More and better options trading education.

One of the biggest barriers to options trading is getting your arms around the language. It has its own special lexicon. To invest confidently with these strategies, you need to learn the terms and how they work. Unlike any other time, there is truly a plethora of information out there -- good and bad.

It's pretty easy to steer past the snake-oil stuff and find the quality options education sources, most of which is available free of charge. Tops in my view is the Options Industry Council (OIC), which offers free educational seminars in cities across America, every week of the year. We've sponsored several of their events and plan to do even more. Start with a basic seminar and work your way up to very complex strategies -- know that you're learning from instructors representing a recognized industry entity.

I just attended two great OIC sessions in Philadelphia -- one focused on covered calls, and one on spread trading, sponsored by TradeKing and taught by Al Brinkman, a great educator from the Philly Exchange.  I'll be blogging soon about the great folks I met at those educational events.

The International Securities Exchange (ISE), a leading options exchange, also offers free educational events and webinars, including a great archive of stuff. We've worked with Alex Jacobson, their head of education, and can't recommend him highly enough.

I don't mean to imply that you should steer clear entirely of paid educational resources -- there are quite a few very good ones. We like Kim Snider, for one. Her Method aims at using options to generate consistent returns through all kinds of markets. 60% of her new students come to her through referrals, and 88% of students say they'd invest additional capital using the Snider Method if it became available. No snake-oil here.

Take a look at our Learning Center. It features OIC educational content; options-related blogs, sites, books, newsletters and software we like; plus a full glossary, seminar schedule and options expiration calendar. I'm especially proud of "Top Ten Mistakes New Options Traders Make", a great white paper by Brian Overby, TradeKing's Director of Education and author of The Options Guy blog.

Knowing more increases confidence and hopefully also increases success in trading -- another virtuous cycle driving up options trading volume.