Options Trading Tutorial - YouTube

To trade options, go to the main menu under "Trading" and click "Options".

This will take you to the Options trading pit.

First choose your action.

You can "Buy to Open" as default, or if you want to write an option, you can "Sell to

Open".

Next, enter your symbol.

If you don't know the exact of the company you want to buy, just start typing the company

name and we will provide a list of symbols that match.

Next, select if you want to have a call or put option.

Then, select the expiry date, and then you can select the strike price.

From here, select the quantity you want to buy.

Once you enter the strike price, the quote for this option will appear.

Take note of this quote, because the day's volume is going to be very important.

If you are trying to buy more of this option than what is traded today, your order probably

won't go through.

Next, "Preview" your order to see your estimated total cost.

You'll also see an option payout diagram showing the points you need to reach for this option

to be profitable.

For example, this option will be profitable when the stock's price goes above $43.59.

Then "Confirm" your order to place.

To trade options spreads, click the "Spreads" button above the trading pit.

This will open the option spreads trading pit.

To create an option spread, your order has to fulfill three conditions.

First, your actions need to be opposed, which means you would have one "Buy to Open" and

one "Sell to Open".

Second, your symbols need to match.

This is taken care of automatically.

As soon as you enter one symbol, the symbol of the second leg of your option is going

to populate automatically.

Third, you will have to have matching call & put, which means that both of items needs

to be call or both needs to be put.

Once you have entered your entire order terms.

The quotes for both options will populate below.

One thing to keep in mind, is that for both of these items, you need to fill the conditions

for both in order to execute.

This is particularly important for volume.

You need to make that you only buy less than what is traded in the actual markets.

You can exercise options from the Open Positions page.

From the main menu under "My Portfolio", click "Open Positions" to go to your "Open Positions".

Next, switch your security type to "Options".

This should populate the list of options that are currently part of your portfolio.

Next to each option, you'll see an exercise button.

Click this button to exercise your option.

You'll get a confirmation page just to make sure that you want to exercise it and once

you click the confirm button, your option will exercise.

The most common cause for orders to not execute with options is you're simply trying to buy

more than there is liquidity of this option in the actual markets.

You can check this because in this example, I have a quantity of 100 that I am trying

to buy, but in the actual markets, only 16 have traded today.

If I want this order to go through, I should reduce my quantity below the current amount

traded on the market or try to find a different combination of expiration dates and strike

prices that has a higher volume.