Motley Fool Options

You're invited to join us inside Motley Fool Options – where a staggering 86% of our completed options plays have made profits!

Read on to discover:

  • How “The Trifecta Trade” can allow you to magnify your upside by 2X, 3X, even 4X (or more!) on your favorite Motley Fool stocks like DIS, FB, EBAY, and PYPL… risking 80-90% less capital in the process… all while giving your bullish thesis YEARS to play out – instead of having to be right within mere months, weeks, or even days
  • How even a hobbyist investor like me was able to turn my personal portfolio into an “Income Generating Machine” capable of spitting out a repeatable string of cash flow like $292$432$382$442$312$172$402$472… and $322 – simply by using the same options trade over and over and over. (And I'll show you my brokerage statement to prove it!)
  • I’ll even grab my computer and personally walk you from start to finish through a real-deal options trade on Take-Two Interactive that was recently recommended inside Motley Fool Options, which you can execute for yourself if you’d like!

Dear fellow investor,

Hi, I’m Michael Douglass, the Head of Messaging here at The Motley Fool.

As a long-time Fool and an options trader myself, I can’t imagine a more important time in history to not only understand options investing, but also know precisely how to take advantage.

After all, our veteran Motley Fool Options team has taken a concept in options that – thanks in large part to horror stories just like I showed you above – many ordinary investors consider inherently risky… scary… or, yes, even downright dangerous…

…and turned them into amazingly consistent tools that can allow investors to both magnify upside potential in stocks they’re already bullish on in a way that simply buying stock outright cannot, as well as set up a portfolio to generate cash income like clockwork.

And do so in a way that can make even the most buttoned-up investor feel safe and secure!

No need for you to simply take my word on how successful our Options team has been, though. The numbers speak for themselves.

With a decade-plus track record at their back, the team has now made money on a staggering 86% of their completed options strategy recommendations.

Which raises an obvious, yet all-important question…

What does our Options team that’s made money on a borderline incomprehensible 86% of their completed options strategies consider the RIGHT way to trade options?

Let’s start by taking a closer look at the perspective of an investor who’s bullish on a stock and wants to go “long.”

You can buy what’s referred to as a call option, which is one of the most basic options trades there is.

Options Lingo: “Call Option”

A call option becomes more valuable as the price of the underlying stock increases. Conversely, the option loses its value as the underlying stock decreases.

Buying a call is a way to profit as the stock rises.

It’s a great way to be bullish on a stock, while limiting the amount of money that you put at risk.

Plus, you’re leveraging your upside potential as well!

Options Lingo: “Leveraged Upside”

An increase in upside that an option contract provides vs. purchasing shares in a company directly, because it gives you control over 100 shares of a company.

For example, the underlying stock may only gain, say 20 percent. But that could cause your call option to shoot up 100 percent.

Meanwhile, you may be risking a mere 10 or 20 percent of the cash that you’d otherwise be putting into the market to get the same kind of upside by simply buying shares outright.

Call Options

Whenever the stock market is extremely volatile or uncertain – like, say, right now – buying call options can be a great way to take advantage because you're still getting into the market, but you're able to put far less money at risk.

Despite that, because you have leveraged upside through the call option, if the market starts soaring you're actually going to make more returns than you would have otherwise.

It’s not like you’re capping your upside or anything. Precisely the opposite, in fact!

Seem too good to be true?

You caught me. There is one catch here: time.

You see, every options contract has a specific expiration date. If the parameters of the contract aren’t fulfilled in time, the option expires worthless.

Options Lingo: “Expiration Date”

The final date on which an options contract is valid. After which, it expires worthless if the owner of the options contract chooses not to exercise it.

So when you buy a call option and the stock doesn’t move high enough by the expiration, the option expires worthless, with you losing the entire premium you paid for the option contract in the first place.

Whether you’re a seasoned investor or someone who’s only just started investing, you know that in the stock market just about anything can happen in a short time period…

And that’s the big mistake we see far too many investors make when they begin trading options. They bet big on trades that only have a few months or a few weeks… heck, sometimes even just a few days to pay off.

That’s not investing, my friend – it’s gambling.

Which is why our Motley Fool Options team still approaches options just like all of our other Motley Fool services operate – as investors.

And that’s precisely why they’ve often recommended what they believe is a far safer, but still incredibly lucrative strategy…

Introducing the ultimate win-win-win in options investing: “The Trifecta Trade”

It’s a form of buying call options that gives long-term investors like us here at The Motley Fool far more time for our bullish thesis to play out.

Unfortunately, based on conversations I’ve had with Motley Fool members over the years, many of them aren’t even aware this particular strategy is readily available to them.

Lately, we’ve been referring to it as “The Trifecta Trade.”

It’s a three-way win, because it allows you to:

  1. Put less capital at risk up front, yet still…
  1. Lock in more potential upside on a stock, not to mention…
  1. Give yourself YEARS for your investing thesis to play out!

Now, in the options world “The Trifecta Trade” involves buying what’s called Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities. You may have heard them commonly referred to as “LEAPS."

Options Lingo: “LEAPS”

Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities – or “LEAPS” – are options contracts with an expiration date more than a year in the future, allowing you more time for your investment thesis to play out.

LEAPS are just like call options in that they allow investors to make a bullish bet on an underlying stock they love, while still getting leveraged returns and risking far less money up front.

But instead of needing the stock to move your way next week or next month, you can actually get multiple YEARS for your stock to move higher.

Talk about putting time on your side!

So not only do you get all the same attractive features of a regular call option, but you don’t have to bet on a short-term outcome in order to magnify your upside.

Instead, you get to kick back and watch your long-term bullish thesis play out, just like you would in a normal Motley Fool investment.

If you know what to look for when buying LEAPS, you could potentially 3X to 5X your money by executing these trades on rock-solid companies – just like the ones you already find in flagship Motley Fool services Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers.

That's a far different cry than the way most people use options, which is to buy a short-term call on some fly-by-night company hoping for a quick, easy payout… and then lose all their money.

With LEAPS, we’re doing the exact opposite.

So how does it work?

I’ll start by showing you a hypothetical example on one of the single oldest recommendations in Motley Fool history…

"Trifecta Trade" Example
No. 1 – eBay

David Gardner recommended eBay in Motley Fool Stock Advisor all the way back in 2002.

As you can expect with the wild success of eCommerce over the past couple decades, the stock has had a pretty incredible run.

When I first identified this potential trade, eBay stock was trading right around $60. And for just $848 you could buy a call with a $65 strike price that expires in January of 2023.

Options Lingo: “Strike Price”

The price at which an options contract can be bought or sold when exercised.

So what are the potential outcomes?

If the stock goes up 25% by then, we make that $848 premium we initially paid to buy the option contract back and break even right off the bat.

Options Lingo: “Premium”

The total cost to purchase an option contract.

But here’s where things start to get really interesting…

  • If eBay stock goes up around 33%, our LEAPS would be making around 87%. Almost 3X the return that the stock itself would be making…
  • If eBay shares go up 50%, we’re looking at around a 200% That’s 4X the return the stock would be making.
  • And if eBay shares go up 100% for a double, we’d make roughly 550%. That’s a whopping 5X the return!

So, instead of just a single year for a double to happen as of when I first identified the trade, we’d be setting ourselves up with nearly two full years to get there.

What’s more, we’d be paying just $848 up front to control the equivalent of 100 shares worth of upside, like buying a single option contract does.

If we just bought eBay shares outright like normal, we’d have to pay $6,000 on Day 1 – 7X as much money at risk!

Remember, with “The Trifecta Trade,” you set yourself up for MORE upside with LESS money at risk, and MORE time for the investment to move in your favor.

Of course, lots of trades sound great in the hypothetical. So how about a real example from Motley Fool Options?

“Trifecta Trade” Example
No. 2 – Disney LEAPS

How our Options team led members to a 188% return on a mere 45% stock move from the House of Mouse, while risking one-fifth the capital!

Let’s quickly rewind back to October 2013.

Our Options team was extremely high on Disney as a stock. In particular, they loved the potential of the Marvel franchise.

And even though blockbuster hit The Avengers had come out the year before, our team thought the market still had no idea just how big the Marvel franchise could be.

That was despite Disney carrying an all-time high share price of $69 at the time.

So our team recommended that members by LEAPS on Disney with a strike price of $60 – meaning the LEAPS were already what we call “in the money,” since the strike price was lower than the actual price of the stock – with an expiration set in January 2016.

That gave us more than two years for our investment thesis to play out.

Options Lingo: “In the Money”

When the underlying share price of a company has already surpassed its strike price. A call option is “in the money” if the underlying share price is HIGHER than the strike price. A put option is “in the money” if the underlying share price is LOWER than the strike price.

Because that LEAPS contract was both “in the money” and had an expiration date so far in the future, it was somewhat pricey – $1,333 per contract, in fact.

But here’s the thing…

By buying a LEAPS contract instead of buying the stock outright, our Options team paid $1,333 to control 100 shares of Disney stock for a duration of two-plus years.

If they’d simply bought Disney shares outright at the time, they would have had to have paid $6,900 to control the exact same quantity of shares.

That’s 5X as much money on the line right up front!

Remember “The Trifecta?”

Less money up front. More upside. And years for your thesis to play out.

As successful as Disney (and Marvel) has been over the past few years, I’m sure you can guess what happened.

By January 2016, Disney’s stock price had shot up from $69 to nearly $100, or roughly a 45% gain if you’d bought shares outright.

Hey, certainly not bad at all for a little more than two years, especially with a mega cap company like Disney.

So how did our Options team’s LEAPS perform?

Because of our leveraged upside, instead of a mere 45% return, we made a whopping 188% return on our initial investment

Disney

4X what members would have made by simply buying shares in Disney, for one-fifth the capital put at risk up front!

And remember, you can buy as many contracts as you’re comfortable with. You don’t have to just buy one at a time.

And I’ll give you another example, since we were talking about eBay earlier.

“Trifecta Trade” Example
No. 3 – PayPal LEAPS

How Options members have already seen a $16,634 gain on a single LEAPS trade… that still has a full year left to play out!

How about PayPal, which spun out of eBay years ago?

This one is actually an active trade inside Motley Fool Options… so while we could close out the position and lock in our gains whenever we wanted, our team has yet to recommend doing so.

Meaning you’re also about to get a bit of a look behind the curtain here…

Back in April 2020 – with PayPal stock was trading at $110.55 – our Options team recommended buying “deep in the money” LEAPS at a strike price of $75.

And because the expiration date wasn’t until January 2022, we had nearly a two-year runway to work with.

“Deep in the money” because the current price of the underlying stock – in this case PayPal’s share price of $110.55 – is already far higher than the strike price of the call we’re buying, $75.

So how are we looking nearly a year in?

Well, PayPal has already shot up roughly 150% over that time. Not bad, right? More than double in less than a year.

On the other hand, our LEAPS that initially cost $4,289 are currently worth a whopping $20,923, nearly five times the original value!

PayPal

And remember, we still have nearly an entire year’s worth of time ahead of us!

What’s more, while that initial $4,289 premium may seem steep, by buying LEAPS instead of buying PayPal shares outright, we actually risked $6,766 less in upfront capital!

Yet again, “The Trifecta Trade” allowed us the longer timeline necessary to ultimately make more money than we would have otherwise, while putting less on the line to do so!

And here’s the thing – I could go on and on with these examples:

  • A 2014 trade on Facebook LEAPS netted us an 88% return on just a 46% market move – nearly 2X the return we would have had from just buying shares outright.
  • And a modest 25% gain in Ferrari stock has already netted us a smooth 70% return on LEAPS that don’t expire until December of this year, nearly 3X the return!

And while those are examples of some seriously impressive returns, they may leave you wondering…

“Michael, just how difficult are these LEAPS trades to set up? It’s probably really difficult for somebody like me, right?”

Actually, nothing could be further from the truth!

To prove it, I filmed a video walking you through an actual LEAPS recommendation of Take-Two Interactive recently made by our Motley Fool Options team, from start to finish.

Go ahead and take a few minutes to watch it to see just how easy LEAPS are to set up and execute.

(Please note that I filmed this video a few months back, so some of the dates and prices may no longer be timely.)

By now, you can probably see how powerful using LEAPS to put “The Trifecta” of more upside… more time… and less money at risk can be.

But what if instead of trying to leverage your upside for massive returns, you’d prefer to turn your portfolio into an “Income Generating Machine”?

For that, we’ll have to look at the opposite of buying options, which is selling them (also known as “writing”).

Options Lingo: “Selling Options”

When you “sell” (or “write”) an option, you generate the option contract yourself. Therefore, you collect the premium directly up front, as opposed to having to pay the premium yourself to “buy” an option.

“Income Generating Machine” Example
No. 1 – Writing Puts on Open Text

How to generate $3,117 in income while paying no money up front, then even earn an additional 124% on the shares themselves!

The single most common way Motley Fool Options generates income is by selling (or “writing”) puts.

Options Lingo: “Put Option”

A put option becomes more valuable as the price of the underlying stock decreases. Conversely, the option loses its value as the stock increases.

We've recommended selling puts on Open Text four different times inside Motley Fool Options. And that's allowed us to collect a steady stream of income payments over the past few years.

Here's how it works: Open Text is an enterprise software company that bills itself as "The Content Experts."

Back in December 2009, we had done our Foolish homework on Open Text.

We had put the business under a microscope. And when we were done, we were confident that the company was ripe for a put selling play.

We knew that by selling puts on the company, we would either make significant income… or we'd have the opportunity to buy the shares at a great share price in the future (which can be another outcome of selling puts).

So on December 16, 2009, with the stock trading at $37.81, we recommended that Options members SELL the May 2010 $35 puts.

As long as the stock did not drop below $35, we would simply keep all the income and the contract we sold would expire worthless – a great outcome!

So how did we do? The stock was trading above $35 at expiration, letting us keep the $210 of income for every contract we sold.

If you had sold just three put contracts when we recommended them, you would have pocketed $630 in income.

But we weren't done yet. There was still plenty more income to be had!

So in November 2010 we told Motley Fool Options members to sell the February 2011 puts and collect $180 per contract.

Again, if you had sold three put contracts when we recommended them, you would have pocketed $540 in income when the options expired worthless.

(That just means that the buyer walked away with nothing, and YOU, the seller, kept all the income!)

Then in February 2011, we told Options members to sell the March puts and collect $73 per contract.

Assuming you had sold three contracts, you would have quickly pocketed another $219 in income when the options yet again expired worthless.

Now if you’re picking up on a trend here, congrats – you’re right on target!

The reason selling puts can be such a powerful tactic is precisely because – as the data shows – roughly 75% of options contracts do in fact expire worthless.

That said, in our fourth go-round started in March 2011 when we recommended that members sell August 2011 $60 puts for $425.

As August expiration loomed, the stock had dropped to around $55, so this time we were assigned the shares — an outcome we were thrilled with, since we loved Open Text as a company and were perfectly happy to be “forced’ to buy shares at a price cheaper than the actual stock was trading at!

Options Lingo: “Share Assignment”

Assignment occurs when an option contract is exercised. The owner of the contract exercises the contract and “assigns” the option seller/writer to complete the obligations of the contract. In the case of a call option, the seller must sell a designated number of shares (in intervals of 100) at the strike price. In the case of put, the seller must buy a designated number of shares (in intervals of 100) at the strike price.

In fact, since that time, we went on to earn an additional 124% in returns on the Open Text shares themself!

And have been able to write a simple "covered call" – which is selling a call option instead of a put option – on the stock for even more income!

Combined with the $425 from the original transaction, this next round of trades on Open Text paid us a total of $151 per contract. If you were working with three contracts, that's another $1,728 in income...

Add it all up and you’re looking at a total of $3,117 in cash income… plus that 124% gain in the long position.

All from just one stock using a few simple options plays.

option plays

Now I think you can see why I love this strategy so much.

In fact, when I first started learning from our Motley Fool Options service online and began trading options as a total novice, it was my personal favorite options play!

“Income Generating Machine” Example
No. 2 – Writing Puts on Shopify

How I ran the exact same play nine times in a row to rack up a total of $3,230.61 in cash income in a single year!

It might surprise you to learn that I was able to successfully take a common income-generating technique in selling puts, yet use it on one of the single most popular – not to mention successful – Motley Fool recommendations of the past half-decade: Shopify.

Personally, I love Shopify as an investment and would have been thrilled to own it, which you have to keep in mind whenever you’re going to sell puts.

But as we all know, SHOP is one of the most successful investments in Motley Fool history.

Even back in 2017 when I was writing puts on Shopify, it was already up more than 3X in value from when David Gardner originally recommended it in Motley Fool Rule Breakers back in February of 2016.

And whether for right or wrong – again, I’m no analyst – I thought Shopify stock was frothy at the time and if I were going to get in, I wanted in at a cheaper price.

So I decided to sell – again, you can also call it “write” – puts on Shopify.

If the stock dropped, I’d be able to buy shares at a cheaper price, like I wanted. And if it kept on going, I’d just pocket the instant income and could sell yet another put on it.

As we know, the stock has just continued to take off since then, so that lower price never came and I was able to just continue writing puts literally for months on end… and ended up making more than three grand in the process with no outlay of capital whatsoever!

I’m going to show you a picture of my personal brokerage account to show you precisely what I did. Just have a look directly below.

personal brokerage account

Look at the far-right column to see some of the income I was able to rack up here: $292$432$382$442$312$172$402$472… and $322.

I felt like a football coach continually calling the same play over and over and over again, because the other team just couldn’t stop it.

In all, I ran the exact same play nine separate times for a total of $3,230.61. Because when it’s working, why stop?

And, look, I like to think I'm a smart guy.

But seriously, you don’t have to be a genius to do this.

When you have somebody holding your hand it really doesn’t take that much time… and it really doesn’t take that much effort.

Motley Fool Options member Kristin B. agrees on the importance of income generation, calling it "life altering," as she explains below.

And remember, 75% of the time the option is going to expire worthless anyway, and you can just write another one and collect even more income.

That’s exactly what happened time and time again for me with Shopify, nine times in a row!

And yes, I know what you’re thinking.

You just saw me create a brand-new, almost 100% passive income stream for myself essentially out of thin air.

You see the brokerage account.

You see the dollar figures.

You see no money put down up front.

So… what’s the catch?

As we discussed earlier with Open Text, when you sell puts and the stock falls below your strike price, you can be forced to buy shares of the company at the lower price.

And as I’ll explain directly ahead, that can actually make for a serious windfall!

“Income Generating Machine” Example
No. 3 – Writing Puts on Teladoc

If you’re a longtime Motley Fool member, you’ve probably heard of Teladoc Health.

It’s not as well-known as Shopify, but it’s another one of our best recent picks here at the Fool.

They conduct remote medical consultations so you don’t have to go into a doctor’s office. And, as you can likely imagine, they really started to be accepted as a mainstream business idea during the pandemic.

The company only went public back in 2015, yet they’re already up around 5X.

And we actually have it as an active BUY recommendation in nine different Motley Fool services right now, so it’s done really, really well for us as a company.

Back in 2019 I really liked Teladoc, but again – just like Shopify – it had already gone up a lot and I would have preferred to get it at a cheaper price.

On July 12, 2019, Teladoc’s share price was $70.62, and I chose to write a put with a strike price of $65 and immediately pocket $176.29.

Same playbook as with Shopify, right? Not exactly…

Because just a month later on August 16, Teladoc’s share price dips enough that it crosses the $65 threshold.

When you sell a put and the share price dips below the strike price you sold it at, you can be forced to purchase 100 shares of the underlying stock per contract.

Again, it’s called “being assigned shares.”

But here’s the crucial part that I want to emphasize over and over because it’s so important: I’m perfectly HAPPY with that outcome.

I already thought Teladoc was a great company, and my “punishment” was being forced to buy shares at a price I considered a total bargain!

I had to buy 100 shares at $65 a pop for a total outlay of $6,500.

But when you subtract the $176.29 in income that I pocketed directly up front for selling the put in the first place, that drops to $6,330, or a cost basis of $63.30 per share.

And remember, because all of their business is conducted remotely, Teladoc’s business model was tailor-made for the pandemic, which came along shortly after I first sold puts.

Can you see where this is going?

When you sell puts correctly, it’s as clear of a win-win as you’ll ever find.

Either:

  • The share price never breaks your strike price threshold and you continue writing them and just keep racking up income time after time after time, or
  • The share price DOES drop enough that you’re able to buy shares of a business you love at a deep discount.

And look, I know what you’re probably thinking.

It’s the thing that ends up holding every single investor back from ultimately adding options to their investment arsenal:

“Sure, the Fool's able to do this. They spend all day staring at options trades on a computer screen, and they watch them like a hawk. That doesn't mean I'll be able to do it myself.”

To that I’d say – hey, just look at me.

I've been with the Motley Fool for about seven years now and I've worked everywhere from editorial… to our Wealth Management team… to Member Experience… to retention… to marketing.

But one place I definitively have NOT worked is on the investment analyst side.

Like most people here at The Motley Fool, I'm a hobbyist investor.

I work full time job at the Fool, I’m on my church council, and I've got a one year old kid at home.

Point being, I do not have a lot of free time in my life right now.

I certainly had no idea how to trade options when I first started looking into it. I could barely tell you the difference between a call and a put.

Frankly, if you'd ask me to explain the math behind an options contract, I would've broken out into a cold sweat.

Even though I could always see the potential with options, they just seemed so darned intimidating…

I saw how people could use them to magnify their gains and do really neat things with the portfolio they’d amassed – particularly when it came to generating income – and I’d think, gosh, I want that to be me.

I invest for my family's well-being, for my kid's future, and for all the same reasons you probably invest.

And the thing I finally realized was that failing to use options was a serious issue that was quite literally holding me back from unleashing the full potential of my portfolio in the stock market.

That was when I finally decided to stop making excuses and take advantage of our Motley Fool Options service for myself.

So I went to our Motley Fool Options website and discovered the thing that I most appreciate about the service – aside from the 86% profit rate on completed strategies, of course – is how simple and accessible they make everything.

They break each trade down as simply as I just showed you, and they've got a seemingly unlimited amount of great content. It really helps members visualize trades and understand how they work.

Frankly, in my opinion, it's the best investing education I've ever received, and it's all thanks to Jim Mueller and the Options team.

Speaking of whom, allow me to introduce Jim Mueller to you personally…

Jim Mueller

He’s the lead advisor of Motley Fool Options, and one of the most brilliant options investing minds I’ve ever met

Jim oversees everything we do here at The Motley Fool when it comes to the profitable universe of options trading. And if you ask me, there's no one better suited to the job. He’s hands down one of the most talented options investors I've ever met.

So if you’re wondering who traditional buy-and-hold investors like Motley Fool founders David and Tom Gardner would ever trust to regularly issue option trade recommendations on the Motley Fools behalf, the answer is simple.

It all comes down to Jim Mueller, the investor who first taught himself to trade options, and then went onto share the secret with thousands of Fools just like you, proving that you don't need to take wild risk in order to significantly enhance your portfolio's potential upside.

While he's too humble to admit it, Jim is what I would call a brainiac. After learning how businesses are run while putting his Ph.D. in biochemistry to use at a small biotech company, Jim discovered that investing was more lucrative as a career path than being stuck in a lab all day.

Since joining The Motley Fool a decade-and-a-half ago, Jim earned his CFA designation and more importantly, the respect of even our most vaunted investors here at the Fool.

Today, Jim spends nearly every waking hour engaging with our Motley Fool community and trying to teach them just how powerful options can be when properly used in one's portfolio and how it's probably a lot easier, safer, and let's face it, more profitable than you’d think.

Jim and the rest of the Options team are just so good about teaching and explaining every aspect of what you need to do and what it takes to do this. It’s a pretty simple process when it comes down to it.

The nice thing is that the team lays it all out for you in plain, simple English.

“This is the strike price… this is the expiration date… this is roughly the amount you’re looking to pay to set the trade up,” and all you have to do is follow each trade recommendation piece by piece, line by line, just like I have.

And look, there’s no need to just take my word for it either.

Here’s a few of your fellow Fools talking about their experience with Motley Fool Options!

My personal favorite of those quotes is Paul F’s, “I own a house in San Francisco now largely due to the fact that I bought a membership to Motley Fool Options.”

And as Options member Emiliano C explains, we make it easy for beginners.

With our 86% success rate, I think it's imperative that we’re making Motley Fool Options available to educate people so they can do this with a team that has such a long-term track record of success.

It’s also why I’m so honored to be the one who personally gets to invite you to join Motley Fool Options today.

On that note…

What all will you get access to when you become a member of Motley Fool Options during our first Grand Reopening in half a decade?

  • Every year you remain a member of Motley Fool Options you’ll get three brand-new “Set & Forget” strategies. As the name suggests, these will be more long-term focused options plays. Because remember, even in Options we’re still first and foremost investors here – not traders.
  • You’ll also get monthly “Ongoing” strategies that aim to generate income in overlapping three-month intervals. We’ll be keeping an eye on these “Ongoing” strategies much more actively, and we’ll send you an alert straight to your inbox the second we think you need to take action. Unlike the “Set & Forget” strategies, there’s no limit to how many “Ongoing” strategies we’ll recommend – when we see an opportunity we think you should pounce on, we’ll let you know immediately!
  • Plus, you’ll receive our monthly “Always Have a Plan” writeups on the first Friday of each month, which prime you on what to expect from your membership inside Motley Fool Options over the course of the coming month. Including setting the table for any impending expirations on current options trades recommendations.
  • Our dedicated Motley Fool Options membership forum, frequented by some of the smartest options investors around. I consider it the single best place in the world for “Options watercooler conversation!” You’ll be able to interact with all of your fellow Options members, along with our entire investing team here at Motley Fool Options – including the guru Jim Mueller himself! Confused? Got a question? Just want to kick around some options ideas? You know where to head!
  • A comprehensive nexus of options reports and information on anything you could possibly imagine, from how to set up options permissions with your broker… to potential tax implications of options… to setting up your first options trade in your account… to just having a glossary of options terms at your disposal that you can refer back to literally whenever you want.
  • Our proprietary “Options U” resource, which is almost like taking a simple and easy online class. Start on Day 1 with our beginner course, Options U: Essentials. Then work your way up to the intermediate tier, Options U: Strategies. And once you’re feeling confident that you have the basic options plays down, graduate to Options U: Masters.

As a former professor, I’ve personally spent a ton of time going through Options U, and consider it the single best options educational hub in the world.

It’s thorough and comprehensive, yet simple, clean, easy to use, and spells out everything in plain English as it walks you through your options education from start to finish.

For a quick breakdown of Options U, just watch the brief video below.

And as Options members Nick F. told us, it's great for members who want a little more handholding.

What members are saying about Motley Fool Options:

"Scrupulously honest"

"You are very attentive to the needs and goals of your subscribers, and you are scrupulously honest in how you measure and disclose your results."

R.M., Highlands Ranch, CO

"Actionable and profitable"

"MFO has not only taught me a lot about options (with more still to learn), but has also provided me with a number of actionable and profitable recommendations."

Brian J., Westchester, NY

"Building family wealth..."

"I want to say thank you for what you do... I can't begin to tell you what this means for me and my family!"

R. Stone, Little Rock, AR

"Great results..."

"I'm here and excited! I've followed your options instruction and recommendations... and have been exceedingly pleased with the results! Thanks for your great work!"

M.M., Stillwater, OK

"Excited and impressed..."

"I'm excited by the quality of this service so far, and impressed with the volume of educational material the Fool team has put together!"

R. Shepherd, Bellingham, WA

"Thanks..."

"I never ever would have thought about using options in my years of investing if it wasn't for you. Thanks guys!"

S.S., Melrose Park, IL

"I'm thrilled..."

"I'm thrilled The Motley Fool added this service."

Geoffrey W., Pittsburgh, PA

"This month paid for my options subscription..."

"This month paid for my options subscription but taught me so much more, I feel in control of my finances and am really enjoying all the lessons. Thanks again to all the Motley Fool Options staff and fellow message board Fools!"

A. Karrels, Albuquerque, NM

Which brings us to one final, all-important question…

Just how much is access to Motley Fool Options going to cost?

It may be more affordable than you’d expect…

In the past, we’ve sold access to Options for as much as $1,799 for one year of access, a price that thousands of your fellow Fools were happy to pay.

That said, I understand that premium tier price is simply too steep for many of our less veteran members here at The Motley Fool…

Which is why in acknowledgment of all the interest around options that we're seeing right now… as well as our sincere desire to help people as much as possible…

I’m thrilled to say we’re making the service available at a far more affordable price.

It gives me great pleasure to be able to announce that when you become a member of Motley Fool Options before this offer expires, you'll be able to do so for just $999.

Considering the previous price we sold Options at in the past, I think that's a pretty incredible steal!

And remember that I personally made more than $3,000 in a single year just by repeatedly selling puts on Shopify.

I would have made my membership fee back three times over on a single strategy!

And I’m not the only one…

"Made back the subscription fee more than five times over!"

"With regard to the price of the subscription... made that back more than five times over in realized profits, not counting unrealized positions currently awaiting expiration, and counting the profits from rolling the MSFT trades."

Jonathan B., Silver Spring, MD

If you’re ready to go ahead and join, just click the button directly below.

Yes, I’m ready to join Motley Fool Options!

I will note that at this time we are not offering cash refunds on this offer.

That said, because I understand that gives you very little time to make a big decision… and because I understand the hesitation around getting started with options investing… we are offering our Ironclad 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee.

Here’s how it works. You can:

  1. Join Motley Fool Options
  1. Give membership a try for up to a full 30 days…
  1. Then, if by Day 30 you don’t agree it’s the single best investing decision you’ve ever made?

Hey, simply give our dedicated Member Support team a call and they’ll happily transfer your membership credit to any one of our more than 30 Motley Fool services.

We’ll part friends, and you’ll get to experience an entirely new Motley Fool service as a full-time member.

Look, I’ve been there too. I was right where you are a few years back…

And I know that even when you fully comprehend all of the benefits options can provide your portfolio, getting started can still seem like a big task.

That’s why I’ve done everything in my power to put together the biggest “no brainer” offer I possibly could on your behalf today.

And I firmly believe that once you really start to dig into Motley Fool Options and see how they can fully weaponize your portfolio in a way you probably never possible, you’ll have no interest whatsoever in leaving.

Kind of like these Options members…

"I am a big fan of Motley Fool Options. I feel like I am getting an edge I need, in an area I want deeper knowledge of, and hope for some solid guidance. I trust these guys, and it has paid off for me."

D. Schuch, Green Cove Springs, FL

"My current profits are three times the cost of the subscription. Not only have the recommended trades helped pay for the cost but what I've learned has helped me make trades around other stocks I like… Highly exceeded my expectations."

M. DiLallo, Pittsburgh, PA

"My education level concerning options has definitely increased 500-fold in the past year. I closed year one with a 76% gain on my portfolio using many of the suggestions from Motley Fool Options. On top of that, I used the skills and the education to acquire options contracts on the various stocks that I have been following for a while that significantly increased the gains in my portfolio. Thank you for a superbly successful year."

Geoffrey P. of Sevierville, TN

With that all said, I leave the decision to you.

Do you want to take the next step in adding a slew of incredibly powerful, yet astoundingly simplistic options strategies like “The Trifecta Trade” to your repertoire…

Not to mention selling puts, which allowed me to turn my portfolio into an “Income Generating Machine” and spit out regular paychecks like $292$432$382$442$312$172$402$472… and $322?

Or will you continue to put it off… despite knowing all of that and much, much more are awaiting you the second you become a member of Motley Fool Options?

To join before that happens, just click the button directly below now!

Yes, I’m ready to join Motley Fool Options!

To upping your investing arsenal in a way you never thought possible,

Michael Douglass Michael Douglass

Michael Douglass
Head of Messaging
The Motley Fool

Returns as of 8/17/21

Still have questions? Click the boxes below for answers to our most common questions:

The advantage of options is that you aren't limited to making a profit only when the market goes up. Because of the versatility of options, you can also make money when the market goes down or even sideways.

Calls and puts alone, or combined with each other, or even with positions in the underlying stock, can provide various levels of leverage or protection to a portfolio.

  • Option users can profit in bull, bear, or flat markets
  • Options can act as insurance to protect gains in a stock that looks shaky
  • They can be used to generate steady income
  • Or they can be employed in an attempt to make gains beyond the appreciation of a stock

The Motley Fool Options team constantly scours the market for great options trades with a long-term business ownership mindset. Put a different way, when the Options team recommends writing puts on a company, that's because they view the company as an attractive long-term holding and are hoping for a price pullback so they are able to own the stock at a lower price. Unlike most options traders, the Motley Fool Options team wants members to end up owning shares of these attractive companies – in addition to the premium income they pocket for writing puts, of course.

That long-term mindset gives Motley Fool Options subscribers a key advantage over the rest of the market, in our opinion, because it means that they're focusing their attention on good companies as opposed to just gambling on options trades with businesses whose fundamentals they don't understand.

We can’t say with certainty what types of trades will be recommended in the future, historically some utilized strategies have been: covered calls, buying calls, written puts, diagonal calls, synthetic covered calls, synthetic long, and bull call spread. We will provide guidance and insight on how to achieve these strategies within the service.

Most options brokers assign trading levels from 1 to 5; with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. A trader with a low trading level will be fairly limited in the strategies they can use, while one with the highest will be able to make pretty much whatever trade they want.

We suggest inquiring with your broker about any account restrictions or additional fees that may exist. We will include additional information within the service and provide guidance on purchasing and writing the options contracts themselves.

Lead Options analyst Jim Mueller suggests that participating members invest a minimum of $50,000 to take full advantage of the service.

While members are always welcome to participate in our services with any amount they wish, our analysts generally recommend that the purchase amount of any Motley Fool subscription (and any additional investing expenses) amount to no more than 1 - 2% of a member’s overall portfolio.

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Please remember...

Since you will unlock access to all our premium research the second you gain access to Options, we are unable to offer cash refunds. However, if you decide this service is not right for you, simply give us a call within the next 30 days, and a friendly member of our customer service team will assist you in transferring your credit towards another portfolio service here at The Motley Fool.

Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Andy Cross owns shares of FB and PYPL. Bill Mann owns shares of SHOP. David Gardner owns shares of FB, GME, and DIS. Jim Mueller, CFA owns shares of PYPL and SHOP. Maria Gallagher owns shares of PYPL, TDOC, and DIS. Tim Beyers owns shares of SHOP and DIS. Tom Gardner owns shares of FB and SHOP. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends FB, PYPL, SHOP, TDOC, and DIS. The Motley Fool recommends EBAY and recommends the following options: long January 2022 $75 calls on PYPL. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.