For people new to options
Pick a stock you know. Option Coach walks you through one example trade in plain English: what you'd enter, what you could earn, the most you could lose, and how it plays out if the market drops or rallies.
Free to start, no card needed. An education tool, not investment advice.
Illustrative example with hypothetical numbers. Not a recommendation.
Why Option Coach
Screeners show hundreds of numbers and assume you already know what delta and implied volatility mean. Option Coach shows one trade at a time and explains every part of it.
Answer three questions and get a single worked example with the strike, the expiry, the cash you'd receive and the worst case in dollars.
Press play and watch the trade through a calm week, a sharp drop or a rally, with the coach telling you what each moment means.
The option chain and order ticket are shown the way your broker displays them, with the exact cells and buttons highlighted.
How it works
Income on shares you already own, getting paid while you wait to buy a stock cheaper, or income with a fixed maximum loss.
Choose from 500+ US stocks and ETFs, then how far from today's price the strike should be. Farther means safer odds and a smaller premium.
See the odds, the worst case, a replay through different markets, a year of history and the exact order to place, all in plain English.
Options in 60 seconds
The right to buy 100 shares at the strike. If you sell a call, you may have to sell your shares at the strike.
The right to sell 100 shares at the strike. If you sell a put, you may have to buy shares at the strike.
Income strategies are on the seller side: you are paid up front for taking on an obligation that only matters if the price crosses your strike before expiry.
Same $50 stock, 30 days to expiry, so you can compare them. Pick a trade:
Trade 1 of 4 · illustrative example
Earn premium on shares you already own, in exchange for agreeing to sell them at a set price.
01 / Build the position
Your holding
100 shares
Share price today: $50
Position value: $5,000
Sell to open
1 × $55 call
30 days · $1.25 premium per share
1 contract = 100 shares
Premium credit
$125
$1.25 × 100 shares
Before fees and taxes
The cash flow
02 / What can happen?
If the stock is at or below $55 at expiry
Call expires unexercised
You keep your shares and the $125.
The premium cushions only the first $1.25 per share of a dropIf the stock is above $55 and you're assigned
Shares are sold at $55
You receive $5,500 for the shares and keep the $125.
Effective sale price $56.25 · gains above $55 go to the buyerThe stock can still fall. If it drops from $50 to $40, your shares lose $1,000 and the $125 premium covers only part of that. Assignment can also happen before expiry.
Trade 2 of 4 · illustrative example
Get paid while you wait to buy a stock at a lower price than today.
01 / Build the position
Cash set aside
$4,500
Strike $45 × 100 shares
Stock price today: $50
Sell to open
1 × $45 put
30 days · $1.00 premium per share
1 contract = 100 shares
Premium credit
$100
$1.00 × 100 shares
Before fees and taxes
The cash flow
02 / What can happen?
If the stock is at or above $45 at expiry
Put expires unexercised
You keep the $100 and your $4,500 is released.
$100 earned on $4,500 held for 30 daysIf the stock is below $45 and you're assigned
You buy 100 shares at $45
Your $4,500 pays for the shares, and you keep the $100.
Effective cost $44 per share · you now own the stockThe stock can fall a long way. If it drops to $35 you still pay $45 a share: $4,500 for shares worth $3,500. After the $100 premium, that is a $900 loss on paper.
Trade 3 of 4 · illustrative example
Collect premium on a stock you expect to stay above a level, with a fixed worst case.
01 / Build the position
Sell to open
1 × $45 put
Collect $1.00 per share ($100)
The income leg
Buy to open
1 × $40 put
Pay $0.35 per share ($35)
Your protection leg
Net premium
$65
$100 in, $35 out
Before fees and taxes
The cash flow
02 / What can happen?
If the stock is at or above $45 at expiry
Both puts expire
You keep the $65 and the $435 is released.
Break-even at expiry: $44.35If the stock is at or below $40 at expiry
Maximum loss: $435
You lose the $500 width less the $65 collected. Your $40 put stops anything worse.
Between $40 and $45 the result is partialYou risk $435 to make $65. The chance of keeping the premium is usually high, but one full loss can wipe out several wins.
Trade 4 of 4 · illustrative example
Collect premium from two spreads at once, for a stock you expect to stay in a range.
01 / Build the position
Put side
$45 / $40 put spread
Net $0.65 per share
Collect $65
Call side
$55 / $60 call spread
Net $0.55 per share
Collect $55
Net premium
$120
$65 + $55
Before fees and taxes
The cash flow
02 / What can happen?
If the stock stays between $45 and $55
All four options expire
You keep the $120 and the $380 is released.
Break-evens at expiry: $43.80 and $56.20If the stock ends below $40 or above $60
Maximum loss: $380
One spread loses its full $500 width, less the $120 collected.
Only one side can lose at expiryA surprise can break the range. An earnings gap can push the stock through one side overnight. You risk $380 to make $120.
Hypothetical prices for education only. Standard 100-share contracts assumed. Fees, taxes, dividends and early assignment are not modelled.
Then, by expiry, one of three things happens:
The price never crosses your strike. You keep the whole premium, and the collateral is released.
The price crosses the strike. Through the clearing house, shares and cash change hands at the strike. You still keep the premium.
You “buy to close” the same option. You pay its current price; your result is the premium in minus the cost out.
Reads the range traders are pricing in from today's option prices.
Uses how much the stock has really moved lately, with room for rare big days.
Replays this stock's own daily moves from the past year, thousands of times.
Combines all three into the odds, the worst 1-in-20 case and the replay you see.
Earnings reports are built in. When a report could fall before expiry, the models add an overnight jump sized from that stock's biggest moves this year, as often as a report is likely. Big tech names can gap 5% to 10% or more after earnings.
Educational illustration, not investment advice. Options involve risk and are not suitable for every investor.
What you get
Watch the price move, the trade's value change and the coach's status update as each day passes. When a rule would close the trade, you see why.
Within 0.7% of your strike. No action yet: the rules decide, not nerves.
Like an ensemble weather forecast, Option Coach blends what option prices imply, how the stock has actually been moving, and a replay of its real history. Then it tells you plainly whether there's an edge, or not.
See the option chain with the cells to use marked SELL and BUY, plus filled-in tickets for opening the trade and closing it later. It works with any broker; Option Coach never places trades itself.
| Action | Qty | Strike | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell to Open | 1 | 740 | Put |
| Buy to Open | 1 | 735 | Put |
Who it's for
Pricing
Free covers 10 popular names plus a weekly pick. Pro opens every ticker.
Questions
No. Option Coach is an education and analysis tool. It shows the same analysis to everyone who picks the same settings, and it doesn't know your finances or goals. It isn't registered as an adviser, and it never tells you what to buy or sell.
No. It never connects to your brokerage account. It shows you what a trade involves and what the order would look like, so you can decide for yourself and place it with your own broker if you choose.
500+ US stocks and ETFs, including the S&P 500 and the most-traded funds. The free plan opens 10 popular names plus a weekly free pick; Pro opens the rest.
The beta uses delayed end-of-day prices and option volatility, refreshed regularly. Always check live quotes in your broker before trading.
No. Every number comes with a plain-English explanation, and a glossary covers terms like strike, premium, delta and assignment.
Yes. Option Coach is built in Toronto. It covers US-listed stocks and ETFs today, which most Canadian brokers can trade, and Canadian-listed options are on the roadmap.
The first 100 founding members lock in Pro at $9 a month for their first year once the full version launches. Start free, then choose the founding offer from Plans in the app. You can cancel any time.