Advanced Options Volatility Trading: Strategies and Risk Management

Yes, you will be awarded with a certification from QuantInsti after successfully completing the online learning units.

No, there are no live or classroom sessions in the course. You can ask your queries on community and get responses from fellow learners and faculty members.

Yes, you can ask your queries related to the course on the community: https://quantra.quantinsti.com/community

Fast-speed internet connection and a browser application are required for this course. For best experience, use Chrome.

There is no admission criterion. You are recommended to go through the prerequisites section and be aware of skill sets gained and required to learn most from the course.

We respect your time, and hence, we offer concise but effective short-term courses created under professional guidance. We try to offer the most value within the shortest time. There are a few courses on Quantra which are free of cost. Please check the price of the course before enrolling in it. Once a purchase is made, we offer complete course content. For paid courses, we follow a 'no refund' policy.

Some of the course material is downloadable such as Python notebooks with strategy codes. We also guide you how to use these codes on your own system to practice further.

We focus on teaching these quantitative and machine learning techniques and how learners can use them for developing their own strategies. You may or may not be able to directly use them in your own system. Please do note that we are not advising or offering any trading/investment services. The strategies are used for learning & understanding purposes and we don't take any responsibility for the performance or any profit or losses that using these techniques results in.

Quantra environment is a zero-installation solution to get beginners to start off with coding in Python. While learning you won't have to download or install anything! However, if you wish to later implement the learning on your system, you can definitely do that. All the notebooks in the Quantra portal are available for download at the end of each course and they can be run in the local system just the same as they run in the portal. The user can modify/tweak/rework all such code files as per his need. We encourage you to implement different concepts learnt from different learning tracks into your trading strategy to make it more suited to the real-world scenario.

No. We provide you guidance on how to create strategy using different techniques and indicators, but no strategy is plug and play. A lot of effort is required to backtest any strategy, after which we fine-tune the strategy parameters and see the performance on paper trading before we finally implement the live execution of trades.

Lifetime access means that once you enroll in the course, you will have unlimited access to all course materials, including videos, resources, readings, and other learning materials for as long as the course remains available online. There are no time limits or expiration dates on your access, allowing you to learn at your own pace and revisit the content whenever you need it, even after you've completed the course. It's important to note that "lifetime" refers to the lifetime of the course itself—if the platform or course is discontinued for any reason, we will inform you in advance. This will allow you enough time to download or access any course materials you need for future use.

To maximize your knowledge in an advanced options trading course, it's generally recommended to have a firm grasp of the fundamentals of options trading, common options trading strategies (e.g., covered calls, spreads), fundamental options pricing concepts, and ideally, some prior practical trading options experience. This isn't a beginner course.

We have used the following datasets:

• Daily SPX End-Of-Month options chain data for a period of 9 years, starting from 2015 to 2023. 
• Daily VIX and VIXY data from 2014 to 2024 
• Daily S&P 500 index data from 2015 to 2023

1. Volatility skew-based trading

2. Trading on IV mean-reversion

3. Short straddle based on IV rank and skew rank 

4. Short straddle based on LSTM forecasted IV values

5. Long straddle around events

6. Long calendar spread around events

7. Risk management using stop-loss and take-profit

8. Implementation of delta hedging

Yes! This course is a blend of options and volatility trading, it explains the core concepts and properties related to volatility, and takes you through the implementation of options trading strategies based on volatility. It is different from other options/volatility courses because unlike other courses, this course focuses more on strategy implementation. It also covers risk management using dollar-based stop-loss and take-profit as well as risk management using Greeks. By taking this course, you'll gain a unique perspective and expand your knowledge in this specialised area, complementing what you have already learned from other courses.

There are many data vendors that provide services for options data and these could either be free or paid. The options data provided in this course was obtained from the vendor OptionsDX. Link.

 However, do note that QuantInsti is not affiliated with OptionsDX and before getting the data from any vendor, it is essential that traders carry out necessary research about that vendor.

An advanced options trading course like ours typically provides in-depth coverage of sophisticated options trading strategies, advanced volatility analysis (implied vs. historical, volatility surface), advanced Options Greeks, exotic options, robust risk management frameworks, quantitative modeling (e.g., GARCH, Monte Carlo), and practical applications of these skills to enhance trading performance.

This advanced options trading course is specifically designed for experienced traders, financial professionals, portfolio managers, and serious investors who already possess a foundational understanding of options trading basics and are looking to specialize in volatility trading, refine their risk management capabilities, and develop cutting-edge trading strategies.

When selecting an advanced options trading course, consider its specific focus (e.g., volatility, quantitative analysis), the instructor's expertise, the resources provided (e.g., paper trading simulations, mentorship, live trading sessions, downloadable resources), the learning format (online/in-person), and reviews from past options traders. Ensure the course structure aligns with your specific trading goals and learning pace.

The cost of an advanced options trading course can vary significantly, ranging from a few hundred dollars for focused, self-paced online modules to several thousand for comprehensive, live trading or mentorship-driven programs. Factors influencing cost include duration, depth of concepts, and level of support. You'll learn about the value you receive.

Both online and in-person advanced options trading courses offer distinct features. Online formats provide flexibility and the ability to learn at your own pace, ideal for busy schedules. In-person courses offer direct interaction with instructors, enhanced networking, and immediate Q&A, which can be highly beneficial for complex concepts.

Yes, reliable reviews for an advanced options trading course can typically be found on the provider's website, reputable financial education review platforms, and active online trading communities. Look for consistent feedback regarding materials quality, instructor effectiveness, and practical applications.

The course structure for our "Advanced Options Volatility Trading: Strategies and Risk Management" advanced options trading course typically outlines lessons on volatility concepts (detailing implied, realized, term structure, skew), advanced Options Greeks, specific volatility trading strategies (straddles, strangles, butterflies, condors, arbitrage), robust risk management, quantitative modeling (e.g., GARCH, Monte Carlo simulations), and potentially algorithmic trading options applications.

Within this advanced options trading course, "edge" is highlighted as paramount because it represents a positive expected value—a consistent statistical advantage over time, leading to profitable trades. True, long-term profitability in options trading stems from having knowledge or insights not widely known by the market, allowing you to gain a predictable and repeatable advantage, crucial for any trader.

In this advanced options trading course, you'll learn that European options can only be exercised on their expiration date, while American options offer the flexibility of exercise at any time up to and including expiration. This distinction is crucial as it influences strategic considerations for early exercise, particularly concerning dividend capture and the interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic value.

This advanced options trading course emphasizes the critical role of "Greeks"—measures that quantify the sensitivity of options pricing to various risk factors. Delta measures stock price sensitivity, Gamma measures Delta's rate of change, and Vega measures sensitivity to volatility changes. Mastering these concepts is essential for accurately valuing options, quantifying risk within a portfolio, and dynamically adjusting trading options positions.

In this advanced options trading course, you will explore various approaches and methods for estimating volatility, such as Close-to-Close, Parkinson, and Garman-Klass estimators. Estimation is crucial because volatility is the primary driver of options pricing and, consequently, the key component of "edge" in options trading. Precision helps in better pricing and trading strategy selection.

This advanced options trading course teaches that a deep understanding of market volatility allows traders to gauge prevailing market sentiment, anticipate potential stock price swings, and identify opportunities for trading strategies that profit from changes in volatility (e.g., high volatility for selling premium, low volatility for buying premium). It helps to optimise entry and exit points and risk assessment.

This advanced options trading course clarifies that historical volatility (or realized volatility) is a backward-looking measure derived from past stock price movements of the underlying asset. In contrast, implied volatility (IV) is forward-looking, extracted from current options pricing, and represents the market's collective forecast of future volatility. Options traders often compare the two to identify potential mispricings, in turn identifying profitable trading opportunities.

In this advanced options trading course, you'll learn about the Implied Volatility (IV) Term Structure, which illustrates the relationship between implied volatility and the time to expiration for options on the same strike price of an underlying asset. This structure is essential as its shape (e.g., upward or downward sloping) directly reflects the market's expectations of future volatility across different expiration dates, providing critical insights for strategic portfolio positioning.

Our advanced options trading course provides comprehensive instruction on GARCH (Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) models. These statistical tools are crucial for forecasting future volatility, recognizing its predictable characteristics like clustering. Anticipating market shifts through accurate volatility forecasts is vital for optimizing trading entries, exits, and trading strategies overall.

This advanced options trading course covers key advanced options trading strategies such as pure volatility plays, sophisticated multiple options strategies (e.g., iron condors, butterflies, calendar spreads), and advanced arbitrage techniques. These strategies are designed to profit from anticipated changes in implied volatility, divergences between implied and realized volatility, or structural inefficiencies in the options market.

The advanced options trading course explores the "variance premium," a widely observed phenomenon where implied volatility consistently exceeds subsequent realized volatility, offering potential for profitable trades. Strategies like short straddles (selling both a call and a put at the same strike price) and short strangles (selling OTM calls and puts) are specifically designed to exploit this premium, generating income if the underlying asset's stock price remains relatively stable or its volatility decreases from the time we shorted the options.

This advanced options trading course teaches options traders to implement volatility surface trading strategies by analyzing the implied volatility across different strike prices and expiration dates to identify mispricings or opportunities. These involve complex multi-leg trading strategies tailored to profit from anticipated shifts in the skew (different IVs for different strike prices) or the term structure of volatility.

In this advanced options trading course, you'll learn advanced options strategies for bear market conditions, which include bear put spreads, long put butterflies, bearish ratio spreads, etc. These trading strategies are structured to capitalize on anticipated stock price declines or increases in bearish sentiment and volatility, while carefully managing risk.

Our advanced options trading course covers effective trading strategies for bull market conditions, such as bull call spreads, long call butterflies, bullish ratio spreads, etc. These strategies are designed to leverage rising stock price or increasing bullish volatility, offering opportunities for profitable trades with defined risk profiles.

This advanced options trading course emphasizes best practices for risk management, including rigorous position sizing, dynamic delta hedging, utilizing defined-risk spread strategies, setting clear profitable trades targets and stop-losses, continuous monitoring of all Greek exposures, understanding tail risk, and diversifying multiple options strategies across different underlying assets and market conditions.

In this advanced options trading course, you will learn how advanced hedging methods, such as "hedging to a band" or dynamic delta-gamma hedging, aim to optimize the balance between achieving a tight P&L distribution (reducing variance) and managing transaction cost. They refine risk exposure, leading to more stable and predictable trading results over time by actively adjusting positions as market conditions change.

This advanced options trading course introduces advanced techniques for options portfolio management, including managing aggregated portfolio-level Greek exposures, optimizing capital allocation across diverse options trading strategies, implementing volatility-based position sizing, using scenario analysis and stress testing, and employing systematic methods for trading adjustments and rebalancing to control overall portfolio risk and maximize returns.

This advanced options trading course equips you with advanced risk reduction methods such as sophisticated dynamic hedging (e.g., precise delta and vega hedging), using credit spreads with careful sizing, implementing robust stop-loss mechanisms, understanding and mitigating liquidity risk, and applying P&L distribution analysis to thoroughly stress-test trading strategies before deployment.

Within this advanced options trading course, P&L distribution analysis, particularly through Monte Carlo simulations, is taught as a powerful tool. It involves simulating thousands of potential future market scenarios to project the full range of possible profitable trades and losses for an options strategy. This provides a comprehensive, probabilistic view of potential outcomes, risk-reward tradeoffs, and tail risk, moving beyond simple expected value for more robust trading strategies evaluation.

Upon completing this advanced options trading course, practical applications involve systematically analyzing real-time market data, identifying volatility-based trading options opportunities, constructing and executing complex multiple options strategies, dynamically managing risk exposures using advanced Greeks, and continuously evaluating trading strategies performance against pre-defined metrics in live trading conditions.

Many reputable advanced options trading courses, including ours, incorporate interactive paper trading simulations, and potentially live trading sessions or demonstrations. These features are invaluable for gaining hands-on experience, testing trading strategies in a realistic environment, and building practical confidence without real capital risk.

This advanced options trading course emphasizes trading psychology as equally vital to "edge" and risk management. It focuses on the mental and emotional discipline required for consistent trading, acknowledging that while analytical frameworks are crucial, mental fortitude—managing fear, greed, and impulsive decisions—is paramount for adhering to a trading plan and ensuring long-term profitable trades, forming the base of the "trading process pyramid.

While no single course guarantees professional status, this advanced options trading course provides the in-depth knowledge, sophisticated strategies, and rigorous risk management techniques essential for aspiring professional options traders. It equips you with the analytical framework and practical applications insights used by experienced traders, significantly advancing your journey towards a professional trading career.