Module 8: Options
13 lessons, in reading order.
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Options Basics: Calls, Puts, Strikes and Expiration
Options basics: what call and put options give the buyer, strikes, expiration, premium and the 100-share multiplier, and how to read an option chain row.
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Option Premium: Intrinsic Value, Time Value and Moneyness
How option premium splits into intrinsic value and time value, worked examples of in, at and out of the money, and why time value decays toward expiration.
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Option Payoff Diagrams: Long and Short Calls and Puts
How to read option payoff diagrams for long and short calls and puts: breakeven, maximum gain and loss, vertical spreads, and what a payoff chart omits.
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The Option Greeks in Plain Language: Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega
The option Greeks in plain language: what delta, gamma, theta and vega estimate, worked numbers for each, and why every Greek is a model estimate.
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Implied Volatility and the Expected Move Explained
Implied vs historical volatility explained, IV rank and skew, and how an expected move is estimated from a straddle or IV, and the limits of each.
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Exercise, Assignment and Settlement: What Happens at Expiration
How option exercise and assignment work: automatic exercise at expiration, early assignment and dividends, pin risk, and cash versus physical settlement.
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Straddles and Strangles: Payoffs Built From Volatility
Learn how straddles and strangles combine a call and a put, how break-even points are found at expiration, and why they are called long volatility.
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Volatility Skew and Term Structure: The Shape of Implied Volatility
Learn what volatility skew, the smile and the term structure of implied volatility describe, why they exist in general terms and what they cannot say.
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Earnings and IV Crush: Why Options Can Lose Value After the News
Learn how scheduled uncertainty can be reflected in option prices without IV following a guaranteed pre/post-event path, how stock price, time and IV changes combine, and why calls can lose value.
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0DTE Options: How Same-Day Expirations Behave
Learn what 0DTE options are, how gamma and theta behave in the final hours, and which settlement and pin-risk details matter for same-day options.
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Index Options, ETF Options and Options on Futures Compared
Compare index options, ETF options and options on futures: what exercise delivers, settlement and exercise style, contract size and where they differ.
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Vertical Spreads: Defined-Risk Payoffs With Two Strikes
Learn how vertical spreads pair two strikes, how debit and credit spreads differ, and how maximum gain, maximum loss and break-even are calculated.
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Covered Calls and Cash-Secured Puts: Payoff Shapes and Trade-Offs
Learn how covered calls and cash-secured puts work, why their expiration payoffs look alike, and what downside risk each keeps despite the premium.