"Options" is the buzzword on many investors' lips these days because the potential leverage you can wield and eye-popping returns you can generate are pretty hard to ignore. Once considered a mainstay of the professional trader's game plan, options trading has now popped up on the radar of many individual investors.

The potential of making double-, triple-, even quadruple-digit returns is the #1 reason why both professional and individual traders are drawn to the options markets. And who can blame them? I certainly don't!

But just like any new skill that you want to master, trading options takes a whole lot of discipline, years of experience and a true desire to know what it feels like to win—because once you've become accustomed to the rush that comes with hitting your first home run, it's a feeling you'll want to recreate as often as you can!

Trust me on this one: I've been successfully trading options on the exchanges since they first opened up back in 1973, and my strategy for selecting top-notch trading opportunities has made me and my subscribers very wealthy over the years.

So what secrets do I have up my sleeve? Well, I wouldn't necessarily call them "secrets" per se—I look at them as wealth-building strategies that have made my readers very, very rich.

Secret #1: Use Market Volatility to Your Advantage

Option buyers have one secret advantage many other traders don't know about: Surprise volatility. You see, when you buy options, you are betting on one thing—volatility (or movement of the price of the underlying stock, index or Exchange-Traded Fund). If the stock does not move… you lose!

Volatility is the tendency of an underlying stock's price to fluctuate up or down—the higher the volatility of a stock, the greater the likelihood that a stock price change will move an option deeper into the in-the-money range. As volatility goes up, both call and put values spike. Likewise, as volatility drops, both call and put values drop.

Secret #2: When Trading Options Remember: A Little Goes a Long Way

Options trading has been considered by many to be speculative and dangerous, while stock investing, in comparison, is viewed as conservative and safe. Despite these views, the bear market of 2000-2002 saw the NASDAQ dive in value, with many high flying stocks dropping 90% in the blink of an eye.

But, herein lies the secret advantage of trading options: By onwing options instead of stocks during such turbulent times, investors could have greatly limited their losses.

See, the big advantage of options is their outstanding leverage with little or no risk. When trading options, you can only lose what you pay for the options, which in most cases tends to be a rather small amount. 

Secret #3: Cheaper Doesn't Always Mean Better

Cheap options are everywhere. Just look in financial publications or on your broker's web site, and you'll probably uncover thousands priced below $1.

I always recommend to my readers to never pay too much for any of your options. In fact, paying too much is the #1 reason option buyers lose their shirt. Yes, many option "authorities" recommend buying in-the-money options where the stock price is trading above the option's strike price. The problem with these types of options is that they come with high price tags, usually several hundred dollars to a thousand dollars per contract, sometimes more. When you're paying a high price for an option, you as an investor, have more to lose. Now, this may work for some investors, but it's not for me.

I look for options that are not only inexpensive, but those that are solid bargains… those golden nuggets whose true value isn't yet reflected in their price! 

There are many factors that go into determining the value of an option—the price of the stock, the historic impact of its volatility (i.e., how the stock typically trades around regular events like earnings announcements), and dividends and interest. After all, options are created, and their available strike prices are set around the current value of the underlying stock. Keep in mind that there's a significant difference between undervalued options and simply inexpensive ones.

The vast majority of "cheap" options are overpriced or essentially worthless. The key to winning at the options game is to look for those stocks that are poised to make a significant move and whose options have yet to reflect that potential.

Some "cheap options" I have recently closed for red-hot profits are:

• 83% gains from a PepsiCo call option
• 244% profits from an Americredit put option
• 357% gains from a Cameco Cap call
• 100% profits from a McDonald's call
• 280% gains from an Abbott Labs call
• 70% profits from a JC Penney put
• 57% gains from a Dow Jones Index call
• 140% profits from an Aetna call

I have to admit, that's not always easy to do. But like I said before, trading options is my lifelong passion, and frankly, I have to say I'm pretty good at it! So whether you're an experienced options trader… a rank beginner… or somewhere in between, I want to share a proven, systematic method of trading options that has given investors, like you, an average annual gain of over 100% since 1990.

That's right, we've more than doubled our money on average every single year we've traded options since 1990.

If you've done that well with your investments, my hat's off to you.  If not, I invite you to try my service Fast Options Profits at a special low price—with a money-back guarantee that means you don't even risk a penny of your low subscription cost.