5 Best Options Trading Courses of 2023
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The best options trading courses walk you through what options are, how to interpret the options market and enable you to gain the self-confidence needed to trade successfully.
I’ve reviewed and tested over 10 options trading courses to identify the best options trading education offerings. Finally, I narrowed the list to my 4 favorite ones with the best instructor experience, course content and price.
Best Options Trading Courses
- Bullseye Trades: Best Options Trading Course for Swing Traders
- Market Navigator: Best Options Trading Course for Day Traders
- Benzinga Options: Benzinga Options – Best for Beginners to Learn Options Trading
- Black Box Stocks: Best Options Trading Classes with Analysis Tools
- Option Strategies Insider: Best Option Trading Education
1. Bullseye Trades – Best Options Trading Course for Swing Traders
Bullseye Trades is the best options trading course for swing traders and combines education with trade alerts. The service is operated by Raging Bull co-founder Jeff Bishop.
Bullseye members have access to an extensive video library about stock options covering everything from options trading basics up to advanced trading strategies in 20 lessons.
Jeff also demonstrates how to utilize those strategies and shares weekly Bullseye Trades and updates with subscribers 52 times per year. The options trade alerts come with a detailed explanation of the trade, option contract details and trade management insights.
In addition, new videos with market recaps and option trading insights make it to the member dashboard every week.
Highlights
- Jeff is an experienced educator and options trader
- Excellent mix of options trading education and trade alerts
- Extensive video archive
- Low annual subscription costs
Best Offer: Here you can join Bullseye Trades for $47 per quarter (51% Off), or $147 per year (63% Off).
See Also: Bullseye Trades Review – Is Jeff Bishop’s Service Worth It?
2. Market Navigator – Best Options Trading Course for Day Traders
Market Navigator is the best options trading course for day traders who want to focus on trading one specific asset each day.
For option trading beginners, it is often easier to get started by focusing on one specific underlying asset with a reasonable trade frequency. Market Navigator, the options trading service operated by Jeff Williams, helps traders who want to focus on a consistent learning process.
Jeff only trades options of the S&P 500 (SPY) and does it on a day-by-day basis. So, instead of fast-changing and frequent order placements on different assets, he follows an exact trading plan and shares everything with subscribers.
Jeff analyzes international and domestic markets each trading day to prepare the plan for the day and shares it each morning at 9:00 AM, 30 minutes before the market opens. Each briefing explains the plan with support and resistance areas and includes charts and the specific options contract used for daily trading.
On top of that, he streams his trading platform each morning from 9:00 AM and explains the plan for the day in the chat room. Therefore, traders can learn by following the live market guidance, trading on a paper trading account to learn the strategies, or watching helpful video recordings for learning purposes.
Highlights
- Live trading every trading day at 9:AM EST
- Daily SPY options trades
- Trading plan with strategy and options contract details
- Options learning center
Best Offer: With the current promotion, it is possible to join for $499 per year instead of paying the regular Market Navigator price of $1,499 (65% Off).
See Also: Raging Bull Trading Reviews, Insights and Discounts
3. Black Box Stocks – Best Options Trading Classes with Analysis Tools
Black Box Stocks offers the best options trading classes, combined with options analysis tools, and community aspects. In addition, Black Box Stocks is a trading service that covers far more than options trading.
They provide a market scanner with real-time analysis of market movements. The market scanner is one of the best options screeners, enabling options traders to analyze the options flow, unusual options activity and options contracts in detail.
It is also a powerful tool for analyzing the most actively traded stocks, gappers, and momentum plays. Also, subscribers gain access to their web platform, Discord channel, and the private Twitter group.
Subscribers get a bit of everything with various head-trader who are posting live trades, the opportunity to chat with other traders, and market insights by using their market scanner. Black Box Stocks is around for many years now, and they are growing steadily. They offer free classes for members with detailed educational aspects about:
- Basics of stock trading
- Basics of options trading
- How to trade using Black Box Stocks
In addition, Black Box Stocks recently integrated brokerage API connections to various leading online brokerages to enable one-click trading right from their tool with direct order execution.
Highlights
- Unique mix of stock screener, options scanner, trading ideas, and community access
- Options and stock trading courses, chat room access and strategies
- Free integration of The Fly on The Wall market news
Best Offers
- Full access to Black Box Stocks for only $79.97 in the first month (20% Off, the discount will be applied automatically).
4. Option Strategies Insider – Best Option Trading Education
Option Stragegies Insider offers the best option trading education and it is one of the best options trading alert services, operated by Chris Douthit. Chris holds an MBA and various financial degrees. He previously worked as a professional trader for big companies on Wall Street, such as Goldman Sachs.
His service includes in-depth options trading education and two options picking services with a winning rate of >90% called Executive- and Ultra Membership. Paying subscribers will receive about 5-10 picks per month, depending on the membership.
Those trade alerts excellent for swing trading because the average holding time is a few weeks. That makes this service a good choice for investors working in a full-time job and getting into options trading on the side.
I checked the whole options course and the trades. Detailed information about his service can be found in the Option Strategies Insider review.
- Executive Membership: $77 instead of $97 per month
- Ultra Membership: $134 instead of $167 per month
Highlights
- An experienced instructor that knows options insight out
- Options trading education and trade alerts
- Impressive winning percentage since the inception
- Free resources for a sneak peek available
- Good for swing-trading options
Best Offer: 20% on all Option Strategies Insider plans
5. Benzinga Options – Best for Beginners to Learn Options Trading
Nic Chahine is a full-time options trader and Benzinga’s lead options trading educator. Nic issues one of the Benzinga premium newsletters called Benzinga Options.
The track record for the newsletter looks convincing, with an average win rate of currently over 90% and an average return per trade of over 23%.
The Benzinga Options Starter Package is a good choice for people who want to test the product and includes two trade ideas per month. The options trade ideas are shared with newsletter subscribers via email and SMS. Each email contains an explanation of the trade with in-depth analysis, the ideal price target and an estimated timeline for each trade.
Highlights
- Transparent access
- Options trades based on Nic Chahines real-life trades
- Market commentary, analysis and insights
- Options trading education
Best Options Trading Course Summary
Options trading education by utilizing options trading courses sets the foundation for growing the experience level, self-confidence, and, finally, the account. The same general rules of investing and trading apply like in any other related segment.
Options Trading Course Comparison
Options Trading Course | Monthly Subscription | Annual Subscription |
---|---|---|
Bullseye Trades | ❌ | $147/year |
Market Navigator | ❌ | $499/year |
Black Box Stocks | $79 first month, then $99 per month | $959/year |
Option Strategies Insider | $77/month (Executive Package) | $797/year |
One rule of thumb for any options trading course is that you are well-advised to use a paper trading account within your brokerage account to test new trading strategies and practice your trading.
This way, you learn by doing it without risking any money. Once you identified your preferred trading style, you can make more money than by starting with real money right from the beginning.
How to Learn Options Trading
The best options trading courses set the baseline for your career as an options trader. A trading class can be started with any experience level. But the question Is options trading for rookies a good idea can not directly be answered with a yes.
Please keep in mind that trading options come with higher risk compared to traditional buy-and-hold investing. Options have a limited duration, they can expire worthlessly, and some options strategies come with unlimited risk when handled wrong.
Profit and Risk
An options trading course is so important for new traders. The financial markets offer plenty of opportunities for trading and investing but have to consider that the higher the potential profits, the higher is the involved risk.
Options are often used for day trading and swing trading. Some investors use options to hedge long-term stock portfolios with covered calls.
Courses and Strategies
One important thing to keep in mind is that if you follow options strategies like selling options premium just to earn the premium, then this might sound logical and easy. But what some shady courses don’t mention is that the risk involved with these options trades is unlimited.
Your trading strategy needs to be defined and tested. Options basics learned via various educational resources help you to define your trading plan. If an educator offers a chat room, then this can be helpful too to ask questions directly. Some vendors also provide email support.
No matter what your trading strategy looks like, it is essential to test it without risk to see if it works the way you expect. Make sure to use a trading simulator for that purpose.
Option Brokers
Now a word about brokers. Most online brokers in the United States introduced zero commissions for stocks and options in 2020. TD Ameritrade is the market leader in the retail trader business, and they now re-finance their business with payments for order flow.
That means that clients do not pay commissions anymore, and instead, they get compensated from third parties for routing client orders to venues. Beginners often oversee that the options trading commission is now zero, but there is still a fee per contract with most brokerages.
The fee is typically still around $0.50 per stock options contract and the same for call options and put options.
Use Your Course and Start Slowly
You can make money trading options, but it is essential to start slowly. Make one option trade after the other and ensure to analyze any trade. Did you trade your plan? It needs a plan. Otherwise, it is like a casino.
Do you belong to the group of stock traders and already attended a stock trading class? If so, this training will help you, but trading options are different. You have to learn the difference between a call option and a put option, the strike price, expiration date and some options greeks during your training.
A test drive is an excellent opportunity to test an options trading course, and if the service offers a money-back guarantee, then this is a good alternative to a test drive.
Learn, Rinse, and Repeat
It might take a bit longer to learn options strategies due to complexity. It makes sense to use the material provided in your course often to repeat a class and video lessons. Some investors prefer to use an options trades service that provides trade alerts based on technical analysis or quant strategies.
I also consider trade ideas helpful, but they are not made to follow them blindly without knowledge. The basics of options have to be learned under all circumstances.
Stock options are the most frequently traded options, and every training and course in the list offers options basics about stock options. Some even offer lifetime access for a one-time fee. The more time you invest in learning, the better your learning curve will be. This is true for the stock market, options trading, and all financial markets in general.
An options trading course increases the probabilities of success. But a course does not guarantee success. Every investment decision is upon you, and the budget for an options course should be in reasonable relation to your overall budget.
Trading Style
Day trading options requires a minimum of $25,000 if more than 3-day trades are made within 5 business days. This is similar to trading stocks.
That’s one of the reasons why options traders and course attendees with less liquid capital often start with swing trading. Keep in mind that an options contract loses value if the price goes sideways and the expiration date comes closer.
FAQ
How do I get good at options trading?
To get good at options trading, you need to start with proper education. This can be free YouTube resources or paid courses from successful providers with a proven track record.
What is the best option strategy?
The best option strategy is to keep the overall risk as low as possible by buying calls and puts. Selling calls and puts naked is the whole opposite and the riskiest strategy.
How long does it take to learn options trading?
It takes about 3 to 6 months to learn options trading from scratch. First, you need to understand the theory, and then you need to practice order placements and finally start trading options.
Can you get rich trading options?
You can get rich trading options when all risk-management rules are applied correctly. The leverage provided by options trading makes high income with low capital possible.
Which option trading course is best?
The best options trading course provides easy to understand learning material, proven success provided by the educator, and short term subscription at low costs.
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