One of the goals to which BetterTrades strives in the education process is to keep its students safe. There are plenty of places for a trader to get into trouble and BetterTrades has set guidelines and rules to help you walk around the pitfalls.

The key to making better trades is education. The smarter you get about the strategies and the recipes taught by BetterTrades founder Freddie Rick, the more profitable your trades will become.

Here are a few dos and don'ts to follow:

Do: Make sure the market is bullish or bearish. A good strategy used under the wrong conditions will result in a loss. Be sure to check to see which way the wind is blowing.

Do: Check to see when a company will announce earnings before you buy an option. If you are within a week of an earnings announcement, the option may not have enough time to move in the anticipated direction. Wait until after earnings.

Do: Buy an option with enough time to complete the move. In general it's better to have too much time than not enough time before an option expires.

Don't: Never pay more for time value than intrinsic value when buying an option. Time can melt away before you know it and cost you money.

Do: Check the delta on the option you're considering. If it's less than 70 you'll have a difficulty making money, unless the underlying stock has a huge jump.

Don't: Never buy an option which has less than 100 in open interest. Try it and the market maker will be licking his chops in anticipation of eating your lunch.

Do: In order to be safe, be out of your option trade by the first Friday of the expiration month. After that point the time value really starts to deteriorate, which could leave you with a big loss.