Learn / Learn by Doing
How to use Practice
Practice is pretend cash on today’s delayed quotes. Start with a long call or long put. Nothing here is a broker fill.
Practice is pretend money on this site. Journal is for structures you already have at a real broker. Keep them separate. Nothing on Practice is sent to an exchange.
Open Practice any time from the nav. If you followed a Learn lesson, use Back to Practice at the bottom of the lesson. You are not stuck on Learn.
The chain is delayed: ticker, expiration, calls on the left and puts on the right. Click the ask to buy, the bid to sell. Take this practice trade prints at the delayed mid — not a broker, and not Journal.
The Structure menu always lets you pick a long call or a long put. Spreads and short premium stay gray until you pass the matching Learn quiz.
A delta marked t is an estimate when the chain did not send one. Still not a broker Greek.
Tickets for this structure
BTO (buy to open) · STO (sell to open) · BTC (buy to close) · STC (sell to close). Illustrative fills only. We never send these orders.
BTO (buy to open)
Open a long
Classroom open — long call or long put
Ticker SPY. Open the delayed chain, click a call ask near the last, read why the structure works, then Take the classroom trade. The site stores a BTO (buy to open) at the Yahoo mid. That is a classroom mark, not a fill.
STC (sell to close)
Close a long
Classroom close — end a long
On the Practice table, click Close. The site writes an STC (or BTC (buy to close) if you were short) at the current delayed mid and puts cash back on the classroom book. Still not a broker ticket.
STO (sell to open)
Open a short
Classroom short — after the quiz
Pass the cash-secured put or covered call quiz. Then Structure unlocks those rows. An STO (sell to open) needs classroom cash (or paper shares for a covered call). Assignment on a short put can add paper shares. That is how the wheel is practiced here.
BTC (buy to close)
Close a short
Classroom cover — end a short
Close on a short classroom row is BTC (buy to close): buy the short back at the delayed mid. Cash moves. No routing.
What each box is
Cash is classroom dollars. Open is how many live classroom rows you have. The equity tape is daily classroom marks: cash plus delayed option mids plus paper shares. Reset classroom cash once a week.
If Structure looks stuck, pick Long call or Long put. Those two are always available after you sign in. Click a delayed ask on the chain, then Take the classroom trade. After a fill, Trade analysis recaps the legs, cost, max profit and loss, and a structure-based risk note. It is not the live Journal.
Training mode (`/practice/train`) asks which structure matches a view, then explains why. Take this classroom trade opens Practice with that structure. The classroom log stores reason and a rule-based lesson after close. It is not the live Journal.
What Practice is not
It is not a broker, not paper trading at a brokerage, and not live P/L (profit and loss). There are no resting limit orders. Delayed prints can be stale. If Yahoo has no mid, the desk will refuse the ticket rather than invent a fill. If a Greek is missing, the cell stays blank (or shows a teaching Black–Scholes delta marked t when IV (implied volatility) exists).
To trade a date that already happened, use Replay the Market. Practice is always today’s delayed tape.
How the Greeks move
Practice is a blotter, not a structure. Open the matching Learn lesson and slide stock and days there, or use What if after a classroom row. If Yahoo omitted a Greek, the cell stays a dash.
Checking for a quiz…
Teaching numbers only — not a live quote, not a fill, not financial advice. All lessons · Back to Practice · Replay · Journal.