CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 01/09/13 -- The Options Industry Council (OIC) recently announced its seminar schedule for the winter and spring seasons. The seminars focus on basic, intermediate and advanced options topics as well as volatility and new for 2013, the Greeks.

These free, educational seminars are taught by experienced instructors from the different options exchanges and OIC professionals in a classroom-style setting with the goal of educating investors and financial advisors on the responsible use of options. The seminars run from 6-9 p.m. and advanced registration is required.

The winter and spring schedule will offer seminars from January 23 through May 16 in the following cities: Atlanta, GA; Bellevue, WA; Boca Raton, FL; Boston/Cambridge, MA; Chicago, IL; Irvine, CA; Kansas City, MO; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Parsippany, NJ; Richardson, TX; Santa Clara, CA; Tempe, AZ; and Troy, MI.

Visit OIC's website http://www.optionseducation.org/seminars/default.jsp or call its Investor Services team at 1-888-OPTIONS (1-888-678-4667) to obtain a detailed schedule and register.

Course descriptions:

Basic: Getting Started with Options
Focusing on options fundamentals, an options professional will cover essential concepts and terms of options contracts as well as their risk/reward characteristics. Attendees will learn about buying and selling calls and puts, how to work with an expected up or down movement in a stock's price with limited risk, and how to revive a stock already owned that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. A basic knowledge of stocks, and some experience with stock investing, is recommended.

Intermediate: Managing Your Portfolio with Options
Extending beyond the fundamentals of buying or selling calls and puts, the instructor will explore the world of spread strategies including vertical spreads and time spreads. This class will demonstrate how truly flexible options are, and how these limited risk spreads might fit into even the most conservative portfolios. Participants will learn about straddles and strangles, and the nature of volatility and ways to repair existing stock positions. An understanding of the basics, as well as limited experience trading options is recommended.

Volatility: Measuring Volatility and Understanding Its Significance
Beginning where the Basic and Intermediate seminars left off, an options professional will cut through the complexities of volatility and clarify any misconceptions about this important topic. Investors will learn how volatility is measured, what that measurement means, and why it is a factor in an option's price. Investors will gain an understanding of implied volatility and its impact on various options strategies. A solid understanding of option fundamentals, comprehension for options pricing, and experience with both buying and selling options is recommended.

Advanced Strategies
This seminar starts with the mechanics of spreads for both calls and puts, then delves into more advanced multi-leg options strategies. Debit and credit spreads and how these building blocks can be employed to construct Butterfly, Iron Butterfly, Condor and Iron Condor strategies will be explained. This seminar is for experienced traders. An intermediate understanding of options, coupled with practical experience with both option and stock investing, will be necessary to fully benefit and understand the material that will be presented.

Greeks
Prior to the formula developed by Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, the financial world had no standard or accurate means to price stock options. This new presentation covers the options pricing model and the inputs (Greeks) that help determine the price of calls and puts. The seminar is recommended for experienced investors with an advanced understanding of both option and stock investing. Newly designed excel graphs have been incorporated to help the student better visualize how each Greek in isolation contributes to the price of an option, and how simple strategies are affected by changes in these inputs.

About OIC
OIC is an industry cooperative funded by BATS Options, BOX Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, C2 Options Exchange, International Securities Exchange, NASDAQ OMX PHLX, NASDAQ Options Market, NYSE Amex Options, NYSE Arca Options and OCC. OIC was formed in 1992 to educate investors and their financial advisors about the benefits and risks of exchange-traded equity options. OIC's resources include: Investor Services live help at 1-888-OPTIONS, its educational website at www.OptionsEducation.org, live seminars throughout the continental United States and Canada, and educational literature.