5 comments about Options Made Easy: Your Guide to Profitable Trading (2nd Edition).

1. Guy Cohen takes a very casual and informative approach in this book. While options trading is an intimidating and daunting subject, Cohen does an excellent job making the reader feel comfortable with the material.
   
   The book provides a solid introduction to options trading. It also touches on quite a few related subjects - macroeconomic factors (which I found excellent - crisp and informative), fundamental and technical analysis, trading and investment psychology, etc., which provides the reader with a more holistic view on trading. While the primer on technical analysis is relatively short, Cohen provides several links to other references on the subject. He stresses that this book is NOT enough to cover the advanced topics, which are pretty crucial to understand before one starts trading seriously.
   
   I feel that this is the case with most of the chapters. They provide a solid introduction, but not many details. For example, I found the chapter on Greeks, which describes how the worth of your position is affected by various variables, to be somewhat incomplete and fuzzy. The chapter on fundamental analysis, while interesting, is completely unnecessary for this book - and feels out of place. The other "fuzzy" chapters on trading and investment psychology, setting strict rules, etc. are geared toward beginners and repeat a lot of obvious things, which frankly don't belong in a book about an advanced subject like options.
   
   That said, the book does a good job introducing the reader to a few semi-advanced options trading strategies. Cohen discusses collars, synthetic calls, covered calls, bull call spreads, bull put spreads, straddles and strangles, and butterflies and condors. For each one, he explains the risk and reward profile and how the position is affected by Greeks. Cohen also provides a lot of graphs and illustrations, even if some are overly simplistic and unnecessary.
   
   The appendix features a nice strategy table with lots and lots of options trading strategies. It would be great to see more in-depth discussion of each one, but, again, this book is geared toward beginners, and there are limitations to the material that can be covered.
   
   There are a couple small errors in the Second Edition, 7th Printing of the book. On p. 139, Diagram 5.1 shows an incorrect diagram for a synthetic call, and p. 161 shows the same erroneous chart. However, I got in touch with Mr. Cohen, and he assured me that this has already been corrected. It's great when an author is so responsive about his/her writing, I always feel that makes a book better.
   
   One major missing component in this book is the pricing of options. Cohen never really explains how one should tell whether certain options are over- or under-priced. In the Greeks chapter, he describes the variables that go into option pricing (via Black-Scholes), but he doesn't go into much detail. In my opinion, a more in-depth discussion of option pricing would be very useful. While this is a complex topic, and perhaps there is no need to go into all details of the Black-Scholes model, I think Cohen can at least point the reader to some calculators or reference materials. This is an important component of options trading.
   
   In conclusion, I recommend this book to anyone who has not had any exposure to options. Cohen makes an easy-to-read introduction that, while not necessarily making you completely ready to go trade options, can get you started on the right path.
   
   Pros:
   + easy to read, even about this daunting subject
   + covers many broad investment topics
   + good, in-depth discussion of risk/reward profiles for several strategies
   + excellent summaries at the end of each chapter: "major learning points"
   + many, many examples from Cohen's trading experience
   
   Cons:
   - some of the topics don't belong and can be skipped
   - not enough on option pricing, Greeks chapter could use more detail
   - some diagrams are overly simplistic and unnecessary



2. This is a book that describes option strategies suitable for beginner to intermediate level traders.It introduces the reader to the different basic option instruments in a textbook like format.This is helpful in that each strategy is summarized in table form with different variables listed (greeks, etc).Although the author does include a chapter on fundamental and another on technical analysis , what the book leaves out is how to trade the different strategies presented in real market situations using real stocks.I do realize that this may not have been the intended purpose of this book , and for this reason, I recommmend that you supplement it with books that are more geared to the practical application of basic option theory.



3. As a professional trader, I do not suggest this book for beginners. This book does not have a good explanation for beginners. It is good for people who have experience and want to learn more about option. My suggestion for beginners is to read OPTIONS DEMYSTIFIED (by Thomas McCafferty) first to get a clue about options and then read option made easy book. The book (OPTION DEMYSTIFIED)I mentioned has a great explanation for beginners. It is easy to read and understand. The writer did a great job to make it as easy as possible.



4. I was extremely disappointed with this book. I thought it was written for people with little knowledge of options. It has many confusing charts & analysis & written with terms that are not part of the average persons financial vocabulary. I will go out to by a "dummies" book. It was a complete waste of time.



5. Although this book seems to be well written, with a title like "Options Made Easy" one would assume that it would be a good book for the inexperienced options trader. If you're a beginner, this isn't the book for you. It assumes that you have knowledge about the subject. Read "Understanding Options" by Michael Sincere first. After you become familiar with the subject, then read Options Made Easy.

5 comments about Trading Options at Expiration: Strategies and Models for Winning the Endgame.

1. I liked this book. I liked how it focused on such a specific element: trading options near expiration. I only gave it 3 stars because actually pulling off some of the strategies is quite difficult especially in today's lower volatility environment. Some focus on higher level maths may also turn some readers off. Overall I think it is a good addition to a trading library and any reader will benefit from some of the knowledge and ideas contained in the text



2. I found the book difficult to understand, but then I realized it is the subject, not the writing, that is hard. The author does a remarkable job of explaining his approach. I would rate this the best book on trading I have found in years.



3. I have and I have read my fair share of options books, but this little title was an eye opener and my best trading investment to date.
   
   Jeff Augen has taken the time to study, analyze and put in paper for the rest of us a thorough description of option market phenomena (pricing efficiencies) that take place during options expiration week, especially expiration Thursday and Friday.
   
   These efficiencies are the way the markets -that is, human traders, market makers and the systems they have built- compensate for the differences between the theoretical options pricing models and the real risk (or relative lack thereof) carried by an options contract that approaches expiration.
   
   Options models like Black-Scholes-Merton assume a continuously (i.e. 24h/day) traded instrument and "frictionless trading" - i.e. no fees, no spreads and infinite liquidity. These assumptions do not hold in general, but they get totally disconnected from the trading reality during the last days in the life of an options contract. As expiration gets closer, "dead" (i.e. non-trading) time becomes an increasingly larger amount of an option contract's value. Market makers and traders respond by progressively varying implied volatility, which is the only non-deterministic variable in the options pricing formulas.
   
   This tug-of-war between options sellers and options buyers creates a predictable pattern of implied volatility behavior during expiration week. The pattern is in itself a market efficiency: it's the way the market has come up with for adjusting the risk closer to reality, so it persists across expirations. The pattern's "depth" is relatively limited, in the sense that it does not represent an opportunity to institutional-size investors. That is why it is allowed to persist, after all. But it does represent a great opportunity to private traders who will take the time to study it and trade around it. Jeff's book lays the groundwork for it all.
   
   This is a small and simply written book but not an easy book to digest due to the huge distilled experience it conveys. I have more than once had repeated "aha!" moments from the very same lines when revisiting (repeatedly) the text after a few more trades. So it pays to revisit it regularly.
   
   So, this is a cookbook in the sense that you must know about cooking and are willing to experiment a little. In this respect, I disagree with the reviewers that claim the bar is set too high for the "average options trader". It is definitely exploitable "as-is", without going into the full length of duplicating the author's data and volatility decay curves. All it takes to verify is having a feel or a good understanding of the behavior of the suggested trade structures (long ratios, straddles) and try a few small or paper trades - live on an expiration day. Some recipes are easier than others, and this book is about exploitable market phenomena that are allowed to persist and repeat because they represent efficiencies to the system. So the distance between being "average" and "successful" is of the shortest ones you can find.
   
   That said, the book might be enhanced in a second edition by adding some more detailed explanations of the underlying math; For example, I happened to find out that the "noise" in the implied volatility curves that another reviewer (Christian Farman) mentions can be reduced significantly if not eliminated when one calculates it exclusively using the out-of-the-money option; Close to expiration, time premium is so thin that the in-the-money bid-ask spread crossing when trading is enough to corrupt the in-the-money contract's implied volatility curve.
   
   Bottom line - if you are or if you are willing to become your own trader, this book is bound to save you an awful lot of research and make you look forward to the next expiration week as a good risk-reward, recurring money-making opportunity - the closest you can come to something resembling a salary in this business. As for the "erratic options week behavior" most financial journalists love to report on - there is method in the madness, and a lot of the hows and whys are written in this little gem. An unambiguous five stars, as far as I am concerned.



4. Unless I am missing something, this is pretty much the only book on this subject. And what a subject it is. Most option traders are desperate to get out on expiration day if they still hold same month options; this author says this is the day to get in! I plan to use his strategies to see if they work; based on my previous experience, I believe that they will as most options are absolute true value on Friday morning of expiration day and even a small underlying stock price change does impact the option price dramatically. An excellent book, well worth reading. I would have liked to see slighty clearer language and perhaps better summaries at the end of each chapter. However a valuable addition to the subject of options.



5. This book contains ideas that worth exploring. However, the presentation is extremely misleading. The author tends to present trades that worked under a specific scenario without devoting a fair space to analyze the risk involved. A novice trader could be easily mislead by the mirage of easy money. Although the author touted the attractive risk/reward ratio of his strategies through the book, no systematic analysis of risk/reward is included. In order to make use of the ideas, readers need to fill in the details of a strategy (entry/exit/etc), and have a back test plan to find out what the true risk/reward ratio is. Unfortunately the data needed for such an analysis is prohibitively expensive. If you are starting out with options, please DON'T read this book! It WON'T help you AT ALL! If you are well versed in option greeks and strategies, this book may give you new ideas to think about. Lastly, I borrowed this book from a library.

5 comments about Generate Thousands in Cash on your Stocks Before Buying or Selling Them: Third Edition.

1. 
   This is in my opinion by far one of the most practical and profitable books on timing stock and option trades. Technical indicators are combined together in ways I have not seen before, but are easy to follow and implement. A chapter is dedicated to special situation option setups overlooked by many traders. Recognizing these setups is the key to executing simple option trades that can deliver big profits.
   To help implement some of the trading strategies in a real life trading situation , the author provides a stock scan at the end of the book. He then takes you step by step on how to pick the stocks to trade, which ones to place on a watch list and which ones to drop. I have used this scan and ideas from the book as the basis for developing highly profitable scans of my own for different market conditions.
   The book is so full of creative and useful trading ideas, that I read it three times, and each time I was able to pick a new concept to implement in my trading.



2. This book is full of money making practical approaches to trading. What intrigued me most ,is that the author applies a contrarian approach with a twist to trading both stocks and options. Buy when everyone is panicking and sell to the enthusiastic crowd as they buy at the top. The twist in the book is that technical tools are provided to determine when a stock is in a panic selling stage ready to reverse.
   This is how extremely profitable short squeeze candidates are identified and this book gives a detailed step by step process on how to identify and trade these stocks .You no longer have to guess when a stock will stop moving lower or risk catching a falling knife.
   Timing the sales and purchase of covered calls and naked puts has a unique angle to it also. Instead of using complex methods such as greeks, raw % return etc. the author incorporates technical analysis tools to time option trades. These strategies show how to close covered calls and prevent a stock from being called, and how to maximize the return on in the money puts. This allows the trader to quickly decide if they should take the trade and when to close the position for maximum return. Based on my experience applying these ideas in the past few months, I can confidently say that the strategies in this book work extremely well and can deliver significant profits.



3. I have read tons of trading books, but Dr. Samir did what others have not been able to accomplish, show the average investor that you can make consistent money by applying simple principles.
   
   Many of my friends when we discussed the book, mistakenly believed that the book is ONLY about options. But most of them were not able to grasp the big picture and that the techniques that Dr. Samir teach us are applied to both options and stocks.
   
   What is most interesting is the ability of Dr. Samir to bring complex concepts into a simple technique. Simplicity works best.
   
   The book is about reducing risk and developing consistency. The book is perfect for all time of investors and traders: long term, mid term, short term, etc.
   
   If you are serious about trading and making money - this is a must read book. Please dont just read the book once - this is a book that probably need to be read many times over.



4. Mr. Elias' style suits me perfectly. Lots of case studies (with the pictures to follow), a sound reason behind each technique, and and upfront Professor style to the communication. I have not seen the techniques presented in this book in any other publication I have studied. The fundamental items, yes, the way they are strung together, no.
   This book in coordination with options basics (or books like Options Made Easy) can get you started in no time. Definitely worth the read, just make sure to mark or take notes as you go, because it is STUFFED with great information.



5. Almost all readers suffered in the 2008 meltdown and this book's lesson on how to recover from huge stocks losses is worth the price of admission alone! However, there is much more to this book than simply how to recover from losses.
   
   The beauty of the book for me was how to combine both stocks and options to reduce risk and increase returns. Isn't that what we're looking for? This is not a book only about options, it goes much deeper than this.
   
   Anyone can understand and more importantly learn how to implement the truly effect strategies presented in this exceptional text. The tools and strategies can be put to use immediately and there is nothing else to buy, no software to purchase and thankfully no extra hype. Just the truth about the author's own experiences.
   
   Do yourself a favor and put this one at the top of your arsenal today! You will not regret the investment.
   
   Joe Hoye
   Woodstock, VA

5 comments about Mastering the Trade: Proven Techniques for Profiting from Intraday and Swing Trading Setups (McGraw-Hill Traders Edge Series).

1. Being well written it leads to a strong sense of confidence about the trading ideas put forward.
   In addition there are many expressions of criticism for anyone that does not follow trades to the letter.
   Having traded some and simulated the others I believe there is nothing in this book that is directly a money generator. The views are too simplistic (cookie cutter almost) to be practicable and there is no direction on how to develop.
   
   Easy read, bad execution.
   
   Many better books out there on successful trading style and techniques.



2. This is a MUST-HAVE book for people who have just begun trading actively. The set-ups that he included in this books are proven techniques that highly increase the probability of being profitable. Grab a copy!



3. Im not going to write about the topics in this book, as you can easily find out by reading it. I will, however, give you my honest opinion of this text. There are also plenty of other good reviews you can read to get a synopsis of this title.
   
   The book is logically written and easy to follow. You can easily conceptualize some of his techniques but wont know if they hold any truth until you put them to the test. Many reviewers have backtested his setups and claimed them false or invalid. However, we also have to remember that some setups we backtest and have great results with dont fare well in the real world. So, the backtest argument goes both ways.
   
   The best way to put this book to the ULTIMATE test is to simply use his setups by following them to the T in the real world with REAL MONEY. Put real dollars on the line and you will see if any of the ideas hold true.
   
   Well, that is what i have begun to do. After reading this title, i quickly put 3 of his setups to the test and traded them word for word with minor adjustments on stops and entrys.
   
   I used Pivots with DDM successfully and made enough money to pay for this book a hundred times over.
   
   I used his ping pong plays and made money 75% of the time.
   
   I also used his HOLP and LOHP setups and avoided a costly mistake in going long CIT before the 80% drop just 2 wks ago.
   
   So far, i can say that this book is worth buying and having a look at. You have to try his setups and really see for yourself if they work or not.
   
   He lays out a business plan for you to follow...of course you can tweak it to your liking and preferences.
   
   Although he does emphasize futures trading alot, you can apply it to anything like an ETF or some other instrument.
   
   All in all, i have yet to try his other setups but if 3 of them are working for me, thats all that will make this 40$ buy worth it for me. Even if i got one good setup out of it, it would be worth it...because most trading books are BS and a waste of time.
   
   The only reason why i havent rated it 5 stars is because i havent had the time yet to trade all the setups that i like. I chose 5 out of the 10 setups and want to give them equal chance. Because i had success with the ones i tried so far, i will rate it 4 stars.
   
   will update my review again in a few weeks.



4. I think this book was very helpful, it covered different plans, setups, it stresses good money and risk management techniques. I found there could be something of use either from a novice to an experienced person point of view. John Carter puts down some nice example views, and explains them very well, also includes web-sites to see or use. In all I would definitely recommend this book.



5. First of all, i should point out that no one should expect someone to release "proven techniques for profiting" about the markets. The title is just for marketing purposes, and none of the trading methodologies in the book are by no means consistently profitable techniques. However, some chapters can be valuable for beginners.
   
   Conclusion: Low value.

5 comments about The Volatility Edge in Options Trading: New Technical Strategies for Investing in Unstable Markets.

1. Jeff Augen has provided an elegant, effective, analytical presentation of Option trading strategies without eschewing mathematical rigor. Because of its focus on practical trading, this book is readable by most equity and index option traders except those who are allergic to the mere mention of mathematical equations.
   
   The author has provided `statistical insight into the dynamics of price change behavior and volatility', which is useful information for the serious trader. This is true of every chapter except the last one, where the author has indulged himself in a presentation of `Building the Toolset' (an overview of the author's creation of thousands of lines of computer code).
   
   I agree with the author's lament that `the financial world has chosen to substitute careful scientific analysis with something far less precise - the opinions of financial analysts, who tend to be short on accurate predictions but long on after-the-fact analysis. Such an over reliance on `expert opinions' is not all that bad, since it served as the motivation for the author's excellent work.
   
   If you are new to option trading, you would not find the brief 4-page discussion of `Background and Terms' adequate. You might want to read a book such as Guy Cohen's `Options Made easy' before continuing on with Augen's book.
   
   In chapter 1, the author proposes the use of standard deviations to represent price changes in place of usual closing price chart and in the next several chapters makes a clear presentation of why such (standard deviation) charts are superior from a trader's point of view. Although I enjoyed the rigorous presentation of equations for the Black Scholes pricing model, this discussion may not be every reader's `cup of tea'. Such a reader may find Dan Passarelli's book `Trading Option Greeks' more amenable.
   
   Chapter 3 on `Volatility' notes how in falling markets volatility tends to rise and in rising markets volatility tends to fall. However, volatility alone is a poor indicator of price change behavior. Therefore, it is important to have a balanced view of historical volatility and price change behavior in terms of size and frequency of spikes (large standard deviations).
   
   Chapter 4 `General Considerations' includes valuable information such as this: ` an interesting strategy involves structuring a long position that benefits from increasing volatility and closing the trade just before earnings are released.' This chapter also illustrates with a clear example how `much information can be gleaned from a level II quote'. After reading this chapter, traders should no longer be surprised if call prices drop despite a rise in the underlying stock, since they would learn to attribute such effect to falling volatility that accompanies an increasingly stable rising stock.
   
   In Chapter 5 `Managing Basic Option Positions' the author makes another excellent point: `Treating option positions as static entities that have a range of values at expiration has been the downfall of many books on the subject'. Despite this view, I wish the author chose to include Profit & Loss profile diagrams (such as the ones in Passarelli's book), for at least the basic option positions, indicating the profile at trade date, an intermediate date and at expiry. I hold this view despite my total agreement with the author's statement that `opening a position and leaving it until expiration is rarely the best strategy.' The author's admonition to `focus on trading the option and not the underlying' does not necessarily apply to (my favorite strategy) deep in the money calls, which behave like synthetic stocks at a fraction of the cost. Of course, the author is well aware of this, since he observes that long call positions perform better than short put positions as a (synthetic) replacement for stock.
   
   The author goes on to discuss `Managing Complex Option Positions', and how to trade the earnings cycle and expiration cycle. I believe that a trader should trade only at the level of complexity that he can fully understand and profit from. If he wishes to indulge in more complex positions he should thoroughly soak in the knowledge exhibited in Augen's book before venturing beyond his normal reach.
   
   Ultimately, a trader wins if he is right (whether he bets on higher/lower prices or higher/lower volatility) and loses if he is wrong. The only thing he can do is improve the odds of being right and hold the losses to manageable levels when he is wrong.
   Options Made Easy: Your Guide to Profitable Trading (2nd Edition)Trading Option Greeks: How Time, Volatility, and Other Pricing Factors Drive Profit



2. Jeff Augen has produced a very detailed study of the way in which options are affected by volatility, and offers suggestions and ideas on taking advantage of that same volatility when selecting option strategies. He also presents ideas for managing complex strategies, such as diagonals and calendars, that are difficult to find in other sources. This book is definitely for the intermediate to advanced trader who has a sound understanding of option Greeks. This is an excellent reference to have on the trader's bookshelf.



3. I largely purchased the book on the favourable reviews I'd read from other previous readers of this book.
   
   Now, having read the book, for myself, I believe the book has the effect of causing an option trader to sharply focus one's attention on the issue of volatility and how that impacts on option values (including options that are still out-of-the-money).
   
   I particularly found the author's narrative, in Chapter 5 on short strangles, of great interest. For a moment I'd thought I could have written that part of the book since the strategy, the author describes, mimics my own. The author adroitly sets out, in Table 5.4, a clever option trade (i.e. a short strangle with a positive delta of +0.25 and a negative delta of -0.25) and provides all of the relevant data that should be recorded for monitoring daily movements. The Table also includes the necessary adjustments, following adverse movements in the underlying stock price, in order to maintain a delta neutral position throughout the life of the short strangle, as it moves towards expiry.
   
   The book is not intended for novices, and should only be read with those who possess a very thorough understanding of the "Greeks" and a desire to sharpen their understanding of volatility and the impact that increases and decreases in volatility have on option prices and values.



4. I just finished reading this book and got a lot out of it. It provides just what it advertises, several good strategies that depend on volatility changes. If you do not have a fairly good knowledge of options already (greeks included) and a pretty good knowledge of statistics that includes what a "normal" distribution is and isn't, then you will find this book rather tough going.
   
   The volatility spike graphs were particularly enlightening to me. I already use the main strategies discussed in this book, but Augen's discussion of them showed me why they work, and, more importantly, showed me how to assess how well they should work; i.e., what type of profit target I should be expecting and by how much I should hedge my trades.
   
   The one nit I have to pick with this book is the way trades are explained. The tabular representations of various trades and the corresponding text discussions of them can be a little difficult to follow. I think that supplementing the tables with graphical representations (perhaps 3-D price/volatility/time surfaces) of these model trades might be a good way to go.
   
   Reading this book has made me decide to read the author's other books.



5. Way too much time spent on math formula's; much too little time spent on trading the Greeks. I guess I will have to read it again and get his workbook, but I am interested enough to think about buying his expiry day option trading book. I expected some math, but was disapointed it was not more directed at trading the Greeks. Chp. 8, "Trading the expiry cycle" was probably the most useful info. TOS/Option Planet has a free 8 hour seminar you will learn far more in than this book has to offer.

5 comments about Trading Stock Options: Basic Option Trading Strategies And How I've Used Them To Profit In Any Market.

1. Mr. Burns take you through the step by step. I enjoyed it and walked away with a far better understanding and concept on how to trade options.



2. I really enjoy going through the math to help me understand the procedure. I am only through 1/3 of the book and I think I have come across one error. Page 41 line 7 should be: $160.00 or 21.3%.
   The other authors just cannot understand that a picture is worth a thousand words!



3. I have found this book very helpful. Some aspects of options trading were confusing, but this book did a good job of teaching the nuts and bolts and the thought processes involved in making successful trades.



4. I LOVE Trading Stock Options. I wanted to get a basic understanding of how I might be able to use stock options to gain profit, and this was the best book I found so far. It was easy to understand and very well written. It will be helpful to just about anyone who is interested in learning the subject. What a great resource.



5. One reason that I gave this book 5 stars is because it is full of actual trade data. Burns takes you through his actual trades as they occurred. This is a great way to learn the strategies and I've been recommending the book to people I know. The book is geared for beginners but I found just reading his trades to be interesting in their own account.

5 comments about Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and unknowns in the dazzling world of derivatives.

1. This book is an excellent read. It opens with a fictional account of a typical deal gone bad and works from there to explain where the derivatives market started and how it developed over the years.
   
   Satayajit is able to explain complicated concepts in a way that makes sense and his expertise on the subject is very evident. I actually liked the writing style too - between the fiction of the opening chapter, the humourous description of office life had me laughing out loud at times, as well as all the technical explanations!
   
   The book confirms every investors worst fear about Wall Street and how they consistently pick the pockets of their clients and the fact that many managers of Investment banks didn't understand the toxicity of the products they thought were making them billions.



2. I read this book after sub-prime happened and was shocked to see that if so many people knew how derivatives are used then why didnt anyone do anything to stop them, not even regulators? The Writer almost predicts the disaster waiting to happen. Book is full of practical wisdom (for example, "new paradigm" invariably means new bubble!) and real world incidents and anecdotes (for example, one firm sold call options with $0.01 strike on itself, with maturity of 5 years. Why you ask. Deep in the money call is equal to selling shares, except that you defer taxes till the option is exercised). Book is full of such anecdotes, which make it very interesting.
   
   I gave it four stars because, sooner or later all the wall-street books give the same feel. You read one and you have almost half read the next one. This one is slightly different because it requires a bit more knowledge about finance than some of the other books on wall street.
   
   To conclude, if you have already read 5+ books on wall street, this one will not have much to offer you. If you are anyway related with finance industry, you'll love this. If you are only beginning to read about wall street, you should get this - Das has a very rich industry experience and you'll love his anecdotes.



3. Traders, Guns & Money opens with the classic derivatives fairy tale: the farmer grows wheat, the baker bakes wheat, and the banker--God bless him--brings the two together with a forward contract, hedging their equal and opposite exposure. This is the legitimate use of derivatives. Satyajit Das dispenses with this story in one or two pages. The following 300 pages is a look a the other side of derivatives: the dangerous side.
   
   Das walks the reader confidently through the sell-side, buy-side, risk management, quants, equity derivatives, structured products, and finally credit derivatives. That he manages to do so with clarity is impressive. That he manages to do so with humor is absolutely amazing. I would confidently recommend Traders to anyone with an interest in high finance. For those like myself with a sick interest in banking, fixed income, and derivatives, it's pure gold.
   
   The book does suffer from under-editing: an egregious spattering of typos and a few rambling passages. It's also bitingly cynical. However, neither detracts from what is ultimately the most brilliant introduction to the dazzling world of derivatives one can hope to find.



4. This book would have been worth five stars if not for two things. First, the language is overly expository and verbose in parts where a simple get-to-the-point approach will do.
   
   Secondly but more egregiously, he mad a major factual error referencing a significant event in financial history. According to the author on page 33, he claimed that Nixon abolished the gold standard in 1973. From everything I've read elsewhere, this is incorrect. In a televised announcement, Nixon did this on August 15th 1971: [ [...] ]
   
   This might not seem like a very big deal, and perhaps it was indeed a typo, but FT Press isn't known to be quite as sloppy as say, Wiley. If the author really missed this basic fact it makes me wonder what else he missed in the parts less familiar to me. Other than these two things, it was a very entertaining and informative read.



5. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Anyone hoping to understand the existing financial world ought to read Traders Guns and Money first. Then he should carefully avoid all other financial books and reread this one whenever he feels an itch to speculate in financial markets.
   
   What is best about this one is that every word is carefully chosen. How Das managed this I have no idea. One comes away with the helpless feeling that while every asset has a price, value is a thing of the past. In this circumstance, what ought an investor to do? I have some ideas but why should I share them with you?
   
   The conventional justification for derivatives trading claims that it permits risk to be shifted to those willing and able to absorb it. Das makes proper hash of this idea. He explains how in fact risk is difficult to identify, and that when highly leveraged actors strive simultaneously to avoid it, what we get is musical chairs among the overcompensated, and a leaning tower of Ponzi to which the prosperity of all becomes hostage. Of course, we had this lesson from Long Term Capital Management more than ten years ago.
   
   Das provides an indellible portrait of our current world of limitless money, in which ninety percent of our citizens have only what they can borrow at 30%. Our government is busily destroying the nation's credit to preserve a system in which 1% of the population owns everything worth owning. If people understood this there would be a revolution or at least a general strike or two, but similar situations have existed throughout American history without social consequences. What is different now, of course, is that understanding the situation doesn't really help when it comes to personal survival. That is our new paradigm. As the French say, 'sauve qui peut.'

5 comments about The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes.

1. Excellent!! If you are a trader, get this book and any other book written by Mark Douglas. He is amazing!



2. I'm mystified why this book has received any positive reviews at all. At best, the psychological advice in the book sounds like new age mysticism. At worst, the trading advice is so simplistic as to actually be dangerous to new and inexperienced traders. Throughout, the writing is convoluted, long-winded and ultimately lacking in substance.
   
   It's hard to find a page without some pearl of wisdom so absurd as to be worth quoting.
   
   "The dilemma we are confronted with is how can we know what we don't know when what we have already learned will block our perception of what we haven't learned yet." Actually, the dilemma I faced was whether to bother reading to the end of the book or not. (I did, painful though it was, just in case he was saving the best for last. He wasn't.)
   
   Even though anyone reading is book is quite likely the sort of person who likes learning new things, Douglas takes the time to make the case for, well, learning new things. "How could we not be better off by learning something when you consider that the environment can act as a force on us in an almost infinite variety of ways, some of which we know about, many others we couldn't begin to anticipate unless we keep on learning in spite of what we already know?"
   
   I kept on reading in spite of what I already knew, and that's several hours of my life I will never get back.
   
   Unfortunately, Douglas is neither a psychologist nor a writer, and he has nothing to offer traders looking to improve their skills.



3. Even if you don't trade, you should read this book. The insight the author gives into a person's psyche is astounding. I learned more from this book than from dozens of psychology books and the couple of psych classes I took in college. On the downside, the author's writing style is very tedious. It took me three times as long as it should have to read this book because I had to reread (at least once) nearly every other sentence. I've heard the author speak (on the Web), and he speaks much more clearly than he writes. But the content is worth fighting your way through the book.



4. This book is fantastic - not only to learn to deal with the emotional issues of trading - but in any of lifes persuit where peak-performance is required...How we internalize our outside enviornment creats our reality...This can be mentally limiting or expansive...This book gets to the heart of these matters....
   
   This book, along with his subsequent book: Trading in the Zone - are the two best pieces of work I found in this genra...And they are a great value...Here is a tid-bit as to how great a value: Dr Van Tharp (I am sure many of you know of him) who is suppose to be a guru in this area, charges about $800 for his "Peak-Performance" homestudy corse. Tharp explicitly covers some NLP basics - but beyond that (everything) and more are in Douglas' two books...TIP: So buy Douglas' two books for about $30 each add an NLP book (I like Joseph O'conner's book) and for under $100 you have much more than what is coverd by Tharp (and Tharp is 8 times the amount) - now that's a good trade! ;-) - All these books are available at Amazon BTW....(I wish I found both of Douglas' books before i gave $800 to Tharp).
   
   Hope this helps!
   -Joe



5. Excellent read on the psychology of trading, but even more so on the psychology of living. I place this book on my top 10 list for anyone, but especially traders. You may feel that the author is being redundant, or taking too much time to say what he has to say. That means you need to slow down and really absorb the material. I believe the author wrote this book the way he did because he realizes that some people might only read it once and good things take time to sink in. Why do people repeat the same mistakes again and again? Because their big egos make them hard-headed. People have an inherent need to be right. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants and most professionals are judged by positive results. It's crucial that you don't make mistakes in these fields.
   
   In trading, a career where "losing" is a regular occurrence, it's critical to completely remove the words "right", "wrong" and "mistake" from your psyche. You put on a trade based on a setup and the moment the setup is invalidated, you exit and move on. Taking a loss quickly is a "win". The only "mistake" you can make is to violate that rule.
   
   Mark Douglas' book takes ample time to get this into your head and in the latter part of the book, he provides exercises to remove barriers that hold you back from success in a field where success is 100% possible, yet more than 90% of the participants fail.

5 comments about The Bible of Options Strategies: The Definitive Guide for Practical Trading Strategies.

1. At first glance, this book appears as though it would be useful until one actually tries to make use of the information it provides. This book is not good as a reference due the errors which are such as to make the explanations incorrect in some parts. One statement which I especially disliked which appears throughout the book as a means to exit is "Manage your position according to the rules defined in your Trading Plan." This book is also not good for learning either. As early in the text as the first twenty pages, the author uses terms which he does not explain. I would recommend that you buy other books.



2. A good read overall if you understand options already and are looking for supplemental strategies. I read all the strategy books I can find, and I subscribe to OptionsMonster and [...] and I've been doing very, very well trading options.



3. This book explains the theory and logic behind the more than sixty option strategies available to the option trader, from the simple to the highly complex. The author touches on the advantages of each strategy,risk profile, greeks, time decay and entry and exit.Often an example is given for each of the strategies discussed.
   Although it is alway good to be familiar with as many of the option techniqus as possible, most individual traders only focus on few simple option instruments in practice.To execute such trades successfully, it is critical to be at least qualitatively familiar with option behavior.This includes factors such as short interest on the stock, how close the stock price is to the strike, volatility of the stock and implies volatility of the option,open interest ratio.
   These factors are key in deciding what trade to take. As an example consider a stock with the call to put ratio of 3:1 with few days left to expiration, what option is more likey to expire worthless?. Or A highly volatile stock pinned at strike near earnings, what strategy will you use to trade options in this case? etc. The answers to such questions are critical in deciding how to trade. Some traders use options to mitigate losses on their stock trades or increase profits. In such cases where stock /option trade combinations are executed, technical analysis in addition to option behavior becomes critical. These are areas that this book does not touch on, probably because they were not within its intended scope . I would suggest for advanced option traders reading The Volatility Edge in Options Trading or Trading Options at Expiration. Beginning and intermediate traders that are more interested in simple option strategies combined with trading stocks, I would suggest Generate Thousands in Cash on your Stocks Before Buying or Selling Them: Third Edition.
   Using these books in combination with " the bible of option strategies" allowed me to translate theoretical knowledge to money making trades, which I assume is the goal of most traders.



4. It is hard to find a book that shows you the different ways to trade options in combination as well as the risks, rewards, and special considerations of each one. It is not a long tutorial but rather a set of logical groupings of related types of trades to choose between for a specific situation. It is more like a recipe book so you can quickly look up the the types of options that are good choices for a situation. It also defines each type of option strategy in a similar layout in just a few pages each. Very helpful!



5. I am a pretty experienced stock trader but I must admit trading options is much more challenging. The good news is once you start understanding options you won't want to trade stocks again. This a very well structured book, a bit repetitive here and there but overall I liked it. Despite the title I won't consider this book the "Bible" of options, if you really want a "Bible" I would recommend "Options as a Strategic Investment" by McMillan. However, this the best book to start learning options. It gives you the basics, it explains all the strategies out there and in which conditions you should use them.

5 comments about Get Rich with Options: Four Winning Strategies Straight from the Exchange Floor (Agora Series).

1. This book is for a beginning option trader who wants to make small profits. I have tried the first two strategies and they really work.



2. There are much better ideas for solid option ideas, listed below. As for this book, you know its going to be bad when the author is dumb enough to leave the same review over & over here on Amazon. Look at how many reviews here have the word "practical" in them. With a dumb author, you get a dumb read. Much of the material in the book is obvious, and it was tough to finish the book.
   For better option trading strategies I recommend the book McMillan on Options, and these two websites: OptionMonster and OptionSpreadStrategies.
   And do your own research. Hope that helps.



3. The option strategies are explained in a basic and effective way, but not much is covered on how to manage the risk trough the use of the greeks. The author claims he makes money by trading, yet this is the second edition not to mention the promotion of his website for $600 x year in the book.
   
   Maybe keeping on selling more and more "option selling related products" is his favorite strategy and it works 100% of the times.



4. I have been trading options for a while and read at least a dozen different books on them. This particular one was simply practical and honest!! I say honest because the author shared actual and practical techniques that stood the test of time in terms of probabilities in the trader's favor. In addition to the practicality, the compactness of the material simplifies the understanding of such techniques. I would whole heartedly recommend this book to any option's trader.



5. This may be a good book for a biginner in option trading, but I would advise not to follow it blindly. Being a trader for some time, I did not enjoy it much. Too many repetitive phrases. The whole book could be summarized in a few pages. The author paints a rosy picture of profit through out the book, not putting enough emphasis that trading is a two way street. The author describes him as a technical trader, but failed to give clear explanation of the technical aspects he used in the examples given in the book.