Book Description

The concept of profiting from trading volatility is not new, but is known to only a few players in the derivatives industry. Buying and Selling Volatility is the first book to explain this trading strategy in detail without using complex mathematics. Offering a new approach to the subject of options, seen purely from a volatility viewpoint, the author uses illustrations to clearly explain the connection between volatility and options. He explains how investors can profit from the volatility, or lack of volatility, of an option price regardless of whether the market rises or falls. Useful to both novice investors and professional traders, Buying and Selling Volatility also supplies the reader with a risk management software system that is comparable to those used commercially. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Not worth the money
Very basic book not worth the $1.... I have been in the derivative market for 5 years. For a beginner, there are much better books out there that cover all the material of this book in one chapter.

To know what u're tradin'...
The best way explained how an option price is calculated - use a dice ! The rest is ... idea-giving, good.

Good for beginners..
I found this book to be a good beginner book in trading . The chapters didn't go into much depth for more advanced traders . I would say that if your imtimidated by math then this book will be a good buy , but if you want depth and a bang for your buck ..you could do better.

OUTSTANDING!!!!
This book is all that one needs to make money in these volatile times. Now that the market is down, I'm making more money in shorting stocks than I was when I was bullish! I also enjoyed the instructions on timing...very simple, yet pure genius. ... Read more

Book Description

Designed and written for active traders who are interested in practical information that can improve their results, Trading Index Options offers tried-and-true techniques without a lot of theory and math. Bittman provides traders with the know-how to evaluate practical situations and manage positions. Among the key features: the basics of index options, including various spreads; how to match strategies with forecasts; alternatives for losing positions; the importance of price behavior and volatility. A windows-based software program that provides multiple option pricing and graphing is included in the package. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

An understanding of options delivered accurately and clearly
This book demystifies the factors that make options such an attractive and powerful trading and investment tool. Bittman's clarity leaves no misunderstanding or ambiguity about how things work in plain language and steers you clear of common beginners' mistakes. The included software provides a hands-on interactive learning experience to reinforce ideas introduced in the book and is a useful tool to evaluate potential trades.

The sections that lay out trading plans and strategies present a straightforward and disciplined approach to identifying and evaluating attractive trading opportunities. Although geared to options, these are helpful to consider no matter what markets or instruments one is trading.

Read Bittman first to get a solid foundation, then move on to the MacMillan books for the post-grad experience.

An excellent value for the price!

A Clearly Written Look At Index Options
A few years back, Bittman wrote a well-received fundamental look at equity options entitled Options for the Stock Investor. This time around the author delves into the world of index options.

Trading Index Options covers a lot of material and shines at helping the trader build a foundation to expand upon. This strength is clearly evident early on when Bittman defines most common option strategies. From the simple to the complex, each page has a graph illustrating profit and loss characteristics at expiration along with some insightful comments on each strategy. To the author's credit he mentions transaction costs as a major factor hindering more complicated strategies.

In ensuing chapters Bittman covers basic buys and sells in detail, along with basic spreads, straddles, strangles, and ratio spreads. The book is light on math and seeks to make these strategies and the reasons for their employ easily understandable.

Included with Trading Index Options is a software program entitled Op-Eval 3. The program can be used to calculate implied volatilities, greeks, compare options, and graph positions. Perhaps of greatest utility, however, is the software's ability to allow you to look at how changes in underlying prices and time decay will affect your position.

While advanced option players may find they've already compiled much of the information Bittman presents, it remains a solid sourcebook. Beginners and intermediate players will be hard pressed to find a clearer or more concise reference tool. Easily worth the money you'll pay online and a nice addition to anyone's option library.

Good Book with Outdated Software
The good news is that this book is very nicely done, providing a useful foundation to beginner and intermediate options traders. I found that I learned quite a lot about the interactions between option pricing and the various factors influencing pricing. The author provides numerous case study examples utilizing the OP-EVAL(TM) software included with the book. A majority of the book contains detailed examples describing how to use the software and interpret the output. The bad news is that the software will not run on current Windows operating systems (Windows 98 or newer). So don't buy the book if you want to try the software on your own. Efforts to contact the author, through the publisher McGraw-Hill, about the possibility of updating the software, have been unsuccessful. Otherwise a good book.

For All Options Traders
I trade options, and know that any options trader will benefit from this book. There are many parallels across markets, and this book delves into an area that isn't written about in detail anywhere else, and does a good job of illustrating the nuances of index options.

I also recommend "Credit Derivatives" by Tavakoli, for more about structuring index options in note form. Tavakoli also explains credit default options in detail.

5 Stars is not enough
From the beginning pages, the explanations are flowing and account for all levels of competency in options. When you finish the very readable book, you will have a solid understanding of index options. The graphs are excellent while the mathematical concepts are carefully explained. I have traded stock options successfully for the past ten years and I now have enough confidence in my knowledge of index options to not panic when hitting the enter button. ... Read more

Book Description

The objective of this textbook is to provide a very basic and accessible introduction to option pricing, invoking only a minimum of stochastic analysis. Although short, it covers the theory essential to the statistical modeling of stocks, pricing of derivatives (general contingent claims) with martingale theory, and computational finance including both finite-difference and Monte Carlo methods. The reader is led to an understanding of the assumptions inherent in the Black & Scholes theory, of the main idea behind deriving prices and hedges, and of the use of numerical methods to compute prices for exotic contracts.

The author's style is compact and to-the-point, requiring of the reader only basic mathematical skills. In contrast to many books addressed to an audience with greater mathematical experience, it can appeal to many practitioners, e.g. in industry, looking for an introduction to this theory without too much detail.

It dispenses with introductory chapters summarising the theory of stochastic analysis and processes, leading the reader instead through the stochastic calculus needed to perform the basic derivations and understand the basic tools

It focuses on ideas and methods rather than full rigour, while remaining mathematically correct.

The book aims at describing the basic assumptions (empirical finance) behind option theory, something that is very useful for those wanting actually to apply this. Further, it includes a big section on pricing using both the pde-approach and the martingale approach (stochastic finance).

Finally, the reader is presented the two main approaches for numerical computation of option prices (computational finance). In this chapter and also in the companion CD-ROM, Visual Basic code is supplied for all methods, in the form of an add-in for Excel. The book could be used at introductory level in Universities, with exercises (with solutions) after each chapter. Finally, I also discuss questions about incomplete markets, and have references to different practical/theoretical approaches to solve pricing problems in such markets. ... Read more

Book Description

The term Financial Derivative is a very broad term which has come to mean any financial transaction whose value depends on the underlying value of the asset concerned. Sophisticated statistical modelling of derivatives enables practitioners in the banking industry to reduce financial risk and ultimately increase profits made from these transactions.

The book originally published in March 2000 to widespread acclaim. This revised edition has been updated with minor corrections and new references, and now includes a chapter of exercises and solutions, enabling use as a course text.

• Comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of financial derivatives.
• Discusses and elaborates on the theory of interest rate derivatives, an area of increasing interest.
• Divided into two self-contained parts – the first concentrating on the theory of stochastic calculus, and the second describes in detail the pricing of a number of different derivatives in practice.
• Written by well respected academics with experience in the banking industry.

A valuable text for practitioners in research departments of all banking and finance sectors. Academic researchers and graduate students working in mathematical finance. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Erroneous comments below
I don't know why the previous reviewer said the book contains no mathematical proofs, but this statement is completely false. I have the book in front of me here, and it looks like all the theorems are accompanied with complete proofs. I don't mean to provide a complete review here, but the contents looks good, and so does the choice of topics. It certainly deserves more than 2 stars. While the level of mathematical sophistication is not that of Karatzas & Shreeve's, it is certainly above the level of a lot of prople in finance except those with a mathematical background. For a simpler book you may want to read Hull or something else (you have about 500,000 other books to choose from, isn't that great?)

Yet another textbook on mathematical finance
This volume is yet another textbook on mathematical finance (a branch of mathematics, as opposed to quantitative finance/ financial engineering) and does not contain much original material except a good exposition of LIBOR and swap market models in the second part.

The book is divided into two parts, Theory and Pratice.
The theory part is a course on stochastic processes and stochastic integration: martingales, local martingales, semimartingales, Ito integrals and Ito formulas are developed with a high level of mathematical rigor. This part is definitely not accessible to a non mathematician. On the other hand it does not contain anything new and most proofs are not given...

The second part is about applications to finance, but it isfocused on interest rate models, which seems to be the expertise of the authors. LIBOR and swap market models and interest rate derivatives are explained in detail but only at a theoretical level; the subtitles on "calibration" do not contain any useful material not is there a single numerical or empirical example of market data/ model calibration. Monte Carlo simulation, finite difference methods and tree methods are not even discussed...

The relation between the two parts is not clear: it seems that one author wrote the first part while the author wrote the second part...for example, the first part takes great care to distinguish predictable and optional processes and to define integrals of predictable processes while the second part only uses continuous models for which this distinction is useless.
Also, the first part developsthe Kunita Watanabe decomposition and studies sets of martingale measure and their extremal elements, a prelude to the study of incomplete markets.
These tools are not put to use in the second part.

It could be a good reading for graduate students in probability curious to know about mathematical finance but not to professionals in this field.

well written and relevant
The book "Financial Derivatives in Theory and Practice" by P.J. Hunt and J.E. Kennedy is yet another textbook on modern mathematics of finance. Althoughthe market seems to be saturated by countless texts onthe subject, this book appears to be an original and valuable contributionto the current literature.

The book is divided into two parts: Theory(212 pages) andPractice (159 pages). The first part surveys themathematics of no-arbitrage pricing theory. It starts by a succinct andrigorousaccount on stochastic calculus (including basic properties onWiener process, theory of martingales, and a completedevelopment ofstochastic integration w.r.t. continuous semimartingales),written in thespirit of the monograph by Revuz and Yor. The section on SDEs isparticularly detailed and covers many topics (e.g. strong andweaksolutions, description of the Yamada-Watanabe construction)that are nottypically found in texts on finance. All technicalities are treated withdue care, and some parts of the text are accompanied with exercises. Thefirst part concludes with two sections on pricing by no-arbitrage and termstructure models. Overall this part of the book is masterfully written andit is certain to please a mathematically-inclined reader (I'm not sureabout the others).

The second part deals with application of the theoryin pricing, withemphasis on interest-rate derivatives. After starting offwith an interesting discussion about the real-world modelling issues(risk-free vs."real-world" probability measure, calibration anddimension reduction), the authors introduce basic fixed income instruments(FRAs, caps, floors, swaps, etc) and proceed by developing no-arbitragepricing using the standard Black's formula. The next four sectionscontaining material on pricing exotic European derivatives largely followauthors' previously published papers. The book concludes with severalsections on pricing exotics and path-dependent derivatives that start witha nice accounts on short-rate (Vasicek-Hull-White) model and market models.The treatment of the latteralso gives asystematic development of thedrift correction factors for various choices of numeraires.The lastsection on Markov functional modelling follows one of the authors' papers.One detail that is obviously missing from this part is the treatment ofhedging of interest-rate derivatives. Also additional comparisons betweenexisting and the Markov functional modelseem to be in order. ... Read more

Book Description

Spread Trading. It's exciting. Stimulating. Highly profitable. Yet - it remains a mystery to most traders. Despite the benefits offered by this dynamic hedge tool, many traders don't understand how to recognize relationships in the commodity and financial markets - and use them to enhance their trading performance.

Now, renowned market maker Howard Abell offers the definitive book on this exciting technique, outlining strategies for analyzing opportunities, tactics for implementation, and savvy advice on overcoming the psychological barriers that hold most spread traders back. Four easy-to-follow sections reveal exactly what it takes to trade based on the concept of differential - or the relationship between commodities or similar products - including …

1) Psychological factors that make for the most successful spreaders, and developing a strategic game plan for spreading success.

2) Technical analysis and spread trading - seasonal, cyclical and historical spread relationships to exploit, such as using spreads in the grain market to profit from summer drought.

3) Spread trading methods of the top market experts. Specific strategies that have proved successful by the specialists in various asset classes.

4) Every principle & benefit spread trading affords from discovering opportunities in seemingly dull markets to earning greater long-term profits with highly calculated risk.

Good spreaders are daring yet disciplined, focused yet flexible, well-prepared yet able to think on their feet - and Abell arms readers with the analytical and psychological skills required to be not just good, but great traders, as he outlines techniques for …

Trading to win, instead of trading not to lose
Building the inevitability of draw downs into your strategy
Identify the market signal, or "spread entry point"
And many more important tools for winning big by spreading trading.

With a foreword by the CBOT's chairman Patrick Arbor, this timely handbook will equip you to face head-on the challenge of spread trading in the real world. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

You should probably pass....
There's not much content worth your money or time in this volume, whether you're a seasoned pro, a raw trading newbie, or somewhere in between.

A large part of Spread Trading is given over to interviews, which illuminate very little other than a preference among his subjects for trading spreads with trend-following strategies.Sadly, Mr. Abell does nothing to illuminate this further.If you're a trend-follower already the info is nothing new, but if you're not the author fails to provide any tools for understanding why the strategy appeals or how to build a rudimentary system.That's a big shortcoming.

The rest of the interview content is equally tepid.In short, Abell is no Jack Schwager.His interviews aren't quite worthless, but there's very little to take away here -- for either beginners or professionals.If you're looking for interviews with traders who have made it, save your money for whatever copy of the Market Wizards series you don't already own.

Another large chunk of the book is taken up with charts and data tables detailing seasonal spread relationships.This might be of some use, but to make that determination you'll have to fire up the ol' CQG (or testing platform of choice) and test whether or not these relationships still hold.There's no discussion at all about how this data was, or might have been, converted into a profitable trading system.That's fine if you already know what you're doing, but if that's the case you don't need to make a donation to Mr. Abell.The data is intriguing, but if you have a charting service (and a backtester) you should just take a look at some spreads year by year on your own.If not, it's probably over your head until you develop a little more as a trader.

I'm a spread trader myself, and while I dutifully read my partner's copy of this book from cover to cover, I wouldn't recommend you do so.Buy this only if you're willing to pay the cover price for that seasonal data.At least you'll get a nugget of a trading idea there -- although one that requires a great deal of polish.

Waste of Money
The book was written 1997, do not get confused with the publishing date of 2003. The printed daily line charts are from 1997 without hardly any description. The same almost applies to the numerous useless pages filled with tables of historical spread trades that (maybe) could have been done between 1981 and 1996. This book neither contains stategies nor addresses risk at all. Furthermore the book is full of sentences of the following kind: "Computer generated Numbers. Most traders have a library of proven computer numbers. They may be applied with success in spread trading. The only caveat however, is that they usually are not self-contained systems and should be used along with the several other devices I have spoken about."
My advice: Walk away from this trade!

Waste of Money
The book was written 1997, do not get confused with the publishing date of 2003. The printed daily line charts are from 1997 without hardly any description. The same almost applies to the numerous useless pages filled with tables of historical spread trades that could have been done between 1981 and 1996. This book does not contain stategies at all. Furthermore the book is full of sentences of the following kind: "Computer generated Numbers. Most traders have a library of proven computer numbers. They may be applied with success in spread trading. The only caveat however, is that they usually are not self-contained systems and should be used along with the several other devices I have spoken about."
My advice: Walk away from this trade!

Disappointing
If I had wanted a psychology book I would have bought one! Mr. Abell is obviously obsessed with the subject as there is almost nothing in this book that gives the nuts and bolts ofspread trading. 45% deals with the psychology of trading, 45% of it are interviews with "successful" spread traders, and the remaining 10% if you discount the charts deals with spreading. Save your money.

Napoleon Hill of Spread trading
It has interviews with spread traders, a Eurodollar spread floor trader, as well as with Steve Moore who publishes daily Internet spread charts. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Outstanding! One shouldnt miss this!
The book began with the author's recall of the suicide of his bond trader friend who lost about US$60K in one single Friday in 1982. Quite a sad story, but it did tell how serious the author was about trading and his sincerity of writing a good book that attempted to help traders and those aspiring ones. In my opinion, he did a very good job.

With fifty chapters of individual trading rules (one can refer to the sample page on Amazon.com), the author had discussed, with abundant of real life samples and without nonsense, most of the essential trading rules that I had read here and there in other trading books and had personally experienced, though not effectively put into practice. One might had already read a lot of trading books. I did. However, this one was so well written and organised that I would like to recommend it to anybody who wants to buy a book for easy reference to keep himself/herself well guarded against the ups and downs of trading life.

Read it
Written by a floor trade on the cbot, this book is simply a list of rules with brief 5 page explanations for each chapter. I found about most of the rules to be elementary to an intermediate trader. However, almost any trader regardless of experience can pick up a few tidbits in this book .. which is more than I can say for most trading books.

I give the book 3 stars for content, another star for being a very quick read, and another star for being cheap ...

Wisdom for Traders, Not "Trading for Dummies"
This book is about the mindset and mental habits a trader needs to be successful in the markets. Every successful trading career has been a process of learning the "rules" in this book. If you can imagine a good friend with years of experience giving you advice on how to improve your trading; that is exactly how this book reads. This book IS NOT a "how to place a trade book." It IS an excellent book on what not to do once a trade has been placed. No book can replace the school of hard knocks every trader has to go through in order to succeed, but if you embrace the principles contained in this book and make them your own; you will save yourself a ton of money. You may even save yourself enough money to stay in the game.

wisdom from the trenches
Rather than detailing the glories of the trading lifestyle and the millions to be made, Mr. Eng opens his book with a tragic tale of pain and loss that illustrates just how tough trading can be, and how the psychological effects can be magnified by conflicts in other parts of your life if you are not prepared. Many dabblers and novices hoping for a fast path to a quick buck will be turned off after reading the introduction, and I get the impression that this is the way Eng wants it.

The advice in this book rings true because Eng has been there and done it. He has lived and breathed the rules he teaches. He has made most if not all of the mistakes he warns of and personally felt the painful consequences. It is hard not to respect a veteran, especially one who has been successful in his campaign.

A lot of the rules may seem deceptively simple, or even contradictory at times (a number of trading maxims often are on the surface level), but perhaps the real value in this book is in the explanation of the rules through example and experience. With the basics so prominent and the rules for trading success so widely disseminated, the paradox is why so few can follow those rules. Perhaps one reason is because it is necessary to really understand on a deeper level why these rules are important before it is possible to follow them consistently without internal conflict. Eng's examples and stories help to illustrate the importance of the rules. This book will likely be appreciated more by old traders than new. Those who have years of trading under their belts will see hard earned wisdom in the words and maybe find a sense of comraderie with Eng as he tells his stories.

If you find Eng's rules too simple or too basic to bother with, ask yourself what your own interpretation of trading success is and how well you follow your guidelines. You might be surprised.

For intermediate traders
The better I get at making money trading, (not investing), the more these good books show up. (When the student is ready, the teacher will appear). I have read dozens of books over the years like all of you,and most of them did nothing for me except help me part with my money. I would get discouraged and quit the game for a few weeks or a couple of months but love of the game kept bringing me back. And when I picked up books like this one, some years ago, it didn't interest me. Know why? I wasn't ready for it. The reason it interests me now is because through many losses and trial and error, I am finding my way through this trading game and I find myself doing most of the right things now and when I read a book like this one, it confirms it! When I was a novice and not doing the right things, this book didn't confirm it, hence, it didn't appeal to me. I guess what I'm saying is, if your not improving at the trading game, then perhaps you're not ready for this book. If you are, you will be pleased to see yourself on many of the pages, but better yet, the confirmation you'll get from the book will increase your confidence and you just have to make more money. Maybe if you're not doing well and read this book, it will help you, too. All I know is when I was losing every day, I kept reading all the hype in the day trading books, losing money and this book didn't appeal to me. Now I have patience and discipline and sleep better and make money. This book has helped me make more as a position/swing trader of stocks only. Just keep in mind the 4 cardinal rules of trading: 1. Trade the trend, 2. Cut your losses quickly, 3. Let your profits run to infinity, and 4. Manage your risk. And when you learn that managing your risk partly involves losing money properly, then losing money won't bother you anymore. Read and reread this book and perhaps you too can trade the market for a living. And you know what? The markets are crashing and I'm still making money. I'm not sure if I would if I hadn't read the book. ... Read more

Book Description

A comprehensive study companion to The Options Course, Second Edition
In The Options Course Workbook, Second Edition, George Fontanills offers a wealth of practical exercises that will help further the readers' understanding of options, as well as test and apply what they've learned before they take their first step into the real markets-where time and money are luxuries they cannot afford to lose. This hands-on companion to The Options Course, Second Edition includes a complete answer key and covers a wide range of options issues.
George A. Fontanills (Miami, FL) is the President Emeritus of Optionetics, the world leader in Options Education, with offices around the world specializing in teaching high-profit, low-risk, low-stress option trading strategies (www.optionetics.com.) George also runs a hedge fund and money management company. He has written many books, including Trade Options Online (0-471-35938-6), The Volatility Course (0-471-39816-0), The Volatility Course Workbook (0-471-39817-9), and The Stock Market Course (0-471-39315-0) ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Over rated ...
This book contains 90 pages of (mostly) multiple choice questions with theanswers at the back of the book. It is the type of material that routinelyfollows a chapter in any textbook. Though the questions are to thepoint, my objection is that it is published as a separate book at the priceof many complete works. Properly published, these questions would not add90 pages to the original text which was itself under 300 pages. Thequestions did not help me understand the material, only tested myrecollection. I feel that publishing this material as a workbook is only amarketing ploy and cheapens the product.

The Work Bookgoes with the Options Course Book
I have bought this book and the Options Course Book. This book is designed to directly relate to the hardback book (Options Course Book) and has no application to be read on its own.

The author has used the workbook totest your knowledge of the hard back book.The work book pulls the salientpoints out so that you ensure you got what you need.

The tests areaccompanied by the answers at the back of the book.I thought it a greatidea to combine the two books as I never know if I got it all when I read abook.

This book has no practical use on its own and should have beenbought with the Course Book.

Great idea.However, if you are looking forthe detail you should buy the Options Course Book.

There is no material to review
If you're looking to read and assimilate information about options and then test yourself on the information just acquired - this is the exact wrong book!

This book contains only questions and multiple choiceanswers.The answers are in the back. The learning method is to take thetests blindly and then see how many you guessed correctly.It is learningin reverse.

I was hoping for an explanation of a term or concept and thena follow up test.There are only tests.As such it may live up to theletter of its title but it fails miserably as a teaching tool.For what itpurports to be and for what it delivers it seems ridiculouslyoverpriced.

A very unsatisfied customer.

Excellent Book to Accompany the Options Course Book
I used this book in tandem with the OCB to pull the points that I wanted to understand.The author has used the additional book to ensure that each chapter of the OCB is pointed and hits the mark.

This book is a must topurchase at the same time as his first book Options Course Book.Greatidea to reinforce for the reader the salient points that you want to getover

Thank you Mr. Fontanills

Dana

Test your knowledge from the Options Course Book
After I read each chapter of the options course I tested my understanding.It was very useful so I could goback and read if I had missed something. ... Read more

Book Description

Presents day traders with a systematic and rational framework for decision-making in the futures, options and equities markets. Offers complete coverage of day-trading methods including price, time and volume analysis techniques, money and position management strategies, trading systems, computerized trading tactics and much more. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Not practical
I anxiously waited for this book to arrive and was disappointed. Though the material may apply to some traders, it was like reading a physics manual. Very little up to date practical info. Candlesticks are not discussed at all. This book may be OK for a casual look over, but there are far better books such as Profitable Candlestick Trading by Bigalow, Toni Turners books, Nissans Candlestick books, Elders books, The Disciplined Trader, The Market Makers Edge, and many others that get into the real meat if you want to learn the art of day, swing, and position trading. Trading is not a get rich quick scheme, it is not gambling, but rather a deliberate planned approach to trading stocks and futures for fun and profit. It takes a lot of hard work and years of study to be consistently successful. You are going to have to focus on the art of the trade, not the money to get it done. Reading all of the books you can find on the subject is definitely suggested. But this one, I cannot recommend.

Tried to encompass a lot, achieved none
I had rated the author's first book "Trading rules: Strategies for success" with 5 stars. I never expected such a frustration with this book.

Perhaps the trader did try to make this book as a day trader's manual by including everything he deemed fit into a 322 page book: trading psychology, rules drawn from his own experience, chaos theory and in particular many TA tools like Market Profile, Elliot Wave, Gann Fan, RSI, Stochastics and so on. He then used nearly 40% of the book in 14 cases to elaborate those tools. The problem is, though I believe it's the intent of the author to make the book as concise as possible, it's simply impossible for most, even some professionals, to grasp the usage of the aforesaid TA tools. Even worse, the cases just did not help at all.

In a word, a big disappointment for this one and I suggest those who would like to give the author a try to bet on his first book "Trading Rules: Strategies for success".

HASN'T PROVED TO BE REALLY USEFUL
I haven't been really able to use any of the things in this book for my personal trading.However, there is one thing that I find helpful, that is the table on page 30 & 31 which gives you a run down of the popularindicators and their deficiencies.

Don't waste your money as I did!
Way too much unusable information.I kept waking up throughout the book, hoping to get to the parts about day-trading I could put into practice.(It never happened)

Too much Theory
I was looking for "How To" Day trading book. Reading this book was torture.I felt Mr. Eng was trying harder to impress upon the reader his vast knowledge of the theory of economics, rather than teaching one how to day trade.I admit,I couldn't force myself to read the whole book. By the time I finished part two, feeling I'd gained nothing out of those186 awful pages, I moved on to more exciting authors. ... Read more

Book Description

"Outperform the Dow presents not only fascinating statistics about the performance of the Dow itself but also how to beat that performance with nearly four dozen different methods, from the basic to the sophisticated. You won't often find strategies involving futures and options included in this type of discussion, but this practical guide shows how they can be used to boost your returns in simple, safe ways you might never have considered." -DARRELL JOBMAN, CoAuthor of The Complete Guide to Electronic Futures Trading

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is the most widely followed equity index in the world, and the benchmark against which most U.S. investors measure their investment returns. Outperform the Dow outlines strategies and techniques that many investors have used to consistently beat this benchmark-and pump up their portfolio values.

Outperform the Dow goes beyond simply discussing these strategies to provide solid, statistical evidence of their consistent superiority in up, down, and sideways markets. Learn here how you can profit from Dow-beating strategies that include:
* Last Year's Winners n Smooth Risers
* Tuesday Opportunity
* Triple-Witching Days n Fool's Forecast
* Semi-Monthly Analysis
* January Momentum
* Covered Call Writing
* October/June Straddles
* Exotic Options

The objective of investing is to supply companies with capital and for the investor to gain profits. History shows that over time, certain techniques and strategies have consistently allowed savvy investors to gain exceptional profits. Discover the secrets of successful investors, climb down off the "buy-and-hold" bandwagon, and learn how to really make your money work for you with Outperform the Dow. ... Read more

Book Description

A groundbreaking collection on currency derivatives, including pricing theory and hedging applications.

"David DeRosa has assembled an outstanding collection of works on foreign exchange derivatives. It surely will become required reading for both students and option traders."—Mark B. Garman President, Financial Engineering Associates, Inc. Emeritus Professor, University of California, Berkeley.

"A comprehensive selection of the major references in currency option pricing."—Nassim Taleb. Senior trading advisor, Paribas Author, Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options.

"A useful compilation of articles on currency derivatives, going from the essential to the esoteric."—Philippe Jorion Professor of Finance, University of California, Irvine Author, Value at Risk: The New Benchmark for Controlling Market Risk.

Every investment practitioner knows of the enormous impact that the Black-Scholes option pricing model has had on investment and derivatives markets. The success of the theory in understanding options on equity, equity index, and fixed- income markets is common knowledge. Yet, comparatively few professionals are aware that the theory's greatest successes may have been in the derivatives market for foreign exchange. Perhaps this is not surprising because the foreign exchange market is a professional trading arena that is closed virtually to all but institutional participants. Nevertheless, the world's currency markets have proven to be an almost ideal testing and development ground for new derivative instruments.

This book contains many of the most important scientific papers that collectively constitute the core of modern currency derivatives theory. What is remarkable is that each and every one of these papers has found its place in the real world of currency derivatives trading. As such, the contributing authors to this volume can properly claim to have been codevelopers of this new derivatives market, having worked in de facto partnership with the professional traders in the dealing rooms of London, New York, Tokyo, and Singapore.

The articles in this book span the entire currency derivatives field: forward and futures contracts, vanilla currency puts and calls, models for American exercise currency options, options on currencies with bounded exchange rate regimes, currency futures options, the term and strike structure of implied volatility, jump and stochastic volatility option pricing models, barrier options, Asian options, and various sorts of quanto options. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

This is solid book that has depth
This book covers so much in the derivatives marketplace. After being involved in the business for 12 years and writing three books on futures and commodity derivatives I was definitely refreshed and enlightened by Mr.DeRosa's book.

Excellent choice of papers!
DeRosa has picked excellent papers. If one reads the papers in detail, the currency derivatives literature, as well as related derivatives literature, becomes very easy to understand.

Comprehensive
This book presents highly technical papers on diverse topics from variuous academics. It would be very helpful to anyone looking to understand theoretical aspects of FX derivatives. Since most papers are written by different authors, notation is not consistent. In addition, academics do not always write like Hemingway. Nevertheless, the book covers everyhting from vanillas to exotics very well. ... Read more

Book Description

Energy markets are more perilous than ever before. Deregulation has forced a whole new world of trading and risk management jargon onto the power and energy marketer. How does the manager master this complex process, with its myriad experts, personalities, and systems? John Wengler identifies these issues, discusses and analyzes them, and in checklist fashion prioritizes for managers what they must do to succeed despite risks as diverse as price, trader, and credit. Written in plain English, the text is directed at upper management at all electric utilities, natural gas firms, oil companies, and industrial end-users served by the energy complex. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Very disappointing
This text offers absolutely nothing. It is either far too simplistic or misses chunks of valuable detail.

There are far better introductions to the energy markets (e.g. Stephen Errera's Trading Energy Futures & Options or Peter Fusaro's Energy Risk Management) - buy one of these instead!

This book helped me get a job!
"Managing Energy Risk" gave me the information I needed to answer technical questions about energy risk in an actual job interview. My answers must have been good because I was offered and happily accepted an energy risk management position! This is a great introduction and summary of energy risk management, which I believe was intended for managers and others like myself who just want a thorough overview. Several technical concepts are discussed in this book, but the author leaves the gory details for other sources. Among other things this book covers: 1) the current status of the electric power industry and a brief historical perspective, 2) risk management policies and procedures, 3) the different players involved in energy risk management, and 4) the foundations, basics, and some of the peculiarities of energy risk management. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a solid foundation in energy risk management.

Misses the mark
Patronizing style and too many mentions of his wife's book. Poor content - give it a miss.

Excellent "big picture" of energy risk management
Managing Energy Risk: A Nontechnical Guide to Markets and Trading serves as a wonderful overview of the critical issues surrounding risk management operations. Although it does not replace an in-depth discussion of financial instruments found in a traditional finance textbook, the author does not intend it to do so. Instead, the book provides an introduction to financial instruments but offers a much broader perspective of risk management. It covers topics such as the trend towards market pricing in the electric power markets, the importance of having clear risk management policies and procedures, and the overall deal process. It is an excellent read for anyone interested in having a "big picture" understanding of risk management operations. ... Read more

Book Description

Weather Derivative Valuation is the first book to cover all the meteorological, statistical, financial and mathematical issues that arise in the pricing and risk management of weather derivatives. There are chapters on meteorological data and data cleaning, the modelling and pricing of single weather derivatives, the modelling and valuation of portfolios, the use of weather and seasonal forecasts in the pricing of weather derivatives, arbitrage pricing for weather derivatives, risk management, and the modelling of temperature, wind and precipitation. Specific issues covered in detail include the analysis of uncertainty in weather derivative pricing, time-series modelling of daily temperatures, the creation and use of probabilistic meteorological forecasts and the derivation of the weather derivative version of the Black-Scholes equation of mathematical finance. Written by consultants who work within the weather derivative industry, this book is packed with practical information and theoretical insight into the world of weather derivative pricing. ... Read more

Book Description

Your A to Z Guide to the World’s Largest Option Market "A clearly written manual that flows smoothly. Whether you have 20 years of experience in the FX options markets or none, you will learn something interesting from reading this book. Highly recommended for both traders and non-traders." • Adam Kreysar, Global Head FX Options Warburg Dillon Read "DeRosa presents technical material with a minimum of technical fuss. Filtered through his scholarship and practical trading experience, up-to-date topics such as exotic options, forward volatilities, and the volatility smile become accessible. The book will be extremely useful to asset managers and risk managers." • Allan M. Malz, Partner The RiskMetrics Group "This new edition of Options on Foreign Exchange provides an exhaustive review of the literature on currency options, in addition to covering the practical aspects of the business. It is greatly pedagogical and well written—as can be expected from David DeRosa." • Nassim Taleb, President Empirica Capital LLC ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Good introduction
Mr De Rosa has written a well structured
introduction into the forex option market.
The clear examples and the pleasant writing
style make it an easy read (two nights, tops!).
Starting by showing the reader an EBS
dealing screen, he explains the price setting using the Black-Scholes model.
A bit more explanation might have been
in order on how the interbank market
really works in practice (volatility runs for ATMS Straddles, market making, etc...).
The section on exchange traded options and
futures is interesting for readers unaware
of the important differences with the OTC market.
The formulas for the Greeks contain almost
no typo's thus making the book useful as
a reference for a programmer.
The section on barrier options is a bit
disappointing. The relationship between
higher order derivatives and the volatility
smile might not have been out of place
(I am referring to the celebrated "three option
method" to quickly price exotics without
having to use MC-simulation).
Also, when introducing alternatives to the
BS-model, the formulae appear as by Deus
ex Machina. Nothing is said about calibration
difficulties. And when introducing alternative
models, why not going into long term fx
options ?
All in all, I would recommend the book to
any beginning forex option trader or salesperson,
but as those people generally do not earn the
largest of salaries, it is even better if they
borrow it from their institution's library.

Non-technical but intuitive
This book is a nice introduction to the subject. A trader would benefit from reading the text more than a financial engineer would. It may be a good idea to read the author's "Currency Derivatives," as well. People who have read any text at the level of Hull or higher are advised to move on to "Currency Derivatives" directly.

Updated Second Edition
This second edition has been greatly expanded with materials on the mechanics of the foreign exchange and options markets. The sections on the international monetary system have been updated, especially with respect to the European monetary system. New sections have been added on exotic currency options, specifically on barriers, average rate, basket and quantos options. There are two new chapters, one on currency option applications and another on currency overlay management. ... Read more

Book Description

Our highest recommendation goes to this comprehensive guide. Best description of trader and floor trader psychology options strategies trading syles and tips. Most intriguing is the section discussing the proprietary LSS System. This book is must-reading! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

this book needs to be updated
the fundamental ideas mentioned in this book are timeless, hence is valuable.

but some of the systems suggested are dated. the book needs an upgrade to keep up with the times.

satish paul ... Read more

Book Description

This book is both a comprehensive introduction to the booming ($200 billion) structured note market, and a practical reference on the mechanics of the structuring process. Readers get detailed coverage of all major types of structured notes across all types of assets. This updated and expanded Second Edition features increased or entirely new coverage of equity linked notes; convertible pricing; credit-linked notes; inflation linked securities; and CAT insurance linked bonds. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Structured Finance
There is little written on structured finance from objective observers of the market. You'll want to add this to your collection.

Excellent Overview of Structured Poducts
Had I only had this book at the beginning of my Sales career, life would have been much easier. The book is unique in many ways. First, it's the only book I know of which covers such a wide range of products. Second, product examples are often supported by money-flow-diagramms (e.g. Investor, Issuer, Swap Desk). Never seen that before. Third, termsheet-like examples are given to most of the products for better understanding. In this way, it's a book for investors/sales alike. It's simple and clear with no math at all. Level: Beginners - Advanced. The pro will miss more and up-to-date products, but how can a book provide that?

Topics coverred like: Interest rate / Currency / Commodity / Equity / Credit / Inflation / Insurance linked Notes. Taxation and Market for Structured Products.

Good from far ... far from good
While it will be sufficient as a primer for entrants to the arcane world of the various branches of OTC derivatives especially in the fixed income area ...

I suspect that many topics & inferences were plugged in from the author's many other publications which had been pretty prolific & churned out every other year ...

I will only recommend it as an introductory book for the student or new professional, but probably not relevant if you are a serious (or half serious) practitioner looking to keep abreast with the competition or the academics, and hoping to find something which you already do not know nor hear about. ... Read more

Book Description

Option Writing Strategies for Extraordinary Returns details put and call writing techniques sophisticated investors can use to profit from market movement in any direction. It first outlines a strategy for selling options short, using tables and charts to illustrate each step, and then builds a three-legged model for using popular options tools when purchasing stocks. Additional features include techniques for extending a position or writing “up” a position, a valuable listing of available online option tools, and steps for taking advantage of market volatility.

Book Description

All About Commodities is the essential primer for anyone interested in trading commodities as well as an invaluable study aid for the National Commodity Futures Exam. This book enables the reader to form a solid understanding of the markets and their participants, complete with explanations of trading rules, regulations and terms. Practice examinations enable readers to test their knowledge. Topics include: Hedging basics; Clearinghouse operations; Introduction to fundamental and technical analysis; Trading rules and regulations; Money management. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

a bit dated and rushed.
All About Commodities was helpful to me, but it is dated, having no knowledge of internet trading, and it seems rushed considering that 2 other books that summarize ALL types of investments gave better introductions to the basic concepts of commodities trading. These other two books are: "Stocks, Bonds, Options, Futures" by the staff of the New York Institute of Finance and "The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Markets" by Richard Saul Wurman. These other two both introduce the term "mark to the market" (and other terms) very well, but this book only mentions it in passing on page 108. When discussing trading software, they mention, something called "neutral network" software, which obviously should be "neural network". Not at typo because they spelled it that way 3 or 4 times! Although the book has a glossary, neither of these two terms end up in it.

The book provided a lot of helpful info that is well-written and clear; I was especially appreciative of the excercises at the end of each chapter since there is a bit of math involved with commodities trading and one needs to practice at it. I was NOT appreciative of the chapter dedicated to studying for the NCFE. It was just a filler where they stuffed in a sample exam, answers, and some commentary. Something like that should be put in an appendix, but better yet, made into a separate booklet. I would recommend this book, but even more highly if the authors put out an updated second edition where they improve the introductory chapter, devote a new chapter to internet trading, and make sure the glossary covers ALL the terms.

Excellent for it's purposes.
I just started a job as a reporter for the New York Cotton Exchange and knew next to nothing about commodities and futures. After reading this book I felt I had a solid foot in the door and now feel ready to dive further into the complicated subject of commodity trading. Excellent choice for a thorough introduction to the subject. In fact, I just purchased McCafferty's All About Options: From the Inside Out. Recommended read.

A good place to start.
Warsendorf and McCafferty have written a well organized primer for the beginning commodities trader. As a rank beginner myself, I truly appreciated the glossary of terms. The nomenclature of this subject is considerable; however, the authors introduce the subject on a level that most will be able to understand.

The title is somewhat misleading as this is not "all" there is to know about commodities, but the authors do not profess to have covered the subject in its entirety. They even give a fairly extensive list of books for further reading. What they have done is to cover the major aspects of commodities trading in a comprehesive, well-written manner. Though even as a beginner, I would have liked to have had a more thorough explanation of the various trading systems (many are covered). Or, perhaps just more examples showing how the systems work in actual practice. This is about my only criticizm.

Warsendorf and McCafferty's philosophy on developing your own trading system was refreshing to me. Instead of saying that one should follow their system, they say that you should study many trading systems and then develop your own. It reminded me of Bruce Lee's "Tao of Jeet Kune Do." Much of the book is filled with this sort of sound, common sense advice.

All in all, it was a good read. I feel well grounded in the subject and ready to tackle more detailed books.

If you're a beginner, this is a good place to start; if you're a veteran, try the tests at the end of the chapters and see how your knowledge of commodities and trading stacks up! ... Read more

Book Description

Do you take the chance of creating and amplifying risk when you are simply attempting to understand and control risk? In Phillippe Jorion's Value at Risk, learn the specifics of the value-at-risk system, the risk management program that today's leading banks and financial firms use to calculate and track financial risk. Value at Risk is the first book to thoroughly explain this increasingly influential system, which allows you to gauge financial risks and take proactive steps to control those risks. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Best intro to VAR
Cannot think of any other book that gives you the basics and beyond of VAR. As an MBA student I liked most the practical examples. Mathematical stuff is kept to a minimum, even though it can be sometimes quite demanding. Jorion is one of the laeding academics on VAR. He "defends" the properties of VAR very well after some criticism on VAR (see Nassim Taleb's web page).

A Great Introduction to VaR
Dr. Jorion's book formally introduced the concept of VaR to me several years ago. It's written so that a novice in risk management can understand the concepts with ease.

A great book.

An excellent introduction to VaR
This provides an excellent overview and introduction to VaR and issues surrounding it. A must read for any body involved with financial risk management.

Outstanding and practical
Jorian clearly has practiced before he began to preach. I found his work to be essential in designing and implementing a var methodology for the electricity forward market. The examples he gives of the failures to measure and control risk are illuminating and entertaining. I have recommended the book to others and they have agreed that the book is excellent.

Very useful book
I am equity trader and I find this book very useful in terms of market risk management ... Read more

Book Description

Options are an investment vehicle that can enhance virtually any investment philosophy. Fundamentals of the Options Market provides a clear, concise picture of this global marketplace. Using examples drawn fromcontemporary financial news, this completely accessible guidebook describes why and how these versatile tools can be used to hedge risk and enhance return, while explaining popular products including listed stock options, index options, and LEAPS. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Practical Options Trading
I have read several options books and they are mostly theoretical or geared towards option market makers. This was the first book I read that I felt was practical. The beginning of this book is very simplistic and explains everything from what an option is to how they are priced. I found it a little to easy, but if you do not know anything about options then this would be a great place to start. The second section and strategy section are the best I have seen for the practical retail trader. I found it very interesting how market makers make markets and how it may effect the retail trader. This was also the first book that I have read that made volatility simple to understand. The best part was the strategy section. The book is divided into bullish, bearish, flat market, and volatile market strategies. I found this to be a great reference tool. This book should be on the self of every advanced retail trader. I have seen the author, Michael Williams, speak in New York and found him very knowledgeable, but even more importantly an excellent teacher. I would rate this book 4 1/2 stars because I am already familiar with options and the beginning is introductory. This book is for the retail client that wants to take advantage of options and the leverage they provide. I would rank this book for beginners to intermediate. For an advance book I would recommend Natenberg's "Option Volatility and Pricing". These two books together are all you need for stock options.

Good but many, many errors. Were the editors asleep?
The authors appear to know their subject well. I would recommend this as a beginner-to-intermediate introduction to fundamentals except for the numerous errors.

Some errors are like "typos" such as 6 instead of 60, some are more serious and subtle such as specifying a call when a put was meant, and some are fundamental structural problems with the book. For example, the Quiz answers don't match the chapters to which they purportedly provide answers, and in some cases only some questions are answered anyway.

The errors are so numerous, and some of a type that they won't be caught by the average beginner, that it might be dangerous for a beginner to rely on this book as a reference or as an only introduction to options.

I'd really like to have a completely "cleaned up" copy, as I think that could make this the best introduction that I'm aware of.

Finally....
Finally, a book about options that is understandable and helpful. The book has been reprinted so the errors that the other readers referred to have been corrected. I loved it!

Too many errors to be used as a definitive resource
As an instructor in equity options for a major market making firm, I've been looking for an introductory text to supplement the lecture material presented in our training classes. While MacMillan and Natenberg have written great books on the topic, the former is not specific enough to our market making business and the latter is too advanced for the beginner. In looking for something in between these two fine works, someone suggested to me the Williams/Hoffman book. It has been unsatisfactory in several respects. Explanations of some concepts appear out