All About Options: The Easy Way to Get Started
$7.50
| Author(s) | |
|---|---|
| Pages |
256 |
| Format |
|
| Published Date |
1998 |
Thousands of individual traders and investors used the first two editions of Tom McCafferty’s All About Options to master every aspect of the options market_and develop strategies for making winning investments. This book provides a clear, no-nonsense explanation of the risks and rewards of using options, ranging from options basics to hedging and speculating to options pricing.
Author’s Introduction:
If investors do not do their homework, arbitrarily buy options, and do not closely follow the markets, you might as well consider what they’re doing is gambling—but wouldn’t this be true for any investment? Serious option traders use the law of probability to take advantage of the distortions in the supply-demand situations of stocks and/or commodity futures contracts that regularly occur. Experience, research, and even a little help from a good broker can put the statistical odds in your favor.
Trading options on stocks and/or futures is complex. Serious investors must invest in books, newsletters, seminars, software and other educational materials. Much time is required to master option trading—but the potential rewards can make the effort a joy. On the other hand, I have no intention of misleading you.
Option trading, like trading in any other investment, entails substantial risk. Not every investor is suited for it because it is such a highly speculative venture. Reading this book is a good start toward understanding options, but please consider it as only the beginning. When you’re finished, you should have a solid overview of the subject and a good idea of where you need to turn next in your quest for success in the options markets.
Contents:
- Understanding the Basics, Particularly the Value and Risks Associated with Stock Options and Options-on-Futures Trading
- Learning the Basic Option Trading Strategies (and Uses) to Solidify Objectives
- A Few More Uses for Options
- Forecasting Stock and Futures Price Trends
- Option Price Models and Volatility—The Most Important Consideration for Serious Option Traders
- Developing Trading and Money Management Plans
- What You Need to Do to Implement Your Trading Plan
- What a Difference the Computer Chip Has Made
- Selecting the Broker That’s Right for You
- Knowing a Little about Federal Regulations Can Sometimes Smooth Rough Waters
- The Single Biggest Mistake New Traders Make—Plus a Few Other Common Ones! (And, of Course, How to Avoid Them)
- Getting Started, or the Secrets of Successful Options Trading
All About Options: The Easy Way to Get Started By Thomas McCafferty pdf
9 reviews for All About Options: The Easy Way to Get Started
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Maxwell Ponce (verified owner) –
Good
Ariah Kennedy (verified owner) –
Don’t expect to understand how to trade options after plodding through this book. The style is sluggish and the explanations murky. His explanation of Black-Scholes is thoroughly confusing. A good editor and a ghost writer might’ve saved this one.
Ronin Campbell (verified owner) –
This book was far too confusing and unorganized. It was almost as if the author dictated the whole book and constantly got off on tangents that left me baffled. Don’t waste your money on this book!
Addison Horn (verified owner) –
I read hundreds of books and never write reviews. This book is so poorly written that I was compelled to write this review.
If you just read the first 5 pages of the book, you will get an idea how poor a writer its author is. The first chapter is about basics of Options. However, even for someone like me who is experienced in stock trading, it was most confusing.
I dont know how to get a refund for this aweful book but I will stay away from any books written by this author and its publisher for publsihing this junk.
Keily Solis (verified owner) –
Knowing nothing about options, but something about stocks, etc. I bought this book on a whim and gave up midway through chapter 1, ‘Understanding the Basics’. For laying out the basics, this chapter, and book for that matter, is too disorganized and goes off on too many tangents. It’s as if the author loaded up on caffeine and did a brain dump with little planning as to what he really wanted the reader to learn.
Not wanting to give up on options yet, I read a few reviews and picked up ‘Getting Started in Options’ by Thomsett, which is much better written and organized. I’d highly recommend the book by Thomsett for those starting out.
I’ll make one more stab at the book by McCafferty after finishing Thomsett since I paid for it, but do not recommend it for beginners.
Aspen Jordan (verified owner) –
Mr. McCafferty’s book seeks to provide a comprehensive review of options trading, and it is filled with what could be helpful and illustrative examples. Unfortunately, it suffers from a lack of editing. This means, for instance, that many of the examples appear to have incorrect math, as compared to the written description of how they are supposed to work. This can leave the reader confused as to which is correct.
Similarly, because the details of the basic groundwork are partly contradictory, the reader is left with less confidence as the book becomes more complex.
This is a great book for someone who is already comfortable with the basics of options, but if you are looking for an introductory text on options, try “Options for Dummies” or a similar book.
Wilson Aguirre (verified owner) –
I was introduced to options with this book around 1999. As I tried to read it again today 8 years later with much gained experience I realized how poorly written and edited this book is. I’m sure it’s not the editor’s fault as they are most likely not familiar with derivatives. Even the basics of options are botched in this poor excuse of a book. The author emphasizes that you be clear in communication with your broker when taking/offsetting positions. How ironic. The author is not even capable of basic math. 5000 x $.01 = $500? or 5000 x $.02 = $1000? Sad. The product of our American public school system? Don’t bother and look elsewhere. You’d be hard pressed to find anything more poorly written than this.
Nathan Hoffman (verified owner) –
McCafferty may be a trader, but he’s no writer. The book is like a cascade of thoughts and knowledge with no organization. Here’s a thought, if I want to learn about futures, I’ll look for a book called “All About Futures”. Poor math aside, instead of babbling on about Deltas and Offset strategies in the first chapter, how about telling me how to read a quote, and where to go to get them. The cover says “The best software programs for hedging or speculating”. In fifteen pages of “info” he happens to mention ONE fairly specialized software program. After learning all of the fundamentals of Options and Options trading, I might find value in some of the points in this book, but by then I’m sure I will have found one with a much less confusing approach.
Aileen Diaz (verified owner) –
I know nothing of options and bought this book to learn about them. Its incredibly poorly written. The author goes from jargon to jargon without really explaining anything. Even the Glossary is full of jargon. One of the worst books I have read, ever