Recommend a book on options

Pat494

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Can anyone recommend a good book on buying and selling options ?
This caught my eye
" Not only
can you make
more
money
with
options trading
, but
you can
also benefit from the way they work when it comes to risks. Simply put,
you can
never lose more than what
you
originally paid for the call
option
contract, no matter how far the value of the stock may drop. "
 
Not sure whether this might be of interest to you but I have a couple of options books that I'd be happy to lend you. They could be a more technical than you would wish so I'd suggest googling for a synopsis.

1)"Options, Futures and Derivatives" - John C. Hull.

2) "Futures , Options and Swaps" - Robert W. Kolb

Neither of these are exactly page-turners (unlikely plot, weak characterisation etc etc:)) but very useful in understanding the numbers aspects of the markets. I believe that Hull is still required reading for professionals. Both now somewhat ancient copies have seen better days and Hull's tome nearly ended up being dog fodder so it's a bit tattered.
 
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Not sure whether this might be of interest to you but I have a couple of options books that I'd be happy to lend you. They could be a more technical than you would wish so I'd suggest googling for a synopsis.

1)"Options, Futures and Derivatives" - John C. Hull.

2) "Futures , Options and Swaps" - Robert W. Kolb

Neither of these are exactly page-turners (unlikely plot, weak characterisation etc etc:)) but very useful in understanding the numbers aspects of the markets. I believe that Hull is still required reading for professionals. Both now somewhat ancient copies have seen better days and Hull's tome nearly ended up being dog fodder so it's a bit tattered.
Thanks very much for your answer.
I will have a look at them this morning on the web.
Would you say options are worth the effort to understand ? My attention levels these days are not long, so serious stodginess may be too much of a good thing for me. My MT4 account charges a small fee if held overnight but there is no expiry date to worry about.
 
Thanks very much for your answer.
I will have a look at them this morning on the web.
Would you say options are worth the effort to understand ? My attention levels these days are not long, so serious stodginess may be too much of a good thing for me. My MT4 account charges a small fee if held overnight but there is no expiry date to worry about.

I'm no expert as my option trading days were in the 80s and early 90s and I am just beginning to consider them again after having more or less (mostly less) familiarised myself with online trading generally. What I knew 30 years ago, I've forgotten and anyway the world has moved on and there are so many tools available.

As to your questions: both of my books are really really serious stodge and I don't believe that it's necessary for a civilian to go into the theory that deeply. Having amused myself - I use the term loosely - with trying to wrestle with the likes of the Black-Scholes formula on first a scientific calculator and afterwards on the then cutting edge of space age technology as represented by an Amstrad 1640, I can say with complete confidence that everything you could possibly need to trade options effectively is available on the web and stodge consumption is not a prerequisite; in fact, I'd think that most of the option broker sites would have sufficient education material.

BTW - I'm interested that you're using MT4 for options as I'm not aware of any UK regulated ones and I'm curious as to whether yours is offshore. Somebody ("Macgomes", I think) asked precisely that question and I was able to lead him up the garden path by saying that Avatrade offer that. I subsequently realised that whilst they do offer MT4, the options trading is on their own platform, which I've not even looked at. Onward and Upward.
 
My MT4 account just does forex ETFs and some like oil, gold, silver, indices etc. not options as such.
 
My MT4 account just does forex ETFs and some like oil, gold, silver, indices etc. not options as such.


These guys do a demo account and offer options trading through mt4 BUT ....based in Cyprus

 
My favourite getting started books for options are:

Options Plain and Simple (pick up an old 2nd hand copy)

The Rookie's Guide to Options

Then when you're ready to get more advanced:

The Volatility Edge in Options Trading
 
Like Cantagril I started with derivatives in the 80's 90's and the Financial times produced a series of financial books amoung which is the classic.

Traded Options: A Private Investor's Guide (Financial Times Series)
by Mr Peter Temple
ISBN is 9780273653202 / 0273653202


The oldies are the best, they dont treat you like a 5 year old with an attention span of a gnat.
You can get it on ebay for under £3.
 
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Nice one, just ordered a second hand copy off Amazon.
For education that demands your attention 21stcenturyinvestor.com is free online training, a structured course that will give you the technical tools. CME has a volatility calculator, as we have none in the UK (the City hates us taking money off them all the time). Charlie Cottle's books are available as free downloads- he is the real deal. anything on Youtube by John Carter too. I have traded options for 20 years and have a blog with a weekly ftse trade-if you're looking for losers go to any forex/CFD site!
 
Good references above, but depending on how you want to trade with options, I thought I would add a few.
If you want to use them as a separate asset class, you should dig a bit deeper on how they work.

have a look at those
Nassim Taleb, Dynamic hedging (quite technical)
Peter Leoni, hedging and greeks explained
Sheldon Natenberg, Option volatility and pricing strategies
 
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