Understanding option trading and its fundamentals is vital to trading success. Options are one of a number of things called "derivatives" and are called this because their price is "derived" from the price movements in an underlying asset such as a share, commodity or currency. But of all derivatives, option trading is considered to be the safest alternative. The reason is, because unless you sell "naked" positions, which is never recommended, your maximum risk will always only ever be the amount you invested.
Other derivatives such as futures and CFDs do not carry this safety net ... although some CFD brokers such as IG Markets will offer traders a 'guaranteed stop loss' these days. But from my experience, I have found that the extra leverage combined with a 1:1 value movement in CFDs with their underlying can often stop you out before your position goes in the direction you believed it would.
So understanding option trading is certainly a worthwhile exercise. The only downside is that, unlike futures and CFDs, option pricing is much more complex. But their very complexity is what makes them so versatile and flexible.