This is where you'll find the basics. What's a call? What's a put? Whether it's a call or a put, your option contract will have specific strike price. Also -- and this is one of the big differences between stock ownership and options trading -- your option will expire on a specified date. Options trading comes with its own lingo, which sometimes scares off beginners. This is the section where you'll learn how to translate that lingo. You'll learn intrinsic value and time decay, and what it means to be in the money, out of the money and at the money. Read this section first before moving on to more advanced topics. Learn More...

Options trading isn't just about speculation -- although it can be. For example, even many beginners are familiar with the concept of a covered call. You sell a call contract on a stock you already own at a price above where the stock is trading. If the stock reaches the exercise price, you sell the stock, keeping the gain and the premium you collected at the outset of the trade. If the stock doesn't rise to the exercise price, you still keep the premium. Win-win. Read here about the many uses of options, from generating income, to hedging a portfolio, to pure speculation. Learn More...

What sets Schaeffer's apart from the crowd? It's Expectational Analysis®, our three-tiered methodology for analyzing stocks, stock sectors, or the market as a whole. It combines fundamental analysis, technical analysis, and sentiment analysis, a clear-eyed, quantitative dissection and study of the beliefs and convictions of the market. Our view of sentiment analysis is stongly colored by our contrarian philosophy. In this section, you'll learn how to use technical analysis. and which indicators we like to use. We'll also tell you how we quantify sentiment, using open interest configurations, mutual fund flows, media coverage, and other indicators. Learn More...