Publicly traded stocks are bought and sold on stock exchanges. Options are bought and sold in options exchanges. The largest cities such as New York and Chicago have multiple stock and options exchanges. This is one indication that options trading is getting to be just as common as stock market trading.

Those who have only put their money into bank accounts and/or companies going public for the first time may not understand the difference between stock market trading and options trading. You must recognize they are not identical any more than apples are the same as oranges. In the latter case, both are members of the fruit category and that is the only way in which they are the same. With regard to stocks and options, the classification of both is investment vehicles but they involve the use of differing strategies and different technical jargon.

There is a benchmark index for each stock market, which shows the summed performance of the best-performing stocks in that market. The stocks comprising the index in a stock market change from time to time. A stock exchange can provide a list of the stocks that comrise its index.

The smart player will create plans for profit on different time scales. One way this can be accomplished is via option strategies. If you are new to the area, remember that despite their common basis, stock market trading and the options business are quite different, and should be treated completely separately.

Only a fool will invest his earnings into an investment vehicle that he does not know at all. You certainly do not display such foolishness. Do you? Experts in stock market trading may not be experts in options trading. As such, if you wish to invest in both stocks and options, please get proper guidance from experts from both domains separately.

If you have sat in on seminars on financial engineering topics, e.g. MACD Indicator, when you were in college, and you are fortunate enough to enjoy good arithmetic skills, you may want to consider a career in stock or option trading. If you decide to get into trading, you'd do well to remember that the benefits of external professional certifications cannot be ignored.