Futures & Options for Dummies

by Joe Duarte

The days of buying and holding stocks and mutual funds for years are gone; nowadays, futures and option markets offer some of the best opportunities to make money trading in volatile times. But like all investments, high risk is involved, and in order to become a successful trader you must be prepared to work as a geopolitical analyst, a money manager, and an expert in all types of commodity markets. Futures & Options For Dummies will show you how...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471752835
• ISBN13: 9780471752837
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: For Dummies
• Length: 364 Pages
• Weight: 1.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Good start on Options

This book is what I was looking for. I wanted to get a no-pressure education on the options trading processes. This book does the job in a user-friendly easy to understand style. Does it better than some other stuff I've tried. I recommend it.

need to know

If you're new to options, this is _the_ book to start with. Surely, online resources are plentiful, but no single web site can give you all the information and explanations you need to really get a good grasp on whqat exactly might be happenning. I've already made some money in options but, believe it or not, I've made more in stocks because I didn't quite grasp how these things work. This said, if you understand options and have a good idea of how the underlying (stock) is going to perform you can see your option appreciate 20, 50, or even 100 plus percent in a very short time. This is the draw of options. The most important thing you need to know, however, and this is 'experience' speaking, is that you have to, i mean, have to reel in your money if you see so much as 5 or 10 cent markdown in the price of your option. Why? because, unlike stocks, you can always buy right back in if the thing does start going your way With stocks, you usually hold it until you see , say, an 8% depreciation in value. This is not true with options. If you have, say, ten contracts, you're leveraging 1000 shares. Thus, if your thing goes down 5 cents, you've lost 50 dollars; 10 cents, 100 dollars and this usually happens intra-day, within a few minutes. For this reason, options are classified as 'high risk', but it's only high risk if you're averse to gettting rid of them. Stocks might take 2 or 3 or 5 days or more to show such a drop; that's when you might sell. Oh, and one more thing...having the right software makes or breaks your trading. Schwab offers options, but not any kind of software that gives you all the information and tools you need. Check around; there's a few that offer killer stuff. Visit investools.com I hope this helps future traders but, if you must know, you gotta digest all the info in the options part if you're to get a grip on the thing.

Good as Always

Helped pass the Series 3 license, and helps with understading the industry.

not for dummies, but for serious traders

I would assume people who read this book would be the ones who already have good experience in stock trading. The author did a good job in explaining the macro-economic factors (money supply, interest rate,...). You have to get good understanding on all these before you can do good in future trading. The author also did a good job in describing complicated topids in a simple and clean way. He is writing the book base on his experience and insight. He definitely is the kind of person who knows a lot and also know how to teach you things in a simple form.

A future in options

This author has explained concepts and strategies which I have used to make money. One trade, 100% return in one month, another 40% in two days! This is the reason I read this book, to make money. No one should try to make money in options based on simple formulas. One must have a deeper understanding of how things work. Duarte has a firm grasp on this concept and ably communicates to his reader. Particularly helpful is the section on recognizing trends and getting ahead of the curve. His 'Developing Strategies' does help the careful reader avoid pain in the market. Also helpful are his ten killer rules. Futures and options trading isn't for the faint of heart. Useful information contained in this book offers information needed to have confidence in developing a trading plan that you understand and can make work. This is very useful indeed. A very credible tome on a subject written with obvious insight and judgment that can only come with experience.