Learning to Speak 'Optionese'

Andre Gide once said: "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." I doubt he was talking about trading options, but trading options is unlike anything else in the financial world. The positions are complex, with many more factors than market direction to be considered. At times, traders neglect market direction entirely, a far call from trading stocks. Learning the intricacies of the options market is a difficult and time consuming process. However, I believe it to be a worthwhile endeavor. Despite its hardships, the tumultuous sea of options trading is worth traveling, and although the island of success can be elusive, profits are attainable.

Perhaps you read a book on options. Realizing what amazing opportunities the options market offers, you likely opened a brokerage account, or enabled options trading in your current account. You may have felt prepared at the time, and perhaps you even got lucky and the market moved in your direction.... but I would bet, you, like myself and many other people who adventure into 'optionsland' were quickly humbled by the complex positions you were holding.

That is why I have started this blog, so we can all learn together. I will start the blog with a series on the basics of options. Not just things you would learn in a technical book, but also actual marketplace practices, and pitfalls another book might not cover.

Learning to Speak 'Optionese' will be learning series over 5 weeks that will cover the following beginning to advanced option trading topics:

• An Introduction to Options, and the Covered Call
• Basic Option Positions and Strategies
• Trade Adjustments
• An In Depth Analysis on the Greeks and Why you should get to know them better
• Delta Neutrality and Volatility Trading

Along with these topics, I will make a number of position analysis posts, as well as introduce the reader to a few position analysis tools.

Your Sea Captain,

Spencer Sundahl