Options Trading 101

Most options books assume you already know what a share is.

This one doesn't. It starts at absolute zero - shares, ETFs, indexes, market hours, bid and ask - and by the last page you can read an option chain, size a position, and explain why your call lost money on a day the stock went up.

Options Trading 101 is the first volume of the BOTA Foundations Series: eight parts, 66 defined terms, and one running example carried all the way through, so nothing is ever explained with a different setup than the last chapter used.

• Groundwork - the vocabulary every other book assumes: shares, ETFs, leverage, liquidity, notional value, trend
• The contract itself - calls, puts, strikes, expirations, moneyness, and how to read a chain line by line
• The Greeks - delta, gamma, theta and vega, each one traced through the same single call so they finally connect
• Charting - candlesticks, support and resistance, trendlines, volume, timeframes and gaps
• Indicators - EMAs, VWAP, RSI, MACD and Bollinger Bands, with the classic misuse of each spelled out
• Volatility - implied volatility, IV crush, IV rank and percentile: when premium is cheap and when you're overpaying
• Risk and the plan - position sizing, stops, drawdown math, a trade journal, and a 90-day plan before you risk a dollar

Every part ends with a one-page recap. KEY panels mark what to memorise. TRAP panels mark the specific mistakes that cost beginners real money - each one is in the book because people keep making it. Five appendices cover contract mechanics, account rules and costs, expectancy math, multi-leg strategies, and a one-page version of the whole system, followed by a full glossary and index.

You are told to paper trade from page one and not to fund an account until Part 8. That is the opposite of a get-rich-quick book, and it is deliberate.

For education only. Nothing in this book is financial advice, and options involve substantial risk of loss, including the total loss of the premium paid.