Outline: Part I - Basics

"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny."

- Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker, Episode VI

The first part will be a quick overview of equity basics followed by option fundamentals. I'll explain what options are and why one would use them. Then I'll emphasize how risky they are if you aren't using a strategy or you don't understand its risks!

Part I will be composed of four chapters. Here's a list plus a few topics that will be covered in each:

1. Equity Basics: Quick run through of what is a stock, index, ETF, and financial derivative.
2. Option Basics: What is an option?, Long/short call, long/short put
3. Fundamentals: Strikes, premium, moneyness, expiration, exercise, assignment
4. Classifying Options and Strategies: Directional assumption, profits and losses, debits and credits, volatility assumption

The first two chapters are just to bring everyone to an equal footing. Ideally one would already have some of this knowledge. Chapter three may need to be switched or merged with chapter two since you need to know about this to explain options. The last chapter is just some ways to categorize the different strategies. I'll be explaining what they mean here.