A lot of traders especially those who are just learning to trade options are enamored by the all mighty put ? especially buying the shortest-term, or front month, put for protection. The problem, however, is that there is a flaw to the reasoning and practice of purchasing front-month puts as protection.

You have your eye on a stock, a very high-valued stock like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ). You believe that this stock, despite its high price, continues to have tremendous upside potential and could easily make it to $700 soon.

One infrequently discussed topic important to understand in becoming familiar with the mechanics of learning to trade options is that of the various settlement mechanisms.

Perhaps the most easily understood of the options price influences is the price of the underlying.

In an attempt to understand the complexities of the world they observed in daily life, ancient Babylonian philosophers considered all things to be constituted of one or more of the four classical elements of: earth, air, water, and fire.

Dan's Online Education Series this month was all about helping traders learn to adjust options positions. Adjusting option positions is an essential skill for options traders.

The trifecta of option greeks are delta, theta and vega. But the next most important greek is gamma.

We all know options are derivatives, and their prices are derived from the underlying stock, index, or ETF. But with other factors at work ? implied volatility, time decay, etc. ? how can you know how much an option is going to move with respect to said underlying? Very simple ? check out its delta.

Have you ever wondered what makes a great options trader? I mean not a options trader that does pretty well, but one that you envy and want to be? Are great options traders just born that way?