First you need to be able to trade the underlying. Then options gives you an extra edge that reduces your risk variance. With underlying there is no margin for error. You are either right or wrong. Kind of like flipping a coin. You bet heads or tails, heads you win, tails you lose. There is no in between. But with options, you can get a heads and win, you can get a tails and win and you can even have an equal number of heads and tails and win. That is the edge. It's not leverage. Hell, if you want leverage you can go to single stock futures. Options increase your risk variance and that is huge for a trader. Even a slight increase in your risk variance can make the difference between a trader that is flat for the year vs. making a million dollars. But here is the catch 22. If you can't trade the underlying and you are trading options and let’s say you have tons of edge. What does that edge really amount to? A nickel? A dime? Now if you are a bad trader, a nickel or a dime is not going to save you. In fact it could kill you. That's the difference. Most guys that have learned to trade options have learned from their own mistakes and their own efforts and not from asking others for the answers? You can talk about edge all you want, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the bottom line. It all comes down to being a good trader. You can give somebody all the edge in the world, a bad trader won't know what to do with it. And vice versa, there are guys with all the negative edge in the world make a lot of money. The bottom line is do whatever works for you. Options are very intuitive, much more then stocks. There are a thousand ways to skin a sheep. Pick up a book and find the answers that you are looking for. Answers have no value without the effort to attain them.