Definition
The Options Industry Council, or OIC, is an educational organization created by the U.S. options exchanges and the Options Clearing Corporation. Its purpose is to help individual investors, financial advisors, and institutions understand the benefits and risks of trading listed options.
The OIC produces free seminars, webinars, courses, calculators, and reference materials. It does not give trading advice or recommend specific strategies; instead it explains how options work so that participants can make informed decisions.
Why it matters
How it works
The OIC is funded by the options industry rather than by selling products, which lets it stay independent of any single broker or strategy provider. It maintains a public knowledge base covering mechanics, strategies, the Greeks, and risk management.
Investors typically encounter the OIC when opening an options account, since brokers often direct new traders to its materials alongside the required risk-disclosure documents. Its tools, such as strategy calculators, let users explore payoff scenarios before committing capital.