This is a crash course in options.

As a rule, options are considered the most riskiest investment vehicle you can purchase because investors can lose 100% of their investment on each options contract.

Options are used by most professional traders as a means of adding leverage to their positions because each option gives you control of 100 shares of stock for a period of three months.

That being said, the leverage is what makes options extremely attractive because of the risk reward, and the slim cash outlay vs buying the stock of the particular security.