Originally Posted by ilnjscb

It seems counter-intuitive, but options will actually help you understand stocks. They magnify volatility so you become attuned to everything that moves a stock. Plus you have to stay involved, you can't leave options for a month. All that iron condor shit is for people with more to invest than I am sensing you are willing to risk. Those trades minimize risk but need large positions to work.

By all means, learn about pennies, but realize you can't get as much info on them as you can on MSFT, XOM, et al.

Its all great fun, but eventually you need automated tools and that is were most of us little guys draw the line.