granting us the right to buy 100 units of shares at the price of USD 70 per share. Let said before the option deadline, the stock price has gone up to USD 90 per share. As an owner of this call option, we have the right to buy 100 units of share at USD 70, which is USD 20 less than the current market price. This is the situation when stock market price is more than the fixed contractual price indicated in the call option contract. In this example, we as buyer would have the right to buy 100 units share, which is USD 20 less than current market price. Although we own the right to do so, we may unnecessarily to execute our right. For an example, how about if the stock price has gone down to USD 50. We would not have to buy shares at the fixed price of USD 70 and we could select not to take any action.

About the Author:  Alexander Chong Author of “Workable Option
Trading Strategies” http://www.makemoneystocks.com/

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Contract Differences Between Employee Stock Options and Standard Exchange Traded Call Options

Submitted by: Dr. Brent Lundell, PhD, MBA

Stock options can be used to both protect and create profits for typical investors. For example during the dot.com bubble of the late 1990s one of the owners of a major internet company purchased put options to protect against a stock value decline. He kept these positions in place. After the collapse he made over a billion dollars by exercising his puts and purchased an NBA team. 

In contrast to purchasing exchange traded stock options employees can acquire employee stock options offered by their company. These options provide the ability to purchase stock can be acquired before or after the stock has been taken public and can be quite valuable because stock can be purchased often at a discounted price compared to current market prices. For example one Microsoft employee's net worth exceeded a billion dollars a few years ago simply from acquiring as many employee stock options as possible and exercising those options. 

The following lists general differences between employee stock options and standard exchange traded stock options: 

1. Category: Exercise Price 

Employee Stock Option (ESO): 

• Non-standard. 

• Usually current price of stock when issued. 

• Grant price may be lowest point of 60 days. 

Standard Call Option: 

• Price and or market set by seller. 

• Expires on specific date. 

2. Category: Quantity 

Employee Stock Option (ESO): 

• Determined by employer employee contract. 

Standard Call Option: 

• Sold in round lots of 100. 

3. Category: Vesting 

Employee Stock Option (ESO): 

• Initially X number of shares is granted an employee. 

• Employee may get all the shares at once (“cliff vesting”) or may get all shares staggered, in equal or varying amounts, over time (“graded vesting”). 

Standard Call Option: 

• None required. 

4. Category: Events 

Employee Stock Option (ESO): 

• Some events may need to occur for options to be available. 

• Events may include stock reaching X price, a public offering, or X percent profit earned, or  performance goals. 

Standard Call Option: 

• For call option to be valuable the underlying stock must reach or exceed a set stock price called a “strike price.” 

5. Category: Duration 

Employee Stock Option (ESO): 

• Maturity is determined by the employee-employer contract. 

• It is not uncommon for options to mature from five years and beyond. 

• Must be exercised or they expire on a predetermined date. 

Standard Call Option: 

• Standard call options have expiration dates after which the option has no value. 

6. Category: Non-Transferable 

Employee Stock Option (ESO): 

• Usually not transferable. 

Standard Call Option: 

• May be sold at any time before expiration date. 

7. Category: Over-the-Counter 

Employee Stock Option (ESO): 

• Not sold over-the-counter. 

• Contractual agreement between employee and employer. 

• Employee and employer settle contract between them. 

Standard Call Option: 

• May be sold at any time before expiration date. 

8. Category: Tax Issues 

Employee Stock Option (ESO): 

• Tax advantaged compared to standard exchange traded options. 

Standard Call Option: 

• No tax advantages. 

Types of Employee Stock Options in the United States 

Employees in the USA are granted to employees in two different forms: 

1. Incentive stock options (ISOs) and 

2. Non-qualified stock options (NQSOs or NSOs). 

The difference between these two types of options lies in taxation. 

ESO Taxation 

The IRS has determined that “no taxable event” has occurred when an employee is granted stock options. However, depending on the type of stock option received by the employee he may or may not be taxed when he exercises his option. 

• Incentive stock option (ISOs) are not taxed when exercised as long as IRS regulations are followed. 

o ISOs must be held for over one year after the exercise date to receive favorable capital gains tax  treatment. 

• Non-qualified stock options (NQSOs or NSOs) are taxed when exercised. 

• Taxes can be minimized if options are held into the capital gains period.

About the Author: Dr. Brent Lundell owns http://www.GainStreamGroup.com, a venture capital sourcing and consulting company, and is a partner in The Guinn Consultancy Group, Inc. The Guinn Consultancy Group provides a wide array of business services, including seminars, webinars, and venture capital sourcing services. See the group website at www.theguinnconsultancygroup.com or contact them for additional information at 800-335-9269.

Source: https://www.isnare.com

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