Options have become enormously popular financial instruments throughout the world today.

Perhaps no other financial instrument can match the power that options offer in terms of leverage and risk management capabilities.

Because the trader using options has the ability to control very large positions with relatively small capital commitments, sophisticated options traders are a necessity in the modern world for any successful investment bank or trading firm.

But derivatives trading in general, and options trading in particular can be quite complex and difficult to master. The old truism that the successful trader need only "buy low and sell high", while not false in the world of options, in this arena surely needs much qualification.

Trading options is not a game of chance. It is a business, pure and simple. And it can be an extraordinarily lucrative business if sound reasoning and proven strategies are incorporated into your trading plan.

Options trading combines both science and art, and the successful options trader is really a master strategist. He must feel at ease with numbers and sophisticated pricing models, but he must also be able to make lightning fast decisions concerning which strategies to employ under rapidly shifting circumstances.

The top-notch options trader can be compared, I think, to a chess champion: he is cool under pressure, logical, and a master of technique.

The top banks in the U.S., the Goldman Sach's, the Merrill Lynch's, etc… spend tens of millions of dollars per year developing and maintaining superb in-house bank training programs for their young recruits.

In these programs-which mostly resemble "mini-business school degrees" -- the young recruits are taught mostly the science of derivatives trading, and only a bit of the art.

The banks know that the future success of the young traders depends on the quality of their education. No recruit is allowed to progress in his or her program, or advance on the trading desk, unless he or she has passed a series of exams. The recruit must demonstrate extensive knowledge of the basic concepts and strategies of options trading.

All this is well and good for the young person lucky enough to be selected for participation in one of the prestigious bank training programs. We know that there is a great deal more going on in the world of options trading than can be exhausted by a few large banks.

An important question is then forced upon the young, up-and-coming financial institution that is committed to developing an options trading team. That question is: "How and where can we find independent top-notch practical derivatives training?"

Our firm, the International Trading Institute, was founded specifically to address this need. We recognized that many banks, brokerage houses and smaller trading firms needed desperately to outsource in order to obtain first rate derivatives training.

ITI's programs are professional training programs, with curricula designed by traders, for traders (and other market professionals) in the derivative markets.

ITI has developed a series of pragmatic, interactive workshops which are designed to bring the student to a high level of proficiency in a reasonably short period of time.

These are not the purely theoretical, academic classes such as one might register for in the university. As we hope to make perfectly clear in our forthcoming presentation, the ITI curriculum is strategy based and results oriented.

The results have been increased productivity and significant cost-savings for those who have completed the program. Eliminated are under-trained, (or improperly trained ), individuals or groups who expose large and small companies alike to excessive risk.

Our instructors use a fully integrated approach, employing classroom learning and computer simulation in fully equipped training centers. Many programs can be delivered on location.

We at the International Trading Institute are dedicated to delivering the finest professional derivatives training available in the world today. We actively seek to play a major role in derivatives education in the emerging markets worldwide.

We invite you to come and train with us…..