A good options trading course can help you avoid the common mistakes that come with this difficult strategy…
A great options trading course can connect you with a supportive community to grow alongside of!
You can learn to trade in the options market yourself. But you’ll learn more from experienced traders on programs like my Trading Challenge.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie learning options trading basics or a veteran trader looking to learn more about the options market. Traders of any experience level benefit from online options trading courses.
Which options trading courses are the best? Read on for the best online options trading courses you can enroll in today!
Table of Contents
Why You Should Take an Options Trading Course
You can learn options trading from online resources and popular options trading strategies. But the main drawback is that nobody’s there to guide you. Even if you’re getting your feet wet with real-time trading simulators, they can’t give you real-world experience.
Don’t get me wrong — you can still lose money when you learn from people with years of trading experience. But when you learn from an online options trading course, you’ll know why you lost money and how to fix it. This way, you won’t lose even more money trying to workshop a self-made solution that might or might not work.
When learning from experienced traders, you’ll have someone who can answer your questions. You can also get their insight into market scenarios and price movements. They should teach you key concepts and workshop trading strategies with you.
There’s still trial and error when testing practical applications and new strategies. But you’ll have extra guidance when doing so, and that can make all the difference.
Most traders lose — but the reason for their losing comes down to lack of preparation, bad risk management, and poor self-accountability.
I recommend online options trading courses not just for the educational resources. I also recommend them to learn new options strategies from their trading communities, and to get feedback on your trading plans.
What to Look For in a Quality Course
What do you need in a quality online options trading course? I usually look for two things: transparency and lots of chart breakdowns.
Transparency is essential — you need to see how the sausage is made. I don’t just tell my students that I made $7.4 million from stock trading…
I tell them how I became a profitable trader, trade by trade.
A good options trading course mentor will show you both wins AND losses. You can learn a lot from losses, and they should be excited to share these examples.
Charting is the most important skill in trading, and nothing levels up your trading like having a more advanced trader go through charts with you. That’s why I have 7,000+ webinars available to my Trading Challenge students.
What you want in a quality course is a roadmap that students can follow to improve their trading. I’ve personally seen the journey of the first mentor on this list, my former Trading Challenge student Mark Croock. This is the kind of trader he’s become:
- He’s transparent — his Profit.ly account shows how he built his account to $3.9 million over 13 years of trading
- He knows his stuff — he watched most of my Trading Challenge webinars THREE TIMES!
- He isn’t just producing copycat traders — he adapted my pennystocking strategies to options by learning the material well enough to adapt
He teaches core concepts, not trades to copy. He’s a good enough teacher that he teaches my Trading Challenge students as well as students in his Evolved Trader options course.
Here’s a quick video on his technique:
Options Trading Courses for Various Skill Levels
My top options trading course picks are:
- Our Top Choice: Evolved Trader
- Top Beginners-Friendly Course: Investopedia’s Options for Beginners
- Most Affordable Course: Udemy’s Options Trading Basics
- Most Comprehensive Course: Benzinga Options School
There is no one-size-fits-all in trading. This is even more true for options trading.
These courses cover the full range of options education needs, starting with my top pick…
1. Our Top Choice: Evolved Trader
My first options trading course pick is Evolved Trader.
I’ve already told you why Evolved Trader’s lead trainer, Mark Croock, has my trust. He has a proven track record — he’s made $3.9 million in profits mostly through trading options. I’ve taught with him, worked with him in my Trading Challenge, and learned from him.
Here’s what you will get in his Evolved Trader course:
- Free weekly webinars and a back catalog of videos lessons
- Two alert services tailored to different options strategies
- Discord chat room
- Options Bootcamp Course — this course gives you all the foundation the next two picks offer
- Mark even pulls out his accounting experience for a tax strategy session!
Most importantly, I can vouch for Mark more deeply than almost any trader in the world.
Not only can he do this…
Give MAJOR props to @thehonestcroock who now locked in $284,000 in trading profits today on his $BITO $SPY puts, huge congratulations to all his https://t.co/a3dSVG2iCc students too, it pays to learn from transparent millionaire traders, not those too cowardly to show ALL trades! pic.twitter.com/Y3blFky3hw
— Timothy Sykes (@timothysykes) June 13, 2022
He can explain it, too:
I’m not crazy about options trading for the most part: I think it’s too complicated. But Mark’s Evolved Trader course manages to simplify options trading, instead of pulling you into a labyrinth of Greek symbols like most other options courses.
How has he built an effective options trading strategy without getting excessively technical? He relies on three of the most important technical indicators for any type of trader:
- Volume
- Key levels
- Trendlines
Charting is the biggest part of trading. Most technical indicators are built from a stock’s chart. Mark has followed my advice to “keep it short and simple” and always draws his students’ attention back to basics: the chart.
He keeps focused on the big picture. And he keeps his trades — and his students — safer than nearly any trader I know.
Sign up for Evolved Trader here!
2. Top Beginners-Friendly Course: Investopedia’s Options for Beginners
My second options trading course pick is Investopedia’s Options for Beginners.
This course is designed to give traders a thorough foundation in options trading. It’s taught by options trader Lucas Downey, a former Wall Street trader who co-founded MAPsignals. MAPsignals is a unique platform that tracks institutional investment in the market.
This “big money” investment makes up about 90% of stock activity in the major stocks that options traders target. So options traders might find an edge in tracking institutional investment trends. You can see if it works for you with the free month MAPsignals subscription packaged with the course.
The course’s five hours and 39 lessons cover all of the basics:
- Understanding options — this section covers the ideas behind options trading, intrinsic value vs. time value, and Greeks
- Puts and calls — this course is focused on the building blocks of options trading, puts and calls. One section delivers the theory part, the next teaches basic applications
- Risk management — there’s a whole section dedicated to risk. You know I love that
- Technical analysis — this section keeps it simple, looking primarily at volatility and time
- Trade examples — two sections give you example trades, and break down the life cycle of a trade from analysis to execution
Think of this as an options textbook. It doesn’t get too heavy into strategy, and there is no individual consultation. But if you want a fast-start options course, this is a decent choice.
Check out Investopedia’s course here.
3. Most Affordable Course: Udemy’s Options Trading Basics
My third options trading course pick is Udemy’s Options Trading Basics.
Let’s cut to the chase — this is the cheapest course on this list AND it delivers a ton of content. It’s over 11 hours of video tutorials for under $100. You can find it on sale even cheaper.
Like I often say about all parts of trading, don’t try to cut corners. I don’t think a broker not taking commissions is a reason to trade. And I don’t think a course being the most affordable is a reason to spend your time on it.
NOBODY ever got rich saving $ on commissions & what you don't realize is that your broker isn't even saving you $, they're farming out your orders to big hedge funds who are laughing at the poorest/dumbest people for being so unprepared, taking from the poor & giving to the rich!
— Timothy Sykes (@timothysykes) January 8, 2021
But Udemy’s course isn’t on this list just because of its affordability. The course is taught by Hari Swaminathan, founder of OptionTiger, which offers its own respected options curriculum. OptionTiger’s beginners’ course is almost 3 times as expensive as the Udemy course, giving budget-conscious traders a good point of reference.
The 11-hour Udemy course covers the following:
- Call and put options
- Time, volatility, and Greeks
- Options trading strategies
- Live trades
- Stock and options combo strategies
- Adjusted options
You won’t get access to a trading community or tailored guidance. Prospective OptionTiger students can find more comprehensive courses among their offerings, and this Udemy course is a great opportunity to test drive Swaminathan’s approach!
Check out Udemy’s course here.
4. Most Comprehensive Course: Benzinga Options School
My fourth options trading course pick is Benzinga Options School.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive alternative, Benzinga Options School hits most of the prerequisites. It gives traders access to:
- Live webinars and video lesson back catalog
- Member chat room
- Q-and-A with a trading mentor
Course instructor Chris Capre is the founder of 2nd Skies Trading, a platform which has its own slate of trading courses. He’s a former hedge fund guy who has a solid profile.
Benzinga Options School also offers access to Benzinga Pro, a news-first trading platform.
Sign up to Benzinga’s course here.
Final Thoughts
You can learn to be a professional options trader by yourself, but it’ll be an uphill battle. You won’t have the benefit of an experienced mentor to shape your approach to trading options. The more complex trading strategies might remain out of reach.
The biggest difference maker is how hard you work. But a good teacher can show you how to work smarter.
I didn’t have a teacher — I had to make mistakes on my own. If you sign up to a good options trading course, you won’t have to make as many.
What do you need to improve on in your options strategy? Let me know in the comments!
Options Trading Course FAQs
Which option trading course is the best?
My top options trading course choice is Evolved Trader. Instructor — and my former student — Mark Croock is a professional options trader who built this course from the ground up. He adapted my penny stock trading strategies as the foundation of his model for options trading.
What are the 4 levels of options trading?
There are four levels of options trades:
- Covered calls and cash-secured puts
- Long options
- Option spreads
- Naked calls and puts
Covered calls and cash-secured puts are the least risky option.
How can I learn options trading fast?
You can learn options trading fast by studying hard. There’s no instant path to success. Mark Croock became my student in 2010, and it took him eight years to break $1 million. And he’s the best options trader I know.
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