With Getting Started in Options, author Michael C. Thomsett looks to change this. In non-technical, easy-to-follow terms, this accessible guide thoroughly demystifies the options markets, distinguishes the imagined risks from the real ones, and arms investors with the facts they need to make more informed decisions.
Introduction:
The purpose of this book is to provide you with a solid foundation in the options market. To achieve this goal, chapters are set up to provide many useful tools, including:
Definitions in context. Terminology in the options world is complex and specialized, often confusing and even overwhelming a newcomer. So as each term is introduced, it is defined in a shaded box on the applicable page.
Smart investor tips. These set-asides give you observations, resources, or summaries to bring home a main point. In fact, one of the best ways to use this book is to skim through and read these tips until you find an area of discussion especially interesting or relevant to your personal questions of the moment.
Examples. A lot of books include examples, and these are often difficult to apply in any context. In this book, examples are specifically designed to expand upon the discussion of the moment. They are kept straightforward to make a point, without going off into excessive detail and discussion.
Checklists. A lot of discussion in this book is arranged by way of checklists, and thismakes it easier to absorb information in an organized and logical manner.
Illustrations. Most of what you learn is visual in nature. Options trading can be exceptionally complex, mathematical, and difficult to follow, so the use of a lot of illustrative material helps clarify important points.
Tables. Besides illustrations, whenever a lot of numerical information is needed (and that is often the case when options are involved) that information is set aside in a table. This keeps the narrative segments apart from the numerical, making all of the discussion clearer and more digestible.
Contents:
- Calls and Puts: Defining the Field of Play
- Opening, Closing, Tracking: How It AllWorks
- Buying Calls: Maximizing the Rosy View
- Buying Puts: The Positive Side of Pessimism
- Selling Calls: Conservative and Profitable
- Choosing Stocks: Finding the Right Ingredients
- Strategies in Volatile Markets: Uncertainty as an Advantage
- Selling Puts: The Overlooked Strategy
- Combined Techniques: Creative Risk Management
- Paper Trading: A Test Run of the Theory
- Options for Specialized Trading: Leveraging the Technical Approach
- Risk and Taxes: Rules of the Game
- Calculating the Return: A Complex Aspect to Options
