The options market can change on a minute-to-minute basis. Sometimes, you might not always be able to complete as much research as you need before the market opens. Subscribing to an options market newsletter can be an excellent way to cut through the noise and focus on the day’s most valuable opportunities. Unfortunately, not every options newsletter is worth your time — or your money.
Today, we’ll introduce you to a few of our favorite options trading newsletters, as well as a few characteristics you should search for when choosing which newsletters to subscribe to.
Quick Look at the Best Options Newsletters:
- Benzinga Options Newsletter
- The Options Strategist Newsletter
- MarketWatch Options Trader
- Stock Market Guides
- Seeking Alpha Newsletter
- SteadyOptions
Benzinga Options Newsletter
No matter your skill level, our top-recommended options newsletter is Benzinga Stocks To Watch. The Stocks To Watch newsletter delivers daily market insights, analysis and news straight from some of the industry’s top researchers and analysts. You’ll be able to start planning your trading day with expert recommendations before the market opens, giving you an edge over other traders. Benzinga Stocks To Watch is also exceptionally affordable at just over 26 cents per day with an annual subscription.
Easy-to-read and packed with top-level insights, Benzinga Stocks To Watch is the options newsletter for every serious trader. Click here to subscribe now.
The Options Strategist Newsletter
With 28 years of continuous publication, The Options Strategist Newsletter is one of the industry’s most well-respected options newsletters. Though the newsletter is only published once per week on Fridays, each edition contains comprehensive data and information on a wide range of market areas, including:
- Option buying strategies
- Ratio spreads and calendar spreads
- Volatility trading
- Seasonal trading trends
- Current market analysis and recommendations for the week ahead
The Options Strategist Newsletter is written by Larry McMillan, renowned market analyst and best-selling author. Full of valuable, detailed information, The Options Strategist Newsletter is an excellent choice for both novice and professional options traders.
MarketWatch Options Trader
If you’re a novice options trader searching for straightforward, easy-to-understand recommendations, you might want to consider MarketWatch Options Trader. MarketWatch Options Trader focuses on providing weekly insights into important upcoming options events with an emphasis on simplicity and actionable advice.
MarketWatch Options Trader is the premium options newsletter from the MarketWatch news outlet, one of the internet’s foremost sources for daily investing and market news. MarketWatch Options Trader is edited by best-selling author of Options As a Strategic Investment and investment analyst Larry McMillan. Not sure if this is the right newsletter for you? Begin with a 30-day trial period before you commit to a subscription.
Stock Market Guides
Stock Market Guides offers a range of options alerts that you can get both before and during the trading day. The alerts are accompanied by an email newsletter that talks about the current market environment and shares analysis for their option picks.
They say their option alerts have an average annualized return of 136% in backtests. Remember, you’ll pay $49 per month, but you get:
- Pre-Market Option Picks (avg. 10 per day)
- Market Hours Option Picks (avg. 2 per day)
These alerts are backtested, and you can learn more about investing on the site as there are options calculators, terms you can study and real-time information. Decide if you would like to receive an email or text, and you will have access to the insights needed to maximize your portfolio and take the guesswork out of options research.
- ETF Traders
Seeking Alpha Newsletter
When you register for a Free account with Seeking Alpha, you gain access to several things like stock alerts, Wall Street ratings, etc. One of the most important parts of a free account is the newsletter.
The newsletter from Seeking Alpha comes to you up to 15 times a month packed with stock, option, future and additional market information. You will receive alerts as part of your subscription, helping you take advantage of a range of financial tools. Subscribers are also given access to the blogs on the Seeking Alpha website, enabling you to follow your favorite authors and receive notifications when they post new content.
Think of Seeking Alpha as a tool that helps you see the “big picture” of the market as you search for the best options contracts.
SteadyOptions
SteadyOptions is a unique options trading newsletter focused on offering a combination of options market education suitable for beginners combined with actionable trading advice. SteadyOptions offers trading ideas based on 5 individual options trading strategies, ranging from the “Steady Options” portfolio (that focuses on slow, small gains over time) to the “Pure Volatility” option (that attempts to capitalize on drastic, short-term price movements).
SteadyOptions openly makes its success and portfolio progress reports available — even in years when their picks have led to a negative compound annual growth rate. With comprehensive trading plans, educational advice suitable for all skill levels and a highly active trading forum, SteadyOptions can be a solid choice for investors searching for a comprehensive guide to the options market.
Reasons to Subscribe to an Options Newsletter
Subscribing to an options newsletter offers you a number of benefits, including:
- Access to expert recommendations: Anyone can get on the internet, open a blog and tell you which options they think you should buy or sell. The best newsletters use a team of expert market analysts and news correspondents to provide you with reliable information.
- Daily roundups of the market’s best picks: Thousands of options are available to buy and sell. Unless you’re ready to wake up before the sun has risen to start your research each day, chances are that you simply won’t have time to comb through all of your trading options before the market opens. Subscribing to an options newsletter allows you to focus on the most profitable opportunities without researching every single option available.
- A more social trading environment: If you trade stocks or options full-time, you probably spend most of your day sitting alone at your desk with little insight from other traders. Some newsletters include access to a chatroom where you can speak with other traders following the same recommendations and general strategies as you are. This social aspect of trading doesn’t only add more interactivity — it can also help you become a better investor by consulting with your peers.
What to Look for in an Options Newsletter
Unfortunately, not every options newsletter offers the same level of insight and usefulness. Avoid a scam and spend your money on the right newsletter by searching for these 3 essential characteristics.
- Realistic promises: Be wary of newsletters that promise to teach you a “secret formula” guaranteed to earn you thousands of dollars trading with no risk. You should also be equally as hesitant to sign up with any newsletter service making outrageous claims — for example, that the author has doubled his portfolio every year or sees an annual return of 300%. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- Daily, up-to-the-minute recommendations: Like the stock market, the options market can change at a moment’s notice. In many cases, alerts received just a few hours after the market opens can be too late to be useful. Look for a newsletter that provides you with unique advice and recommendations every day. The best options newsletters ensure that you receive your information in your inbox before the market opens each day so you have plenty of time to review it before you make your first trade.
- Advice from experts: Do you know who is writing your newsletter? Anyone can call themselves an investing guru, which means that not every newsletter written by self-professed gurus is valuable. Search for an options newsletter written by stock analysts, news correspondents, researchers or a team that includes all 3 professions.
Best Options Brokers
With your newsletter in hand, it’s time to finally enter the options market. Like trading stocks, you’ll need to work through a licensed, reputable broker when you buy and sell options. If you don’t already have a brokerage account, consider a few of our top picks below.
Learning More About Options
An options trading newsletter is a great place to begin learning more about profitable options trading. However, you should also practice reading options chains, familiarizing yourself with the lingo and placing orders through your broker’s platform using a demo account before you invest any of your money. Though options trading does tend to come with a lower risk level than buying and selling stocks, the potential to lose money is still always present.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the benefits of subscribing to an options newsletter?
You can focus on those options with the most promise, receive expert picks and connect to other traders.
Why do some stocks have options for trading while others don't?
Liquidity is a major issue in the options market. Options exchanges like the NASDAQ examine each stock’s daily trading volume and liquidity before choosing which options to list because there needs to be enough regular interest for traders to earn a profit. If a stock isn’t liquid enough to sustain an options market, the exchange is simply wasting space by keeping it listed. This is why you’ll typically only find options available for the most liquid, frequently traded stocks.
Why do options trade in increments of 5 cents?
Many options trade in increments of 5 or 10 cents as a remnant from the early days of the stock market. For the sake of simplicity and speed, options were set to trade in even increments so spreads and profits could be calculated quickly and efficiently before the use of computers. Thanks to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Penny Pilot program, very liquid stock options (like SPY or QQQ) may be listed in $0.01 increments.
Which stocks are best for options?
The best stocks for options trading are highly liquid, with a large daily trading volume. Bid-ask spreads on less liquid stocks are much larger, which can quickly make a serious dent in your profits.
What are the best newsletters for options?
Benzinga recommends The Options Strategist, the Benzinga Options Newsletter and SteadyOptions.
About Sarah Horvath
Sarah is an expert in the insurance, investing for retirement and cryptocurrency space.