Options

Trading Options with the 3Commas tools is excellent for both beginners and pros.

What is an Option?

An Option is a contract that allows the trader to buy or sell an asset (commodity, security, currency, etc.) at a certain point in time at a predetermined price.

To better understand the mechanics behind the Options contracts, let’s take a look at a simple example: you expect the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to be below $20,000 by the end of the year, while your friend believes that it will be above the mentioned level. The price of Bitcoin is hovering at around $11,000 at the moment. Your friend can go long on Futures since according to his strategy, he will profit at any price above $11,000. But you can do otherwise and take advantage of Options! To implement your strategy, you can buy a put Option with an expiration date of December 31st, 2020, and a strike price of $20,000.

If the Bitcoin price is below $20,000 by the Option contract’s expiration date, you will receive a profit, which will depend on the Bitcoin price at the time of expiration minus the premium paid. And if the price does not meet your expectations, your position will be “liquidated.” In this case, you will incur a loss, limited only by the amount of the premium paid.

First, let’s take a look at the most straightforward strategy that will allow you to profit from Bitcoin’s growth.

Long Call

The Long Call strategy can be used in a bull market when the trader expects the underlying asset (BTC or ETH) to rise. This strategy is one of the simplest and consists of a single Option contract – buying a call Option.

The chart above showcases the price of the underlying asset on the x-axis, and profit/loss on the y-axis. The blue line shows the dependence of profit on the price of the underlying asset at the moment of expiration, and the red line represents the same dependence today.

In theory, the trader’s potential profit is unlimited, and the loss is limited by the premium paid for the Option.

Let’s put this strategy into practice using the 3Commas Options Bot.

First, you need to make sure that you have the Deribit exchange account connected to 3Commas and that you have sufficient funds.

Next, select the strategy (Long Call), expiration date, and maximum loss (this value affects the number of contracts required).

Now we move the trend slider to find a suitable Option. For example, we believe that in 9 days the price of bitcoin will exceed $12,000.

Click “Create” to have the bot buy the corresponding Option contracts.

If Bitcoin’s price is below $12,000 by the expiration date, we will incur a loss, and if it is higher, we will get the profits.

Now let’s move on to a more complex strategy that allows profiting both from the rise and the fall of the rate.

Long Strangle

In case we do not know the direction bitcoin is going to take, yet are confident in the upcoming strong move, it makes sense to choose the Long Strangle strategy. It is more complicated than the Long Call strategy since it requires to buy two Option contracts at specific prices. But there is no reason to worry as the 3Commas Option bot will do all the calculations for you.

Similar to the previous strategy, we select the exchange, the underlying asset, strategy (Long Strangle), and maximum losses.

According to our strategy, we will make a profit if the Bitcoin rate falls below $9,400 or rises above $12,000. In other cases, we will incur a loss.

3Commas offers more than 15 ready-made Options strategies for the Deribit exchange, designed to maximize profits, allowing traders to earn money in situations where other financial instruments fall behind.