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Label Element Value
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Document Type dei_DocumentType 497
Document Period End Date dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate Sep. 30, 2013
Entity Registrant Name dei_EntityRegistrantName VIRTUS OPPORTUNITIES TRUST
Entity Central Index Key dei_EntityCentralIndexKey 0001005020
Amendment Flag dei_AmendmentFlag false
Trading Symbol dei_TradingSymbol vot
Document Creation Date dei_DocumentCreationDate Jan. 29, 2014
Document Effective Date dei_DocumentEffectiveDate Jan. 30, 2014
Prospectus Date rr_ProspectusDate Jan. 28, 2014
Virtus Low Volatility Equity Fund
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Risk/Return [Heading] rr_RiskReturnHeading
Virtus Low Volatility Equity Fund
Objective [Heading] rr_ObjectiveHeading
Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block] rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock
The fund has investment objectives of capital appreciation with lower volatility than the U.S. equity markets over a full market cycle.
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 is available from your financial advisor and under “Sales Charges” on page 214 of the fund’s prospectus and “Alternative Purchase Arrangements” on page 104 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, 2015
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 (June 11, 2013) through its fiscal year end (September 30, 2013), the fund's portfolio turnover rate was 0% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate 0.00%
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 (i) within 18 months on exchanges from a Virtus non-money market fund into a Virtus money market fund; and (ii) on 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
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text] rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent
Restated to reflect current expenses.
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
Principle Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block] rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock
The fund seeks to provide investors with long-term returns similar to U.S. large capitalization stocks with less volatility by:
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  • investing in a portfolio of primarily ETFs designed to produce returns generally in line with the broad U.S. equity market, although the fund may invest directly in large capitalization U.S. equity securities,
•
  • selling (writing) equity index call options, and
•
  • buying call options on CBOE Volatility Index​®  (VIX​® ) futures.
Writing index call options and buying call options on VIX futures are both techniques for limiting the volatility of the fund’s portfolio. Writing index call options is a way to monetize volatility, enhancing the fund’s risk-adjusted return as compared with an all-equity portfolio and providing steady cash flow. However, it also reduces the fund’s ability to profit from increases in the value of its equity portfolio. Buying call options on VIX futures is designed to protect the fund from a significant market decline over a short period of time because the value of a call option on VIX futures generally increases as stock prices decrease, and decreases as those stocks prices increase. By employing techniques to limit the risks associated with the U.S. large capitalization stocks represented in its portfolio, the fund expects its portfolio to experience less volatility than a portfolio of U.S. large capitalization stocks alone.
Under normal circumstances, the fund intends to invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities, which include ETFs representing the equity securities markets.
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. Purchase and redemption activities by fund shareholders may impact the management of the fund and its ability to achieve its investment objective(s). The redemption by one or more large shareholders or groups of shareholders of their holdings in the fund could have an adverse impact on the remaining shareholders in the fund including by accelerating the realization of capital gains and increasing the fund's transaction costs. In addition, you will also be subject to the risks associated with the principal investment strategies of any ETFs in which the fund invests. The principal risks of investing in the fund are:
 
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  • Call Options Risks. The risk that selling index call options may limit the fund’s opportunity to profit from increases in the value of its equity portfolio, and the risk that buying call options may result in the loss of the premium paid for those options.
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  • 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 a particular style or in small or medium-sized companies may enhance that risk.
>
  • Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) Risk. The risk that the value of an ETF will be more volatile than the underlying portfolio of securities the ETF is designed to track, or that the costs to the fund of owning shares of the ETF will exceed those the fund would incur by investing in such securities directly.
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  • Fund of Funds Risk. The risk that the underlying funds in which the fund invests will expose the fund to negative performance and additional expenses associated with investment in such funds, and increased volatility.
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  • Low Volatility Strategy Risk. The risk that the fund’s techniques for limiting portfolio volatility will not be successful, will cause the fund’s portfolio to underperform its benchmark, or will cause the fund to lose money.
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  • 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.
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 here.
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 here.
Virtus Low Volatility Equity Fund | Class A
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Trading Symbol dei_TradingSymbol VLVAX
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 0.95%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets 0.25%
Other Expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.81% [2]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.09%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 2.10%
Less: Expense Reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.55%) [3]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 1.55%
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 724
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 1,145
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 724
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 1,145
Virtus Low Volatility Equity Fund | Class C
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Trading Symbol dei_TradingSymbol VLVCX
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 0.95%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets 1.00%
Other Expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.81% [2]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.09%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 2.85%
Less: Expense Reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.55%) [3]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 2.30%
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 333
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 831
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 233
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 831
Virtus Low Volatility Equity Fund | Class I
  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Trading Symbol dei_TradingSymbol VLVIX
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 0.95%
Distribution and Shareholder Servicing (12b-1) fees rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets none
Other Expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.81% [2]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets 0.09%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 1.85%
Less: Expense Reimbursement rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets (0.55%) [3]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement rr_NetExpensesOverAssets 1.30%
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 132
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 528
1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 132
3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 $ 528
[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 (i) within 18 months on exchanges from a Virtus non-money market fund into a Virtus money market fund; and (ii) on 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] Restated to reflect current expenses.
[3] The fund's investment adviser has contractually agreed to limit the fund's total operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes, extraordinary expenses and acquired fund fees and expenses) so that such expenses do not exceed 1.55% for Class A Shares, 2.30% for Class C Shares and 1.30% for Class I Shares through January 31, 2015. 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.