To manage options successfully, you must understand that every trade requires two decisions. You must have a bias (bullish, bearish or neutral) and you must be able to hone in on the appropriate strategy for a given situation. The Options Strategy Matrix builds on this decision tree by ranking a series of strategies based on current market conditions. During this workshop, Richard will use real life examples to make available a series of bullish and bearish strategies drawn from today’s market conditions. The objective of this workshop is to provide you with a tool that will assist you in selecting the optimal strategy so as to manage risk and ultimately increase your probability for success.

Markets are unpredictable and sometimes, unforgiving. When trading options, investors are expected to make mistakes. However, learning from those pitfalls is the catalyst to a successful option trading strategy. Join Jason as he explores many of these common oversights, teach you how to identify them and most importantly, how to avoid them going forward.

Financial authors and industry experts have often painted a deceptive picture of the options world. This workshop will explore the most popular misconceptions related to option trading by tracing back their origins and uncovering the truth.
This workshop will demonstrate that option trading is not only for experienced and sophisticated traders and that novice investors can also benefit from the use of options and pursue a conservative investment strategy.

Learn how to use SXO options to trade your view of the overall market. This video provides specific examples of how you can take advantage of a bullish or bearish market using SXO options. In addition, it outlines certain principles of contract selection, such as selecting the expiration month and strike price.

This video introduces the potential benefits of investing in indices. Before trading index options, you need a sound understanding of the various types of indices along with the weighting techniques used to determine their value. A focus will be given to Canada’s leading benchmark, the S&P/TSX 60 index.

When it comes to trading options, investors need to select the right option and the right trading strategy to take advantage of a view about an underlying stock. In fact, one could say that your choice of the right option can be more important than your choice of the right stock. Join Richard as he guides you through the selection of the optimal trading strategy.

While the concept of volatility might seem mysterious or perplexing to many investors, even experienced ones, it has significant influence in the price behaviour of any options position. Joe will cut through the complexities of volatility and clarify any misconceptions you might have about this important topic.

This workshop will present you a new world of investing opportunities by introducing you to options. It will cover the terminology related to options trading and the essential concepts to get you started. Patrick will provide you with an overview of the basic option strategies available to investors and present their respective risk/reward profile. The option pricing variables along with the components of the options premium will also be explored.

This workshop is designed to provide you with an introduction to the futures market in Canada. In addition to drawing a distinction between the options market and the futures market, Patrick will teach you how the S&P/TSX 60 Mini Futures can complement your investing strategy and ultimately refine your portfolio management techniques.

The purchase of a call and a put option simultaneously on the same underlying security allows the investor to take advantage of a volatile move in share price in either direction. Learn what market conditions favour these strategies and which strike prices and expiration months are most effective for these strategies.

Calendar spreads involve combining options with the same strike prices but different expiries. The philosophy behind calendar spreads is that time erosion will have a greater impact on the value of the near-term option than it will for the far-term option—allowing to profit if this happens. This video will show you how to implement this strategy depending on your objectives.

This video will show you how to implement bullish spreads using calls and puts. Learn how a bullish call spread (combining the purchase and the sale of call options) can help you take advantage of a rise in an underlying stock to a certain degree while limiting the maximum loss. Similar to the bull call spread, you will also learn about the bullish put spread (combining the purchase and the sale of put options) to generate income.

USX options allow investors to trade their views on the U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar. Learn the contract specifications and trading characteristics of these options while Jason presents you relevant market examples. Whether your objective is to take advantage of a directional move, hedge the currency risk of a portfolio consisting of U.S. securities or offset currency risk as a Canadian company doing business in the U.S., this session will focus on important trading considerations necessary for proper strategy and contract selection.

Options are about risk and reward. To be a successful trader, you must know your goals and risk tolerances. This session will help you consider learning to trade in your own "correct" risk/reward balances – not someone else's. Some of the topics include determining an appropriate time period, taking probability into consideration and remembering your initial forecast. You'll discuss how to actively manage your trades when things are going well—and, when they're not.

Join Richard Croft as he introduces volatility as another arrow in your investing quiver. This session will teach you the importance of understanding sentiment. Traders driven by fear and greed run the gauntlet between excessive optimism and despair, usually making exactly the wrong decision at exactly the wrong time. You will learn to think of implied volatility as another asset class like stocks, bonds and cash. When used properly, Richard will show you that volatility can smooth out the fluctuations in your portfolio. Dare we say it, using volatility to reduce volatility...

Learn how USX options can be used to hedge the currency risk associated with a US dollar portfolio. This video will show you how a decrease or increase in the US dollar can affect the portfolio value using various examples.

Learn about the foreign exchange market and currency options. This video will focus on the characteristics of USX options and how to calculate the settlement value at expiration.

Learn about the different strategies associated with the sale of put options. This video will teach you how selling put options can help you achieve the following objectives: generate income, profit from range-bound or bullish stocks and to average down the cost base of an existing stock position. This video will also explain how selling put options can be used as a method of entering a stock position.

Learn about the different strategies associated with the sale of call options. This video will teach you how selling call options can help you achieve the following objectives: generate income, profit from range-bound or bearish stocks and hedge the downside risk associated with a stock. This video will also explain how selling call options can be used as a method of exiting a stock position.

Learn about the different components that influence option premiums and the impact of variations of certain components on the value of options.

In this session Richard Croft introduces volatility as another arrow in our investing quiver. This seminar teaches you the importance of understanding sentiment. Traders driven by fear and greed run the gauntlet between excessive optimism and despair, usually making exactly the wrong decision at exactly the wrong time. Richard also teaches you how to think of implied volatility as another asset class like stocks, bonds and cash. Finally, Richard shows you that volatility can smooth out the fluctuations in your portfolio. Dare we say it, using volatility to reduce volatility...

In this session, Patrick discusses options writing. This seminar takes you beyond the conventional covered call methodology. This session shows how options writing can enhance the return and yield of a portfolio. Patrick also explores the rationale behind strike price selection, position repair and lowering your securities average cost base.

Learn the concepts of exercise and assignment of options. This video will also explore the different exercise styles and types of settlement.

In this session, you will learn about foreseeing possible outcomes, understanding your risks versus your rewards and when to utilize long and short options. Bo will also explain when to do nothing and when to double up, or buy more, when stock prices decline as well as how to exit with a long call or put position at or near expiration.

• The life cycle of a centrally cleared OTC transaction
• The data challenge: From collection to visualization
• The cost of clearing OTC derivatives
• Risk management in the newly emerged clearing and settlement space
• The road ahead for OTC clearing

Based on concepts develop more than 40 years ago, LDI has only recently started to gain popularity by practitioners looking to better manage their risk. As an increasing number of pension funds undertake this strategy, the present context of low interest rates and stock market underperformance have left some questioning the way this strategy could be implemented most effectively. The focus of this panel will be to evaluate the role of derivatives as a tool in the implementation and operations of an LDI strategy. In conclusion, the experts will be asked which derivatives contract could be developed to better assist them in this process, and how they see this strategy evolving in the future.

The Market Opportunities in Canadian Fixed Income panel will focus on specifi c domestic and international strategies involving Canadian fi xed income derivatives. Strategies that will be discussed will vary from basis trading to spread trades, and directional speculative (trend) trading to hedging opportunities. A general macroeconomic analysis will also be given and serve as a basis on how some of these strategies can potentially be implemented.

Meet the managers who allocate funds to alternative strategies

Themes include:

• Benefits of allocating to strategies that use listed derivatives
• Selection and allocation criteria
• Implementation

Meet the managers who allocate funds to alternative strategies

Themes include:

• Benefits of allocating to strategies that use listed derivatives
• Selection and allocation criteria
• Implementation

This video presents the use of SXM futures contracts as a way for investors to protect their portfolio when in fear of a market downturn. The concept of beta is introduced and you will learn how it can be used to determine the appropriate number of futures contracts to use when putting in place a hedge. Portfolio hedging examples are also provided to show you how to implement the strategy in your portfolio.

This video offers an introduction to the futures market and SXM mini futures contracts. It covers the main characteristics of the contract including its multiplier, the minimum price fluctuations, trading hours, expiration months and settlement procedure. An overview of the S&P/TSX 60™ Index and its importance for Canadian investors is also explored.