Artificial intelligence advances every day and has become a brutal tool for learning practically anything — options trading included. Today we kick off a series in which I’m going to learn (along with you) to trade options using ChatGPT for the theory and ProRealTime to see the real prices on a professional platform. We start with the basics: what a Call is.
The starting prompt (deliberately simple)
There’s no need to complicate things with elaborate prompts. To start, something like this is enough:
The trick is asking it to suggest the next step at the end of each explanation. That way you keep moving forward with a roadmap that the AI itself proposes to you.
What ChatGPT tells us about the Call
The answer is fairly clear and direct: a Call is an option that gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy an asset at a set price before a specific date.
And it gives us a very simple example: imagine Apple trades at 100 dollars. You buy a Call with strike 110 and a one-month expiration. That means you have the right to buy Apple at 110 dollars in a month, no matter what price it’s at then.
- If Apple rises to 130 — your right is worth a lot, because you could buy at 110 something the market pays 130 for
- If Apple doesn’t break 110 — the Call can end up worth zero
- For that right you pay a price called the premium
The three basic elements of a Call
ChatGPT sums it up well:
- Strike — the price at which you have the right to buy
- Premium — what you pay for the option
- Expiration — the deadline
And you calculate the break-even by adding strike + premium. In ChatGPT’s example: 110 + 3 = 113. Below 113 dollars you lose or don’t win; above it, you start to win.
Jumping to ProRealTime: the same example, but real
Here’s the key to the series. Theory is fine, but what we care about is seeing how all of that translates onto a professional platform with real prices. We open ProRealTime and go to Trading → Options chain.
Apple isn’t at 100 dollars like in ChatGPT’s example — it’s at all-time highs, around 287 dollars as we record the video. It doesn’t matter, the example works perfectly. What matters is understanding the structure.
How to see a Call in ProRealTime
In the top left, check that the underlying is the right one (Apple in this case)
In the Expiration column, select the one closest to a month (in the example, 29 days)
To the left of the central column you have the CALLS, to the right the PUTS
Green = buy, Red = sell (it’s the universal code of almost every platform)
The real example: a Call on Apple, strike 295
Apple at 287 dollars. We replicate ChatGPT’s example by buying 10 dollars above — strike 295. The premium that appears in the green column is 4.80 dollars. Those are the famous “3 dollars of premium” from the theoretical example, but with real prices.
Break-even calculation: 295 (strike) + 4.80 (premium) = 299.80 dollars. If Apple closes above 299.80 in a month, we win. Below that, we lose whatever premium we paid.
The most visual part: the risk graph
This is where options are truly understood. We click the Analysis tab inside the options chain and the risk graph appears. ProRealTime automatically calculates everything for us:
- The blue dot marks the break-even — exactly 299.80 dollars
- To the right of the break-even (green zone) — theoretically unlimited profits if Apple keeps rising
- To the left of the break-even (red zone) — losses, with a flat maximum: you can only lose the $480 premium
And a very useful detail: if you hover over the graph, the platform tells you what percentage Apple would have to rise from the current price to reach the break-even. In the example, 4.45%. Is it reasonable for Apple to rise 4.45% in a month? Historically yes, it’s nothing far-fetched.
Unlimited profit, limited loss: with nuances
One of the things people usually hear about bought calls is the phrase “unlimited profit, limited loss”. Theoretically it’s true, but you have to take it with a grain of salt:
- Theoretically unlimited profit — yes, but think about real probabilities. What’s the probability that Apple rises 10%, 20% or 50% in a single month? Very low
- Limited loss — the moment you place the order, the $480 leaves your account and that’s it. That’s your maximum risk, whatever happens to the stock
- Very directional trading — you need Apple to rise (a lot) and fast. Time works against you
A realistic profit example
If Apple reached 305 dollars in a month (a 6% rise), ProRealTime shows us the profit would be approximately $497. With a 6% rise in Apple in a month, almost 500 dollars of profit on the 480 invested — the best “normal” scenario that could happen in this example.
Conclusion
In this first video of the series we’ve seen how ChatGPT explains a Call fairly decently, but also how it falls short on the details that truly matter (the 100 multiplier, calculations on real data, risk visualization). That’s why the combination works so well: ChatGPT gives you the quick theory and ProRealTime shows you what real trading is like. In the next video we’ll continue with the other side of the coin — the Put. If you liked it, remember to comment and like the video to keep unlocking content and giveaways.
