4 comments about An Introduction to Options Trading (Securities Institute).

1. This book is a truly excellent options introduction. I have used it as a complement to both Hull's text and Wilmott's text, and it has really solidified my understanding. de Weert ties together and writes in a more easily digestible form the take home points from the other more technical books. I highly, highly recommend this book.



2. As a professional equity options trader I recommend this book to all those wanting to make a start in the world of options trading but realise the importance of a good theoretical grounding before risking their hard earned money. I recommend this book to all the junior traders I have trained and worked with.
   
   Mr. deWeert has lead the field with this book, cutting though the mathematical jargon and explaining simply the concepts which are so often over complicated. Bravo Mr. de Weert!



3. This book is the most powerful book on options as it makes the dynamics of options intuitive by focussing on its economics while at the same time providing the mathematics behind it. All this is achieved by using real life investment strategies as examples. The culmination of this book is that it shows the relation between all the Greeks and the profit of a delta hedged option. The book can easily be used as a manual for traders as it gives guidelines as to when to early exercise options and the correlation exposure of composite or quanto option to name just two examples. Any trader or sales man in investment banking should use this as a manual.



4. To me, the title of the book is misleading. Book should be titled something like, "An Introduction to the Theoretical/Mathematical Concepts Behind Options." If you're looking for trading strategies, this book does not offer anything that the intro page of an options website does. Save yourself some money, unless you're a math geek (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

5 comments about The Options Playbook.

1. This book is worth nothing for people that actually know how to use options, definitely not worth the price.



2. First off, you can gain access to this book online by opening an account with the broker that sponsors the book. No need to pay unless you want a hard copy!
   
   The book does try to explain the basics for beginners, but the explanations are pretty simplified, especially when it comes to implied volatility and time decay. I was not familiar with those concepts, and the explanations somewhat helped. The book was not written to go into extreme details.
   
   The book is set up so you can easily find the play that you are looking to run. The author recommends about 4 different plays for newbies. The rest are for veterans or higher. The book also offers suggestions on limiting risk, placing stops and rolling options.
   
   I do feel more confident after having read this book, but I still feel I need to become better at technical analysis before trading options. It seems that the covered call is the easiest option to begin with!



3. This book enabled me to find Brian Overby's videos, created for the CBOE and I think still available on the CBOE website [...] and Youtube. While I enjoyed the book and learned from it, after watching the author's video classes I realized that the book is mostly a quick reference. For example, Mr Overby does a *one hour* video on bull call spreads--and he needs every minute of it. His book, on the other hand, has just one page of text on the same subject. So, find and watch the videos first, then keep the book as a reference on the properties of each strategy. One more thing: the tone of this book seems just right. None of the "let's all get rich now!" nonsense found in some investing books and options seminars, but also none of the ominous, exaggerated warnings contained in others.



4. The book is more of an introduction with some basic methods to trade, it does not go into much detail. If you are interested in trading options and what strategies to use for different scenarios, you are better off looking elsewhere.



5. Before reading this book, I knew nothing about options. I had been trading stocks online for 5 years. The book is easy to read and understand. Options are still complex to me and I often refer back to this book. Brian Overby does a good job breaking down options trading into understandable parts.

4 comments about The 100% Return Options Trading Strategy.

1. On p. 96-104 the author attempts to give spreadsheet formulas to compute stochastics, Welles Wilder RSI, and two other indicators he recommends. The formulas are outright wrong for the Stochastics %K-%D signal. Had someone proofread or even tried to recreate these in Excel, it would be blatantly obvious they are wrong. Upon contacting the author at his email address, he suggested that I pay him to receive the full version of the spreadsheet for several hundred dollars, rather than giving me the correction to the wrong information in his book. Also, on p. 78, the computations of the "safe" strike prices are based on erroneous data. I compared historic data from the time frame he references and it looks like he omitted data from August 1996 and just relabeled all of the rows so that the data from Nov-94 through Aug-96 is actually for Dec-94 through Jul-96. The Mar-97 MAX data appears suspect, being 10.33 rather than 10.25. The Aug-97 data for MAX and MIN appears suspect, being 43.63 and 1.59, rather than 42.72 and 26.50, respectively. It also appears that he is using the wrong standard deviation function to compute sigma. You can't duplicate his numbers in the C2sig13 and P2sig13 columns with the data he provided in the table in Figure 5.1.

   His latest newsletter shows that the "safe" strike price for the February 2000 short puts was 720, but if you followed the instructions in his book, you would have sold the Feb 745 puts short and been out 22 points per contract on naked puts, or you would have lost your entire spread when the market dumped from 752.19 to 728.52 on options expiration Friday in February. His system for mitigating losses would not have worked either because when the market broached 745 that day, you would have paid about 6 points to close out a losing spread that you may only have received 1-2 points to open. These spreads he advocates are based on some very fast and loose statistical claims and not very thoroughly explained at all. Very dangerous!




2. I found this book valuable in the development of my options trading strategy. I do not follow it to the letter but I think it provides great food for thought. It's not great, it's not perfect, but it's not horrible either for someone looking for ways to trade. Dr. Schiller has answered my e-mails to him every time I had a question. In summary, I believe there are better ways to trade credit spreads but I probably wouldn't be doing it at all were it not for this book.



3. Mr. Schiller has a PhD, but his book does not reflect much quality control went into its composition. There are missing figures, but yet referenced in the text. The book lacks an index. Several words are abbreviated, but there is no apparent explanation for them. I get the feeling this book went from first draft directly to publication. The hefty price is not justified. I am glad I only borrowed it from a library. The one purpose of the book seems to be to promote Excel spreadsheets he has created to track the OEX; and their prices are equally inflated. Why must you, Mr. Schiller, sell them from Spain? Isn't trading the OEX sufficiently profitable by itself?



4. Non-conventional terminology. Worst book, on options, I've ever read

1 comments about Option Pricing and Portfolio Optimization: Modern Methods of Financial Mathematics (Graduate Studies in Mathematics).

1. In the past few years, introductory courses to Financial Mathematics have become more common. They offer an excellent opportunity for math departments to revitalize their interdisciplinary course offerings. For the students this is a window into a "new world," or a new set of opportunities. This book serves the purpose well.
   It is designed for beginning graduate students or advanced undergrads. It offers the right mix of pure and applied. In particular, the authors are familiar with the practical side of the subject; and the appropriate theories from mathematical probability, stochastic integrals, stochastic processed are presented in a logical fashion: advancing logically in steps, good mix of exercises, user-friendly.
   The subject of financial mathematics includes option pricing and portfolio optimization, stochastic integration, rigorous methods due to Ito and Feynman-Kac, Monte-Carlo simulation, among others.
   The prerequisite include a little measure theory, differential equations, and functional analysis.
   With Newton's calculus we solve dynamical equations, integral equations are used in the standard approach to ODE and PDE: Deterministic! Contrast: Ito's lemma! A new feature in stochastic integration (that sets it apart as a subject) is that it addresses mathematical tools needed for dealing with uncertainty in predictions! Review by Palle Jorgensen; April 2008.

2 comments about High Performance Options Trading: Option Volatility & Pricing Strategies with OptionVue CD.

1. There are cheaper and better written books on the subject. In the last chapter, the author describes his business success, not in trading though, but in selling options software. The whole book is marketing tool for selling his product, with some option basics in between.



2. Dont waste your time with this book. No major insights, just rehashing of old stuff.

5 comments about Put Options : How to Use This Powerful Financial Tool for Profit & Protection.

1. This book does an excellent job at explaining Put Options and why you need to use them. You'll never just buy a stock again, selling the Put Option is ALWAYS a smarter move.



2. The author has an interesting thesis for investing solely using a hedged set of Put options. After doing some analysis it does appear that the concept has merit, at least during times of high market volatility. At other times it appears that the premiums do not exceed the trade commisions -- at least with my brokerage.
   
   The author must have had a minimum word requirement in his publishing contract because he took an inordinate amount of space to define his reasonably simple concept.



3. One-third of the book is an advertising of a strategy. Or maybe it just sounds like an infomercial?
   
   One-fifth of the book is tables of almost all stocks and almost all options. Why?
   
   And, as mentioned before, where is that tool that helps in calculating the selection parameters? It is actually one of the most ridiculous (and negative)points of the book. Here: "You are probably thinking that you could spend every waking hour doing this analysis. Fortunately, you do not have to. The automated toolkit I developed will allow most investors to properly analyze...portfolio in less than 30 minutes". Right. Good. Where is it?
   
   As I said, the book is on a silly side as it tries to explain the strategy to ones who do not know what an option is.
   
   The strategy and ideas (diversification, unpredictability of stock prices, the notion that the strategy does not guarantee gains all the time, factors to consider, etc.)in this book are not bad.



4. I found this to be a very good discussion of a strategy that I was already considering - Selling PUT options. The author makes a compelling argument for this approach and adds some additional twists to the idea that I had not considered. If you have a reasonable amount of capital to start working with, probably 20K+, you could implement this type of strategy with good results. Less capital than that and you will probably start to see the effects of brokerage fees eating up too much of you profits if you try to diversify.
   
   Overall, a very good book - the one downside is that in the book the author keeps mentioning a software program he had written to help you implement the system, but after much searching, including on his website, I was not able to find it. Too bad, it sounded like a very helpful program.



5. You should know I'm biased. Mr. Cohen is my personal financial consultant. Over the past three years while many of my friends were losing a fortune in the market, my portfolio grew substantially thanks to the principles discussed in this book. If you can't have Jeff as your personal advisor, the next best thing to do is read his book and see how he does it. - Wm.G.Hayden,M.D.

1 comments about Advanced Option Pricing Models.

1. Katz's book on Advanced Options Pricing offers traders additional insight into limitations and errors found in traditional pricing models. For those of us that write mechanical options trading systems, particularly combination models, Jeff's book is a must read. If you are an options price researcher looking for in depth advanced pricingmodel discovery, analysis and mathematics, this book is probably not for you. However, if you are looking at ways to improve your existing models thus converging the error between empirically derived options system equity curves and those equity curves derived from options models, you should read this book. As most traders know, efficient entry and exit points in the market often occur during periods when pricing models break down, so the more you can learn about options behavior during this transient period, the better your overall trading system will be.

No comments about A Practical Guide to Forecasting Financial Market Volatility (The Wiley Finance Series).

3 comments about The Winner's Circle: How Ten Stock Brokers Became the Best in the Business.

1. I was hoping for more in depth operational and philisophical description of how these brokers became successful. I would recommend this book for people who have not developed their business that thoroughly yet.



2. This book is very good and seems to lessen the apprehension of the initial marketing period for the young broker. To see the best of the best do it and the different methods by means of acheiving success,...this book does it all. You will definately come back with something.



3. A brilliant behind-the scenes look into the career path of 10 most successful stockbrokers. A must to everyone inspiring for success in stock broker's profession.

4 comments about Option Strategies: Profit-Making Techniques for Stock, Stock Index, and Commodity Options (Wiley Trading).

1. As a person who has always found option strategies to be quite confusing, this book is a god-send! Mr. Smith's book is the only options strategy book that I've ever read that gives a concise and clear decision tree on what strategy to use in what market conditions. Anyone who is a serious options trader and wants to be profitable needs this book in their library!



2. This book contains absolutely no information on how to judge whether a particular option is over- or under-priced, or how to arrive at either a bullish or bearish outlook. The idea is that you have already come to some conclusion and then you consult the book to determine how you should play the option. That would be fine if the book did not contain numerous errors, all due to the fact that this book apparently was not proof-read. For example, if your outlook is bullish, you find the strategy for putting on a call spread, and select the type of spread you want to do. The author then copied the same instructions into the section on bear spreads, and then tried to change all the "calls" to "puts" or the "buys" to "sells." Of course, he missed many such changes, and there are multiple instances where the word "call" appears where it should read "put," and where "buy" appears when it should be "sell." If you buy this book, you will have to make your own corrections in it, or you may follow the instructions right into the poorhouse. I consider the money I spent on this book to be wasted.



3. The bad news: This is a classic textbook that requires all your attention and more. Even an experienced option trader can get lost easily. The good news: It is a comprehensive guide and reference book which I use once a week to help me choose the right move.



4. Option Strategies is an excellent intermediate treatise on option trading. While it doesn't go deeply into option pricing and implied volatility, its focus on strategy and decision structure serves the reader well. Almost every major position type, from the basic buys and writes to the more complex, such as ratio spreads and butterflies are covered. Each position is dissected in detail, with emphasis on how to deal with adverse and positive price impacts.

   In the pantheon of trading tomes, Courtney Smith's work should appeal to those looking for a sound foundation in option strategy. It is one place where a trader can look at any idea and figure out which type of play offers the best risk/reward alternatives. A solid non-technical book.