Learn Options Trading
For Free. For Real.
Everything a premium course teaches — except it's free, and built by a former licensed financial advisor with over a decade of experience in options trading.
Options Crash Course
Learn Fast · Coming Soon
Income Trading
Monthly Income · Coming Soon
Volatility Trading
Master IV · Coming Soon
Risk Management
Protect Capital · Coming Soon
Beginner Course
Learn what options are, how they work, and how to place your first trade with confidence.
All 20 Lessons
- 1 What Are Options? Understand what an options contract is, how it works, and why traders use them.
- 2 How Options Contracts Work The mechanics of an options contract — size, expiration, and obligation.
- 3 Call Options Explained Everything you need to know about call options and the right to buy.
- 4 Put Options Explained Everything you need to know about put options and the right to sell.
- 5 Buying vs Selling Options The fundamental difference between being a buyer and a seller.
- 6 Strike Price Explained How to pick a strike price and what it means for your trade.
- 7 Expiration Dates — How to Choose Weekly, monthly, and LEAPS expirations and when to use each.
- 8 Option Premium — What You're Paying For What makes up the price of an option and why it changes.
- 9 In the Money, At the Money, Out of the Money How moneyness works and why it affects everything.
- 10 How to Read an Option Chain Break down a real option chain — strikes, bids, asks, volume, and open interest.
- 11 Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Value The two components that make up every option's price.
- 12 Delta — Your Option's Direction How delta measures your option's sensitivity to stock price movement.
- 13 Theta — Time Decay How options lose value every day and what that means for your trades.
- 14 Gamma and Vega — The Other Greeks Two more Greeks that affect your positions in important ways.
- 15 How Option Prices Move What actually drives option prices up and down day to day.
- 16 Implied Volatility for Beginners What IV is, why it matters, and how to read it.
- 17 Your First Options Trade — Step by Step A complete walkthrough from picking a stock to closing the position.
- 18 How to Close an Options Position Sell to close, buy to close, and when to let options expire.
- 19 Paper Trading — Practice Risk-Free How to practice trading without risking real money.
- 20 Common Beginner Mistakes The most expensive mistakes new options traders make — and how to avoid them.
Intermediate Course
Go beyond single-leg trades. Learn spreads, iron condors, and how to manage positions.
All 20 Lessons
- 1 Why Spreads? Introduction to Multi-Leg Trades Why traders use spreads and how they limit risk and cost.
- 2 Bull Call Spread Buy a call, sell a higher call — a defined-risk bullish trade.
- 3 Bear Put Spread Buy a put, sell a lower put — a defined-risk bearish trade.
- 4 Bull Put Spread (Credit Spread) Sell a put, buy a lower put — collect credit if the stock stays up.
- 5 Bear Call Spread (Credit Spread) Sell a call, buy a higher call — collect credit if the stock stays down.
- 6 Debit Spreads vs Credit Spreads When to pay for a spread vs when to collect premium.
- 7 Iron Condor — Setup and Mechanics Sell both sides of the market with a defined-risk neutral strategy.
- 8 Iron Butterfly — Setup and Mechanics A tighter version of the iron condor with higher premium.
- 9 Calendar Spreads Trade time decay across different expiration dates.
- 10 Diagonal Spreads Combine different strikes and expirations in one spread.
- 11 Straddles and Strangles Profit from big moves in either direction.
- 12 How to Pick Strike Prices A framework for choosing the right strikes for any strategy.
- 13 How to Choose Expiration Dates The trade-offs between short-term and long-term options.
- 14 Managing Winning Trades When to take profits and why 50% is often the right target.
- 15 Managing Losing Trades When to cut losses and when to hold through drawdowns.
- 16 Rolling Options — How and When Extending trades by rolling to new strikes or expirations.
- 17 Trade Adjustments How to adjust positions when the market moves against you.
- 18 Earnings Trades — What to Know How to trade options around earnings announcements.
- 19 IV Rank and IV Percentile How to measure whether implied volatility is high or low.
- 20 Building a Trade Plan How to create rules for entries, exits, and position sizing.
Advanced Course
Portfolio management, income strategies, volatility trading, and trading psychology.
All 20 Lessons
- 1 Selling Premium for Income Why selling options can be more consistent than buying them.
- 2 Covered Calls Deep Dive Advanced covered call strategies and management techniques.
- 3 Cash-Secured Puts Deep Dive Using puts to buy stocks at a discount while collecting income.
- 4 The Wheel Strategy The full put-sell, assignment, call-sell cycle explained and optimized.
- 5 Selling Strangles Advanced premium selling with undefined risk and high probability.
- 6 Portfolio Margin vs Reg-T How portfolio margin works and when to upgrade.
- 7 Position Sizing — How Much to Risk Rules and frameworks for sizing every trade properly.
- 8 Portfolio Greeks — Managing the Big Picture How to read and manage Greeks across your entire portfolio.
- 9 Hedging with Options Using options to protect stock positions and reduce portfolio risk.
- 10 Trading Volatility — High IV vs Low IV Frameworks for choosing strategies based on volatility environment.
- 11 Volatility Skew in Practice How to read and trade the volatility skew across strikes.
- 12 LEAPS — Long-Term Options Using long-dated options for leverage and income strategies.
- 13 Options on ETFs and Indexes Trading SPY, SPX, QQQ, and index options vs stock options.
- 14 0DTE Options — Same Day Expiration The risks and opportunities of zero days to expiration trading.
- 15 Tax Implications of Options Trading How options are taxed and strategies to minimize your tax bill.
- 16 Backtesting Strategies How to test strategies against historical data before risking real money.
- 17 Trading Psychology — Fear and Greed Managing emotions and building the mental game.
- 18 Building a Trading Journal How to track and review your trades to improve over time.
- 19 Scaling Up — Growing Your Account How to safely increase position sizes as your account grows.
- 20 Common Advanced Mistakes Mistakes experienced traders still make and how to avoid them.
Explore options strategies.
70+ strategies organized by market direction and purpose.
Bullish
Profit when stocks go up
- Long Call
- Bull Call Spread
- Bull Put Spread
- LEAPS
Bearish
Profit when stocks go down
- Long Put
- Bear Put Spread
- Bear Call Spread
- Protective Put
Neutral
Profit from sideways markets
- Iron Condor
- Iron Butterfly
- Short Strangle
- Calendar Spread
Income
Generate monthly cash flow
- Covered Call
- Cash-Secured Put
- The Wheel
- Poor Man's Covered Call
Volatility
Trade big moves either way
- Straddle
- Strangle
- Volatility Crush
- VIX Options
Hedging
Protect your portfolio
- Protective Put
- Collar
- Married Put
- Put Hedge
70+ strategies coming soon
Look up any term. Instantly.
170+ options and investing terms explained in plain English.
Options Basics
Contracts, strikes, premiums, expiration, and the fundamentals every trader needs.
- Call Option
- Put Option
- Strike Price
- Premium
- Expiration Date
The Greeks
The numbers that tell you exactly how your option will behave.
- Delta
- Gamma
- Theta
- Vega
- Rho
Volatility
Implied volatility, historical volatility, skew, and everything IV.
- Implied Volatility
- IV Rank
- IV Percentile
- Volatility Skew
- VIX
Technical Analysis
Chart patterns, indicators, and tools traders use to time trades.
- Moving Average
- RSI
- MACD
- Bollinger Bands
- Support & Resistance
Market Structure
How exchanges, market makers, and order flow actually work.
- Market Maker
- Bid-Ask Spread
- Open Interest
- Volume
- Order Types
Trading Psychology
Master your emotions. Fear, greed, discipline, and the mental game.
- Fear & Greed
- Loss Aversion
- FOMO
- Revenge Trading
- Overtrading
170+ terms coming soon
Free tools. Built for traders.
Calculators and utilities to make smarter trading decisions.
Options Profit Calculator
Max profit, max loss, breakeven, and a visual P&L chart for any strategy before you trade.
Coming soonPosition Size Calculator
Enter your account size and risk tolerance. Get the exact number of contracts to trade.
Coming soonExpected Move Calculator
See the expected price range based on IV. Know what the market is pricing in before events.
Coming soonCompound Interest Calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before you start.
There is no catch. Every course, every lesson, every tool is completely free. No paywall, no credit card, no brokerage account required. Options Academy is built by one person who believes financial education should be accessible to everyone.
Anyone who wants to learn options trading and investing. Whether you have never placed a trade or you are an intermediate trader looking to level up, there is a course for you. The beginner course assumes zero prior knowledge.
Start with the Beginner Course. It is 20 lessons that take you from zero to understanding how options work, what calls and puts are, and how to place your first trade. No prior knowledge required.
Yes, options trading involves real risk. You can lose money. That is exactly why education matters. Our courses teach risk management, position sizing, and how to choose strategies that match your goals and risk tolerance. Education is the best risk management tool you have.
All content is written by Sal Mutlu, a former licensed financial advisor and active options trader with over a decade of experience. Sal is no longer licensed and does not provide personalized financial advice. Learn more about Sal.
Yes. Short 2-3 minute video lessons are coming for every lesson. Sal will personally walk you through each topic. No AI voices, no generic presentations. Videos will appear on each lesson page when ready.
No. Options Academy provides education, not financial advice. We teach you how options work and what strategies exist, but we never tell you what to buy or sell. Every trading decision is yours. Read our full disclaimer.