Trading options involves a high degree of risk and is not suitable for every investor. You may lose the entire amount you pay for an option, and certain strategies can lose more than that. Only trade with capital you can afford to lose entirely.
1. General risk warning
Trading and investing in securities, and in particular in options, involves a high degree of risk. Prices can move rapidly and substantially against you. You should not trade with funds you cannot afford to lose, and you should not assume that any information published by EarningsWatcher reduces, removes or measures the risk of any position you take.
2. No investment advice
All content on this site — including implied moves, historical move distributions, beat rates, scores, rankings, playbooks, scanners, simulators, backtests and any commentary — is published for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, financial, legal, accounting or tax advice, and it is not a recommendation, solicitation or offer to buy or sell any security or to adopt any strategy.
Nothing published here is tailored to your financial situation, investment objectives, experience or risk tolerance. No fiduciary, advisory or broker-client relationship is created by your use of this site. Trades, positions and performance figures attributable to other users of the platform reflect what those users recorded; they are not verified, endorsed or recommended by us.
3. Risks specific to options
Options are leveraged instruments. A modest move in the underlying security can cause a large percentage change in an option's value, in either direction.
- Total loss. An option that is not in the money at expiration expires worthless, and the entire premium paid is lost.
- Time decay. An option loses value as expiration approaches, all else being equal, even if the underlying price does not move.
- Writing options. Selling options exposes you to losses that can substantially exceed the premium received. In certain uncovered positions, that exposure is not limited to a fixed amount.
- Assignment. Short options may be assigned at any time before expiration, including around ex-dividend dates, leaving you with a stock position and its associated margin and capital requirements.
- Execution costs. Bid-ask spreads, commissions and financing costs reduce returns and can be material relative to the premium involved.
Before trading options, read the standardised options disclosure document, Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options, which your broker is required to provide.
4. Risks specific to earnings events
Earnings announcements are among the least predictable events in a security's calendar, and they carry risks beyond those of ordinary trading.
- Volatility contraction. Implied volatility commonly falls once results are released. An option can lose value after the announcement even if the underlying moves in the anticipated direction.
- Price gaps. Most results are published outside regular trading hours. Stop orders do not protect against a gap, and the next available price may be substantially different from the last quoted price.
- Reduced liquidity. Spreads can widen materially around an announcement, so the cost of entering or closing a position may exceed what a mid-price quote implies.
- Schedule changes. Companies reschedule announcements. A position sized for one date may be held through an announcement that occurs on another.
5. No guarantee of results
Much of what we publish is historical — how a security moved after previous announcements, how frequently realised moves exceeded implied moves, how related securities reacted. Such measures describe what has happened; they do not predict what will happen.
Past performance is not indicative of future results. A relationship observed over many years may not hold at the next announcement. Statistical samples that appear large may still be small once differences in market conditions, company fundamentals and volatility regimes are taken into account.
6. Hypothetical and simulated results
Our simulator, backtester and paper-trading features model trades; they do not execute them. Any results they produce are hypothetical.
Hypothetical performance results have inherent limitations. They do not represent actual trading and do not account for slippage, partial or missed fills, the spread actually paid, commissions, financing or borrowing costs, margin requirements, or the effect of your own orders on the market. They are also prepared with the benefit of hindsight and carry none of the financial risk of live trading. No representation is made that any account will or is likely to achieve results similar to those shown.
7. Information is provided “as is”
Market data, option quotes, earnings dates and company information are obtained from third-party sources. While we take care to present them accurately, we make no warranty that any figure is accurate, complete, current or timely, and all content is provided on an “as is” basis.
Quotes may be delayed. Implied moves change throughout the trading session, so a figure shown here may differ from the figure available to you at the moment you trade. Earnings dates may be company-confirmed or estimated, and estimated dates change. Verify any figure that is material to a decision against your broker and the company's own investor-relations disclosures.
8. Our regulatory status
EarningsWatcher is not a registered investment adviser and is not registered or licensed as such with any federal or state regulatory agency. We are not a broker-dealer. We do not execute orders, hold client funds or securities, manage accounts, or accept compensation for directing you toward any security or strategy.
9. Your responsibility
Any decision you make, and any resulting gain or loss, is your own. You are responsible for conducting your own research, for understanding the risks of any instrument or strategy you use, and for determining whether it is appropriate for your circumstances. We recommend you consult a licensed financial professional in your jurisdiction before trading.
10. Changes and contact
We may update this disclosure from time to time; the date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Questions about this page may be sent to support@earnings-watcher.com. See also our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.