McMillan on Options

This book is a comprehensive guide to a lot of trading strategies, not at all limited to the use of options.

I liked the fact that the author used a lot of real life examples, that helped to understand the strategies and sometimes the mistakes you can make

Very well written and illustrated book on options and how they work. A must have for any serious option trader.

Lawrence G. McMillan is the author of the famous title “Options as a Strategic Investment”. What’s the difference between the two books? This one is entirely different: it teaches option trading in actual examples, and is not intended to be a complete definition of strategies. This is a book in which the application of options to actual trading situations is discussed. It assumes that you are already familiar with the stock market to some extent and have traded stocks but not options. There are plenty of real trading examples, many of them taken from the author’s trading experience. In addition, there are a number of stories–some humorous, some more on the tragic side, that illustrate the rewards and pitfalls of trading, especially trading options. If you like the analysis of historic events in the markets, I can also recommend “The Only Three Questions That Count” by Ken Fisher, in addition to this book. If you like the history even more, I can recommend the trilogy: Financier, Titan and The Stoic by Theodore Dreiser. Seriously!

Pros:
– explains in a very interesting way the history of listed options and other historic events;
– humorous, vivid, entertaining and amusing;
– unique advises from the author’s experience;
– uncovers the predictive power of options in a very detailed manner with lots of case studies
– analyses the seasonality of volatility, The January effect, Late-October Buy Point, and other patterns and dependences;
– excellent chapters about the trading philosophy;

Cons:
– Chapters about selecting the right broker, getting the quotes and understanding the order flow are outdated;
– An important technique of selling puts as a way of buying the underlying security is not covered in this book, but covered in the others first book “Options as a Strategic Investment”. Warren Buffett obtains most of his stock holdings through selling puts. He got most of his Coca-Cola Holdings this way, and, recently, Burlington Northern Santa Fe. If you are interested in this technique, read chapter 19 of “Options as a Strategic Investment”;
– Doesn’t have a single references to other books.

There are many books about options, but this is a must read.

Excellent book but you must have a good background on options to benefit. The best book ever on options. AAA+++

Great Book on Options!

Thorough, but readilble. Good combination of theory and examples. Good education on market makers and how and why markets behave as they do.

included some very good options strategies.

If you enjoyed “Options as a Strategic Investment”, you will like “McMillan on Options”.

Where “Options as a Strategic Investment” is top notch in its thoroughness, it would never be considered a page turner. “McMillan on Options” breathes and allows the reader to gain Larry’s insights through personal stories and tips.

At 600+ pages, the book is loaded with advice on a range of options topics too numerous to name here. Special attention is given to the put/call ratio as a contrarian indicator of market sentiment.

The only knock I have against the book and McMillan in general is that the he tries to cover everything. I feel the book would be more effective if it had less topics with more depth.

I highly recommend it for the new student and intermediate trader who needs a comprehensive reference book to obtain a grounding in options. The advanced trader will find it helpful to evaluate additional strategies to add to their options trading.

This book I would say is a must read for serious aspirants to options trading. Having said that, it falls way short of the masterpiece from Sheldon Natemberg. Moreover, the book is outdated in its examples, more stories than text book material.

This is an extensive manual about the ins and outs of option trading. While much of the examples are dated over twenty years ago, the principles still hold true. The explanation of different strategies and the use of the Greeks for evaluation of each strategy is more thorough than I’ve seen anywhere else.

The book is a bit long. Many examples go on for several pages. Some concepts are a bit much to determine a practical use.

Keep in mind that this is not a book for beginners. This is for readers with a decent background in trading and some experience in options. It also is not a book to read once and set aside. I found myself flipping back a number of times to review material that I didn’t fully grasp the first time through. I also noticed a lot of subtlety of important factors when I read through sections again. Often I would try an approach presented and have some success, but then realize that there was more to the strategy that I missed. With additional insight I could be more consistent in successful trading.

Two particularly helpful sections were the explanations of the use of back spreads, and gamma neutral calendar spreads. I had not encountered these approaches before and they are both very powerful in low volatility environments.

I see this book as one I will likely refer back to periodically to keep learning.

McMillan does an excellent job of explaining options and its characteristics. He delves into the many different applications as well as the different strategies. More importantly, he gives a thorough analysis of the strategies as well as the concepts. This is a book for a trader or investor who wants to gain a deep and thorough understanding of options and what it can do for the bottom line.

His book is one of the best and most comprehensive of stock and futures options. You won’t regret buying it.