Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	VIRTUS OPPORTUNITIES TRUST
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Jan. 31, 2013
Virtus Wealth Masters Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	Virtus Wealth Masters Fund
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The fund has an investment objective of capital appreciation.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	The tables below illustrate all fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Virtus Mutual Funds. More information about these and other discounts, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and under “Sales Charges” on page 193 of the fund’s prospectus and “Alternative Purchase Arrangements” on page 57 of the fund’s statement of additional information.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination	January 31, 2014
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During the period from inception (September 5, 2012) through its fiscal year end (September 30, 2012), the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 26% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	26.00%
Expenses Deferred Charges [Text Block]	rr_ExpensesDeferredChargesTextBlock	Generally, Class A Shares are not subject to any charges by the Fund when redeemed; however, a contingent deferred sales charge may be imposed on certain redemptions within 18 months on exchanges from a Virtus non-money market fund into a Virtus money market fund and purchases on which a finder’s fee has been paid. The 18-month period begins on the last day of the month preceding the month in which the purchase was made. The deferred sales charge is imposed on Class C Shares redeemed during the first year only.
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Virtus Mutual Funds.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	50,000
Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates [Text]	rr_OtherExpensesNewFundBasedOnEstimates	Estimated for current fiscal year.
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	Example
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same and that the expense reimbursement arrangement remains in place only for the period indicated. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Investments, Risks and Performance Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	The fund seeks to track the performance of the Horizon Kinetics ISE Wealth Index (Ticker: RCH), a public index maintained by Horizon Kinetics, LLC, the parent company of the fund’s subadviser, and published by International Securities Exchange, LLC. The index is composed of U.S.-listed companies and equity REITs managed by executives who are among the wealthiest individuals in the United States and, in many cases, have accumulated a substantial amount of their personal wealth through the companies that they manage. The issuers have market capitalizations, at time of addition to the index, in excess of $100 million (as of June 30, 2012). The fund attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	The fund may not achieve its objective, and it is not intended to be a complete investment program. The value of the fund’s investments that supports your share value may decrease. If between the time you purchase shares and the time you sell shares the value of the fund’s investments decreases, you will lose money. Investment values can decrease for a number of reasons. Conditions affecting the overall economy, specific industries or companies in which the fund invests can be worse than expected, and investments may fail to perform as the subadviser expects. As a result, the value of your shares may decrease. The principal risks of investing in the fund are: Correlation to Index. The risk that the performance of the fund and its index may vary somewhat due to factors such as fund flows, transaction costs, sample selection, and timing differences associated with additions to and deletions from its index. Equity Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Securities Risk. The risk that, in addition to the risks associated with investing in the real estate industry, the value of the fund’s shares will be negatively affected by factors specific to investing through a pooled vehicle, such as through poor management of a REIT or REIT-like entity, concentration risk, or other risks typically associated with investing in small or medium market capitalization companies. Equity Securities Risk. The risk that events negatively affecting issuers, industries or financial markets in which the fund invests will impact the value of the stocks held by the fund and thus, the value of the fund’s shares over short or extended periods. Investments in smaller companies, including microcap companies may be more volatile than investments in larger companies. Market Volatility Risk. The risk that the value of the securities in which the fund invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies and/or general economic conditions. Price changes may be temporary or may last for extended periods. Sector Focused Investing Risk. The risk that events negatively affecting a particular market sector in which the fund focuses its investments will cause the value of the fund’s shares to decrease, perhaps significantly. To the extent the fund focuses its assets in a particular market sector, the fund is more vulnerable to conditions that negatively affect such market sector as compared to a fund that does not focus holdings in such securities.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	If between the time you purchase shares and the time you sell shares the value of the fund’s investments decreases, you will lose money.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Performance Information
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	The fund has not had a full calendar year of operations; therefore, performance information is not shown.
Performance One Year or Less [Text]	rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLess	The fund has not had a full calendar year of operations; therefore, performance information is not shown.
Virtus Wealth Masters Fund | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	1.00%	[1]
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.85%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.58%	[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.68%
Less: Expense Reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	(0.23%)	[3]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver or Expense Reimbursement (if Any)	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.45%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	714
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	1,053
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	714
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	1,053
Virtus Wealth Masters Fund | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	1.00%	[4]
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.85%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.58%	[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.43%
Less: Expense Reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	(0.23%)	[3]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver or Expense Reimbursement (if Any)	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	2.20%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	323
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	736
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	223
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	736
Virtus Wealth Masters Fund | Class I
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (load) (as a percentage of the lesser of purchase price or redemption proceeds)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.85%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.58%	[2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.43%
Less: Expense Reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	(0.23%)	[3]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver or Expense Reimbursement (if Any)	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.20%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	122
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	430
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	122
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	430

[1] Generally, Class A Shares are not subject to any charges by the Fund when redeemed; however, a contingent deferred sales charge may be imposed on certain redemptions within 18 months on exchanges from a Virtus non-money market fund into a Virtus money market fund and purchases on which a finder's fee has been paid. The 18-month period begins on the last day of the month preceding the month in which the purchase was made.

[2] Estimated for current fiscal year.

[3] The fund's investment adviser has contractually agreed to limit the fund's total operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes and extraordinary expenses) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.45% for Class A Shares, 2.20% for Class C Shares and 1.20% for Class I Shares through January 31, 2014. Following the contractual period, the adviser may discontinue these expense reimbursement arrangements at any time. Under certain conditions, the adviser may recapture operating expenses reimbursed under these arrangements for a period of three years following the fiscal year in which such reimbursement occurred.

[4] The deferred sales charge is imposed on Class C Shares redeemed during the first year only.