Options Playground
An option is a contract giving you the right — not the obligation — to buy or sell a stock at a fixed price by a fixed date. Simple rules, endless combinations. Move the sliders below to see what actually happens.
Calls, Puts & Payoff
An option is a contract. A call is the right to buy at a strike; a put is the right to sell. The buyer pays a premium; the seller collects it and takes on obligation. Toggle the setup below to see exactly what each position costs, earns, and risks.
You bought the right to buy the stock at the strike.
Green area = profit, red = loss. Purple dashed line = strike. Grey dashed line = current stock price. All P/L figures are per one contract (×100 shares).
You're already defined-risk, but hedges can reduce cost or lock in gains.
- Bull Call SpreadHow: Sell a call at a higher strike (e.g. $110).Why: Reduces your debit and breakeven. Caps upside but lowers cost.
- Protective Put (Collar)How: If you also own the stock, add a long put at $95 to floor losses.Why: Turns the position into a defined-risk bullish bet.
The Greeks
The Greeks measure how an option's price reacts to change. Delta = price sensitivity. Gamma = how delta itself changes. Theta = daily decay. Vega = volatility sensitivity. Move the sliders and watch them react in real time.
If stock moves +$1, call moves ≈ this much.
How fast delta changes as spot moves.
Dollars lost per day from time decay.
Price change per +1% IV.
Fair value from Black-Scholes.
Same strike, same expiry.
Curve shows the call's fair value across stock prices. The steepness at spot is delta. The curvature is gamma.
Implied Volatility, made touchable
IV is the market's live guess of how much a stock might move — turned into a single percentage. It's not a prediction of direction. It's the width of the cone of possibilities. When IV rises, every option gets more expensive. When it collapses, so do premiums — even if the stock barely moves.
At 30% IV over 30 days, the market is pricing in a roughly ±$8.60 move from $100 (that's the ~68% band). An ATM straddle costs $6.85, so it only pays off if the stock finishes outside $93.15 – $106.85.
Why buying options right before earnings usually loses
Before earnings, IV gets pumped up because a big move is expected. The moment results are out, uncertainty disappears — IV collapses overnight. Even if the stock moves in your favor, the premium can drop.
Options are cheap. If you expect a big move, this is when to BUY premium — calls, puts, straddles.
Options are expensive. Consider SELLING premium — covered calls, cash-secured puts, credit spreads.
30% IV can be 'low' for one stock and 'high' for another. Use IV Rank / IV Percentile to place today's IV against its 52-week range.
Rule of thumb: expected 1-day move ≈ Spot × IV × √(1/252). A $100 stock at 30% IV moves about ±$1.90 on a typical day, not because someone said so — because that's the number bleeding out of every option quote.
Strategy Builder
Options get powerful when you stack them. Combine calls and puts into spreads, straddles, and condors — each with its own risk shape. Pick a preset or build your own.
Bullish but capped. Cheaper than a naked call.
Trade Simulator
Scrub through 60 trading days. Open positions at any point, watch how they mark-to-market as the stock moves and time decays, then close when you want. Real trades feel like this.