Options as a Strategic Investment: A Comprehensive Analysis of Listed Option Strategies

by Lawrence G. McMillan

Book Overview

A funny and practical guide to parenting "grown" children. Today's "kids" are taking longer to move out, tend to marry later, and are baffling their parents with issues far beyond the expertise of Spock or Ferber. In this irreverent yet essential guide, a bestselling writer and a psychotherapist- both of whom have adult children-team up to provide witty and insightful advice for the millions who need help handling a range of perilous and very adult...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0136383874
• ISBN13: 9780136383871
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 484 Pages
• Weight: 1.86 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The CBOE should require ALL traders to read it!

Most people who trade either stocks, options, or futures lose money. This is because they 1) are undercapitalized, 2) have no system or 3) don't understand the instrument they trade. 4) some combination of 1, 2, and 3. This book won't help you if you don't go into the market with enough money, but it will help you develop your own system (after a lot more research) and figure out how to use options to increase returns or limit risk.This book describes just about every fundamental strategy you could try with options. It covers the total return concept of covered call writing, the pros and cons of option buying, examines various types of spreads (vertical, calendar, and diagonal) and the various delta (price) neutral strategies. There is some advanced math here (in an appendix), but anyone of average intelligence and stock market knowledge could follow it.Don't pay attention to those reviewers who trash the book--they have no clue. I constantly refer to this book in order to gain a better understanding of different option strategies. No matter which direction option markets evolve, the information of this book will still apply.

The Authoratative Reference

Quite simply, this book is all you will ever need to trade equity options. The fundamentals are clearly explained and each trading strategy is amply illustrated with the help of many examples and associated graphs.If you buy this book and don't understand its contents, then you must infer that options trading is not for you. On the other hand you will learn quickly why options trading puts you at the top of the food chain (75% of option expire worthless, so why buy them when you can sell them?) The only downside to this book is that you come out the other end feeling like an expert in the subject, engendering you with a false sense of experience. One or two trades should put such arrogance in its place.

Outstanding!

Before I bought this book, I read some of the reviews here. I saw words like "dry" and "too technical" raised more than once to describe the book but went ahead and bought it anyway. It has to be the best investment strategy book I've ever read and I've read many! Admittedly, there is no "fluff" in this book. It contains nothing but valuable text. Anyone who finds it "too technical" or "dry" definitely should not be trading in the options market!