Adding to Knowledge is Not Time-Consuming
Every week I try to learn something new. Most of the time I don’t enroll in online video training, but this week I took advantage of an excellent class provided by The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). The OCC has a division called The Options Industry Council (OIC). The OIC is “dedicated to providing engaging and practical educational resources about the risks and potential benefits of exchange-listed options to a global audience of market participants.” The session I attended was taught by Mark Benzaquen. He is OIC’s Principal, Investor Education.
The session I attended yesterday was called “The Options Wheel Strategy: A No-Hype Educational Breakdown.” Of all of the training I have seen, this ranks ten out of ten. The training was without hype, very balanced, and carefully crafted. Although I have been trading options for six years, with good success, I learned a couple of helpful things from the training.
Before the training I traded options. I added dollars from trading and rolling covered call options and cash covered put options. The YTD results are very good. Options income has exceeded $80K and is almost as much as YTD dividend income. You might say that I have “doubled my dividends” by adding options trading to my investment toolbox.
Some Slides from the OIC Training
For those of you who trade options, here is a taste of the training slide deck. I was able to download a PDF of the slides for future reference. I liked the fact that they covered both the cash covered put option and the covered call option. I trade both types of options.
I also liked their “A Framework for Evaluation” slide. It is a good summary of what you should consider before you do an option trade, what you should do while the option is active, and then an evaluation after the option expires.
Can Options Trading Add Income?
The primary goal of trading options is immediate income. As you grow your portfolio of investments, the opportunity to increase your income trading options increases. Easy Income for 2026 YTD is from dividends: $80,933. We could easily live on those dollars, but we give most of our gains to charities. Our Social Security covers most of our day-to-day expenses. Because the dividends are considerable, there is no need to try to find additional sources of income.
However, it takes so little time to trade options that I think the extra time is worth the work. YTD options income is now at $80,836. Given where we are in the year, that averages over $3,300 per week. Here is a snapshot of the two income streams and their total income contribution to our accounts.
The Options Industry Council (OIC)
The OIC has several helpful tools on their website. I opened a free account yesterday after attending the free training. Here are some helpful links that you can use if you sign up on their website.
Trending Options Volume
One of the tools on their website shows trending options. The following screen print shows some rows with a green highlight. Those are some of the stocks I use for options trading.
Options Monitor
A second tool is the “Options Monitor.” I used the tool to look at NVDA Call options. The following sample shows that NVDA options are traded more frequently. There are options available that expire Friday, next Monday, and next Wednesday. Trading NVDA options can be very lucrative.
Conclusion
There are many voices vying for your attention. There are books, YouTube videos, and a host of websites that offer investment training. I can wholeheartedly recommend the training I received from The Options Industry Council.
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