Options strategies
An options strategy is a combination of contracts chosen to express a specific view about direction, volatility or time. The pages below map the families, state the maximum loss on each honestly, and explain a consequence most strategy content ignores: because multi-leg orders print leg by leg, a single call buy on the tape may be one quarter of a position that is not directional at all.
- Pages on this topic
- 12
- Where to start
- Read the strategy map first, then the selection framework, then the strategy-scanner page if you need payoff modelling this platform does not provide.
- Applies to
- US-listed stock and ETF options
- Purpose
- Independent research and education
There is no best strategy, and Realtime Options does not build them
Strategy selection follows from a view, an account and a tolerance for loss. Content that ranks strategies by average return without stating the loss distribution is selling an outcome, not teaching a method.
Read the supporting context
Realtime Options has no strategy builder, no payoff-diagram tool and no backtesting. It contributes the positioning context you check before choosing a structure, where premium and open interest are concentrated, which strikes are crowded, what exposure sits nearby. The strategy pages name the tools that do the modelling instead.
Concept guides
- Call options explainedA call option gives its buyer the right, not the obligation, to buy 100 shares of the underlying at a fixed strike price on or before expiration, in exchange for a premium paid to the seller.
- Put options explainedA put option gives its buyer the right, not the obligation, to sell 100 shares of the underlying at a fixed strike price on or before expiration; the seller takes the matching obligation to buy those shares if assigned.
- Buy calls or puts: a decision framework, not a recommendationNo page, dataset or dashboard can tell you whether to buy calls or puts, because the answer depends on a view about direction, timing and volatility that only you hold, and on a financial situation that a website cannot see.
- Options trading strategies, organised by what they expressAn options trading strategy is a defined combination of long and short calls and puts chosen to express one specific view, with a maximum loss and a maximum gain that can be calculated before entry.
- Best options strategies: matching a structure to a viewThere is no best options strategy.
- Free options trading strategies and free strategy educationGenuinely free options strategy education exists and it is good: the Options Industry Council, Cboe, FINRA and the OCC's disclosure document publish complete material on every common structure at no cost, and most brokers include paper trading so the mechanics can be practised without capital at risk.
- Covered call screener: what it screens and how to read itA covered call screener ranks call options you could sell against shares you already own, usually by premium received, return if the stock is unchanged, return if the shares are called away, an annualised equivalent of those returns, and the downside buffer the premium provides.
- Cash-secured put screener: collateral, yield and assignmentA cash-secured put screener ranks put options you could sell while holding the full strike value in cash, usually by premium, return on that collateral, an annualised equivalent and the effective purchase price if you are assigned.
Screens, tools and comparisons
- High premium options screener: two opposite meaningsHigh premium options screener describes two opposite searches.
- Options strategy scannerAn options strategy scanner searches an option chain for multi-leg structures that match a target payoff, credit or probability, then ranks the candidates.
- Realtime Options vs OptionStrat: an honest options-flow comparisonOptionStrat and Realtime Options overlap on options-market research, but they are not interchangeable.
Applied workflows and method posts
Common questions
Does Realtime Options include a strategy builder?
No. There is no payoff diagram, no probability-of-profit calculator and no backtesting. The platform screens and contextualises executed flow. Strategy-modelling tools are named on the strategy scanner page so you can use the right software for that job.
Which options strategy is safest?
None is safe. Defined-risk structures cap the loss at a known amount, which is different from being low risk, and options trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. The guides state the maximum loss for each structure rather than ranking them.