The courseHow the engine
decides what to reject.
11 lessons on the reasoning behind every number this app shows you — written the way a good mentor would explain it, with the arithmetic left in. No jargon for its own sake, and no promises.
11 lessons75 min in totalNo account needed
Start here · Lesson 1Options from scratch: the only four words you actually needNever traded an option? Start here. A contract, a price, a deadline, and who has to do what — explained without a single formula.Read lesson 1 →2CapitalCash or margin: what the trade actually ties upEvery trade freezes money you can't use elsewhere. Whether that's the whole amount or a deposit your broker can raise mid-trade is the part nobody explains.3ProbabilityWhere the 90% on your screen actually comes fromNobody counted. The percentage is a curve of possible finishing prices with one end shaded in — and only one of its ingredients is a guess.4FoundationsA 92% win rate can still lose you moneyProbability of profit tells you how often you win — never how much you lose. The single most important idea in this tool.5The GreeksThe Greeks in plain English: four dials, no formulasDelta, gamma, theta, vega — four letters answering four very ordinary questions. Two of them matter on day one; the other two explain the surprises.6The edgeThe seller's edge: implied vs. realized volatilityWhy selling options can be a positive-expectation business at all — and why we refuse to sell when that edge isn't there.7Risk regimeThe market's weather reportBefore looking at a single trade, the engine checks the sky: term structure, short-dated fear, vol-of-vol, and credit spreads.8TimingWhy we won't sell you an option expiring next weekNear expiry, gamma turns a comfortable winner into a full loss in one session. We refuse to start trades there.9StrategyWhat a covered call really costsThe premium is visible; the upside you give away and the tax bill if you're assigned are not. We model all three.10ProtectionUsing options to protect your portfolio in a downturnPuts are insurance: a premium, a deductible, an expiry date. What real protection costs — and why selling premium for income is not a hedge.11TaxesThe after-tax lensTwo trades with the same credit can leave very different amounts in your pocket. Why every number here is shown after tax. Why we publish this at all
A screen that says trust me is asking for something it hasn’t earned. Most options-income tools lead with a win rate and stop there, because the win rate is the number that feels best. These lessons exist so you can judge for yourself whether the reasoning behind a suggestion is sound — including the parts where the honest answer is we can’t know that.
The lessons teach the concepts, not the settings. If you want the mechanics — how probability of profit is priced, how the tail model works, and how we check whether a stated 90% win rate actually wins 90% of the time out of sample — that lives in Methodology, alongside an honest list of the model’s limitations. Practical questions like assignment and rolling are in the FAQ.
Read the ideas, then check the numbers
The Income Finder applies every gate in these lessons to a live options chain, and tells you which one stopped a trade when nothing passes.
Open the Income Finder →Educational information only — not investment, tax, or legal advice. Nest Money is not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. Options involve substantial risk of loss.