Earn the credential.

Join the room.

The Chicago Options Protocol Certification (COPC) is the gateway to a closed global community of fund managers, family-office principals and professional traders — coached by veterans of the CBOT, LIFFE and the institutional risk desks. You earn the designation. The room comes with it.
01
Qualify
A free, ten-minute diagnostic Test tells you whether you are ready to certify directly, ready for Level II, or best served by Level I. No sales call. No commitment. A clear answer in ten minutes.
02
Certify
Sit the COPC examination directly, or train toward it through our live cohort-based curriculum with the four Course Directors of Aurora Partnership. The exam is independently accredited and fully proctored. The standard, not the participation ribbon.
03
Belong
Townhalls with the Course Directors, the global registry of certified practitioners, and the peer network the designation unlocks. For CFA charterholders, COPC qualifying activity is self-reportable toward annual Professional Learning credit — the two designations renew on the same cadence.


THE STANDARD

The Chicago Options Protocol Certification is not a course completion certificate, an attendance record, or a paid-for badge. It is a credential built to institutional assessment-integrity standards — independently accredited by the CPDUK, The CPD Certification Service, the UK accreditation body whose audit certifies both the educational rigour of the curriculum and the integrity of the assessment process under formal Continuing Professional Development standards.

The CPD framework is the global benchmark for verified professional learning. Recognised in more than 100 countries, the CPD mark is the standard by which institutional employers, regulators and professional bodies measure structured continuing education across financial services, law, medicine, engineering and academia. CPD-accredited learning is widely accepted by financial-services professional bodies as qualifying activity toward members' annual continuing education requirements, and is recognised as compliant evidence of competence by regulators across the UK, EU and Commonwealth jurisdictions.

A note on cross-credential alignment. The COPC's continuing-education architecture is deliberately calibrated to mirror the CFA Institute's Professional Learning programme — twenty credit hours annually, including two hours in market ethics and standards. CFA charterholders may self-report COPC qualifying activity toward their annual PL attestation, and COPC active status operates on the same annual renewal cycle as CFA Institute membership. For the dual designation holder — CFA + COPC — one set of hours satisfies both. This is the structural alignment that turns the COPC from a parallel credential into a complementary one for the institutional finance professional.

The examination itself is delivered under live remote proctoring, with biometric identity verification, secure browser lockdown, full session recording and post-hoc review of any flagged anomalies — the same assessment-integrity infrastructure used by the major financial-services credentialing bodies. The pass rate is calibrated for credentialing credibility, not enrolment volume.

For the COPC holder, that recognition is what makes the designation meaningful at the only point where it is tested: in front of an allocator, a counterparty, an HR department or a regulator who needs to know that the credential after your name has been independently verified to a global standard.


WHO IT IS FOR

Fund managers and proprietary traders who want their derivatives capability verified by an independent body, not self-asserted on a tear sheet.
Family-office principals and CIOs who deploy options as part of structured portfolios and want a credential that signals discipline rather than punt.
Bank, hedge-fund and trading-desk professionals at the junior-to-mid level whose mandates require formal evidence of derivatives competence under recognised CPDUK, The CPD Certification Service.
Risk officers, allocators and institutional advisors who need to evaluate, oversee or construct options exposure as part of a wider mandate — and who benefit from operating with the same vocabulary as the desks they cover.
Sophisticated private practitioners managing serious personal capital who have outgrown retail education and want the institutional credential that sits behind it.

THE QUALIFYING Test

The Qualifying Test is a free, two-part indepth diagnostic that places you on the right entry point of the Chicago Options Protocol pathway. Pass Part I and you are immediately eligible to join the Chicago Options Protocol online community forum.

There are three possible outcomes:

#1 Pass: Ready to Certify. 

You have the foundational fluency and the structural understanding required to sit the COPC examination directly. You’re also eligible to join the Community Forum.

Most experienced derivatives traders, market makers and senior risk professionals will land here.

#2 Pass: Ready for Level II. 

You have the Level I foundations — the four basic positions, vertical and ratio spreads, straddles, strangles, butterflies and condors — but would benefit from the volatility-surface and live-risk pedagogy of Level II before sitting the COPC.

Good news: You are eligible to join the Community Forum.


#3 No Pass: Best served by Level I. 

You will get the most out of the curriculum starting at the foundations and building from there. No shortcut, but no wasted time either. 

The Qualifying Test is free, takes ten minutes, and carries no commitment of any kind.

THE COPC EXAMINATION

The Chicago Options Protocol Certification examination is the credentialing apex of the Chicago Options Protocol — verifiable mastery of the curriculum and methodology taught by the four Course Directors, awarded only on successful completion of an independently-supervised assessment.

Two pathways into the Exam:
Pathway A
Direct Examination. 


Experienced derivatives traders, market makers, risk professionals and institutional allocators may sit the COPC examination directly without the prerequisite courses. The standalone exam is designed for practitioners whose existing experience already meets the standard the credential is built to verify.

Pathway B
Certification through the Curriculum. 


Sit the COPC examination on completion of Levels I and II of the Chicago Options Protocol curriculum, taught live and online by the four Course Directors. This is the recommended pathway for participants who want both the structured preparation and the credential at the end.

Both pathways lead to the same examination and the same designation. The Qualifying Test will tell you which is right for you.

EXAMINATION FORMAT & INTEGRITY

Accreditation

Independently accredited by the CPDUK, The CPD Certification Service

CPD recognition

More than 100 countries

Format

Multiple-choice and structured response

Duration

[TBC — typical 2–3 hours]

Delivery

Online, live-proctored remote examination

Identity verification

Biometric ID-check at session start

Session controls

Secure browser lockdown · full session recording · live invigilator review

Retake protocol

Modelled on FINRA Rule 1210 standards transparent retake windows and fees disclosed at registration

Pass standard

Calibrated for credentialing credibility, not throughput

WHAT YOU EARN

A successful COPC candidate is awarded:
  • The Chicago Options Protocol Certified designation (COPC) — usable as a post-nominal on professional profiles, business cards, tear sheets and email signatures. 

  • The COPC digital credential — a tamper-evident, verifiable badge for LinkedIn and professional profiles, backed by a public credential record that any prospective allocator, employer or counterparty can verify in seconds. 

  • Listing in the public COPC Member Directory — the global registry of certified practitioners. 

  • Accredited Member status within the Chicago Options Protocol community — full access to the closed forum, the bi-weekly Townhalls with the Course Directors, and the peer network of fellow certified practitioners. 

  • CPD-recognised renewal track — annual maintenance under formal CPD standards, ensuring active status year on year and keeping the designation continuously evidenced. 
The first year of active status is included in the examination fee. Subsequent years are billed under the Annual Maintenance Fee (AMF).

FEES

COPC Examination — Standard EUR 495
COPC Annual Membership — Year 1  Included in examination fee
COPC Annual Membership — thereafter | EUR 295 / year EUR 295 / year
Retake fee Disclosed at registration
Qualifying Test Unlocks Community Forum Access | Free
COPC 3-Year Prepaid Membership EUR 750
COPC Recertification (every 3 years) EUR 195

WHY IT MATTERS — A NOTE ON GRAVITAS

Most options education today sits at one of two extremes. Academic programmes confer credentials but are taught by professors who have never traded the surface in size. Retail platforms hand out badges that mean nothing on an institutional CV. The COPC was built deliberately to occupy neither of those positions.

The four Course Directors of Aurora Partnership — Professor Kevin B. Connolly, Santo Volpe, Hilton Fay and Michael Hadley — between them carry over 140 years of derivatives experience as floor market makers, head traders, quantitative research directors and institutional risk architects. Three of them traded under Kevin's risk-management architecture at Cresvale International in the late 1990s. They are the people who actually build the assessment standard the COPC is calibrated to.

The CPDUK, The CPD Certification Service accreditation, the live remote proctoring infrastructure, and the transparent retake protocol are there to ensure that what they certify is what the institutional market expects to see when it sees a credential.
The room you join when you pass is the same room they teach in.
Write your awesome label here.
For Institutions — The Chicago Derivatives Protocol
Frequently asked

What candidates ask before they register.

If your question isn't here, the team will answer it directly — usually within one business day.

What does the COPC examination cover?

The examination tests structural fluency across the territory of Level I and Level II of the Chicago Options Protocol curriculum: option fundamentals at expiry, the determinants of option value, the volatility surface (level, skew and term structure), the Greeks as a working risk vocabulary, the hedging techniques used by institutional desks, regime shifts, and the structural risk management of live options books.

The standard is set by the four Course Directors — Professor Kevin B. Connolly, Santo Volpe, Hilton Fay and Michael Hadley — calibrated to what they would have expected of a junior-to-mid trader on their own desks.

How is the exam structured, and how long does it take?

The COPC examination is a multi-section assessment combining structural-knowledge questions with applied scenarios drawn from the volatility surface and live-risk practice. Total duration sits in the same range as comparable institutional credentials — typically two to three hours of focused assessment time.

Final structure, section weights and timing are confirmed in the candidate handbook sent at registration.

Can I sit the examination without taking the Level I and Level II courses?

Yes. The COPC is designed to function as a stand-alone assessment for experienced traders who already have the underlying fluency. Candidates with active derivatives backgrounds frequently sit the examination directly without prior coursework with us.

Candidates who want to test their readiness can take the free Qualifying Test first — it is a short diagnostic across the foundations and a reliable indicator of where to begin.

How is the exam proctored, and what do I need at my end?

The examination is delivered under live remote proctoring conditions: biometric ID verification, browser lockdown, full session recording, and invigilator review. This is the same control framework the major institutional credentials apply, and protects the value of the designation for everyone who holds it.

You need a desktop or laptop computer, a working webcam, a stable broadband connection and a quiet, private room. The full technical and identification specification is sent in the registration confirmation.

What is the pass mark, and how is the standard set?

The pass mark reflects the institutional standard the four Course Directors apply in their own assessment of a junior-to-mid trader. It is set deliberately rather than calibrated to a target pass rate, and is reviewed periodically as cohort data accrues.

We do not publish historical pass rates: the credential is calibrated to maintain its integrity rather than to optimise for throughput. Candidates receive their result with a topic-by-topic performance breakdown, regardless of outcome.

Are sample questions or past papers available?

A short specimen paper, covering representative items from the Level I and Level II territory, is provided to registered candidates as part of the candidate handbook. We do not release a full live paper or maintain a public question bank — both would compromise assessment integrity.

The free Qualifying Test is also a useful readiness indicator for the foundations layer.

What happens if I don't pass on the first attempt?

Candidates who do not pass may retake the examination after a defined cooling-off period, at a discounted retake fee. The cooling-off window protects the integrity of the assessment — it is not intended as a barrier.

Repeat candidates often pass on the second sitting after focused preparation, frequently using the topic-by-topic breakdown from the first attempt to target study.

How is the COPC designation maintained, and does it expire?

The designation does not expire as long as the holder maintains active status through the COPC Annual Membership (EUR 295 per year) and meets the Continuing Professional Development requirements.

The COPC Annual Membership (EUR 295/year) includes registry listing, full community access for twelve months, and the bi-weekly Townhalls with the Course Directors. Lapsed designations can be reinstated under a defined process.

How does the COPC compare to the CFA, CAIA or FRM?

The CFA, CAIA and FRM are broad credentials covering the full territory of investment management and risk. The COPC is deliberately specialised: the volatility surface, structural options risk, and the live-trading practice of professional desks.

The credentials are complementary, not competing. Many practitioners hold one of the broader designations alongside the COPC, and CFA charterholders may self-report COPC qualifying activity toward their annual Professional Learning attestation.

What if I need accessibility accommodations?

We accommodate documented accessibility needs — extended time, screen-reader compatibility, alternative input devices and equivalent provisions. Requests are submitted with the registration form and reviewed by the assessment team.

The standard of the assessment is preserved; the conditions under which a candidate demonstrates it are adjusted as needed.