Profit With Options: Essential Methods for Investing Success
$18.66
Profit with Options is a practical, execution-focused guide for traders and investors who already understand basic option concepts and want to apply them in a more systematic and disciplined way. Lawrence G. McMillan structures the book as a hands-on learning manual, designed to move readers from theoretical understanding to consistent application in real market conditions.
Rather than overwhelming the reader with abstract mathematics, the book concentrates on how option prices behave in practice—especially the role of volatility, time decay, and sensitivity to market movement. McMillan explains why volatility should be treated as a primary decision variable and how different option structures behave as volatility expands or contracts. Longer-dated options, including LEAPS, are discussed in terms of their strategic advantages and unique risk profiles.
A key contribution of this book is its treatment of options as market intelligence tools. McMillan distinguishes between direct indicators—where option activity may reflect informed positioning—and contrary indicators, where extreme crowd behavior in options often precedes market turning points. This framework helps traders interpret option-related data more intelligently, filtering out noise and focusing on signals that matter.
The later chapters integrate volatility trading, portfolio protection, and system-based thinking into a coherent options framework. Topics such as hedging equity exposure, structuring volatility trades, and managing higher-risk positions are addressed with clear criteria and practical guidelines. Each chapter reinforces learning through review questions, encouraging readers to actively test and internalize the concepts rather than passively consume them.
Overall, Profit with Options functions both as a learning text and as a long-term reference. It equips serious traders with the tools to think clearly about options, volatility, and risk—turning options from speculative instruments into structured components of a professional trading process.
✅ What You’ll Learn:
- How option prices are shaped by volatility, time value, and sensitivity to underlying price movement
- How to interpret option activity as both direct and contrary market indicators
- How to reduce noise in option statistics and focus on actionable signals
- How to integrate options into system-based trading and disciplined decision-making
- How to use options for portfolio protection and controlled risk exposure
- How to approach volatility trading with clear structure and follow-up rules
💡 Key Benefits:
- Provides a hands-on, workbook-style approach to learning options trading
- Helps transform options knowledge into a repeatable decision-making process
- Emphasizes volatility as both a risk factor and a strategic opportunity
- Supports disciplined thinking around trade selection, timing, and structure
👤 Who This Book Is For:
- Traders and investors with basic options knowledge seeking a more professional framework
- Options users who want to improve timing and strategy selection using volatility and market indicators
- Intermediate traders looking for structured practice and process-driven execution
- Not suitable for complete beginners with no prior exposure to options fundamentals
📚 Table of Contents:
- Options as Direct Indicators
- Options as Contrary Indicators
- System Trading
- Protecting a Stock Portfolio
- Trading Volatility
- Buy Low and Sell High—Volatility, That Is
Profit With Options: Essential Methods for Investing Success By Lawrence G. McMillan
| Author(s) | |
|---|---|
| Product Type | Ebook |
| Format | |
| Skill Level | Intermediate to Advanced |
| Pages | 284 |
| Publication Year | 2002 |
| Delivery | Instant Download |
8 reviews for Profit With Options: Essential Methods for Investing Success
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Zelda Owens (verified owner) –
I have read McMillan’s other books and found them interesting and educational. But this book does not have any eyeopening material. If you are a beginner in options then this is not for you; if you are not a beginner then this book is not for you also. You probably know how volatility affects option prices etc., The author has just filled the pages with many historical charts of stocks. Instead he could have just illustrated his points with a couple of charts for each topic. Instead of a book this just deserves to be a booklet.
Brayden Villa (verified owner) –
I learned a lot. It was a great basic education for a novice like me. Very glad I read this book.
Trinity Vang (verified owner) –
This book could probably be considered the Chevy in McMillan’s fleet, with McMillan on Options and Options as a Strategic Investment standing as the Cadillac and Corvette, respectively. It’s a worthwhile addition, but if you’re new to McMillan, you’d probably be better-served by one of his more well-known works.
This is a relatively short book that provides some tools for using options as direct or contrary indicators, and actual strategies for employing options to profit off expected movement in price or volatility. The book also provides some good guidelines for evaluating indicators like the put/call ratio (index and equity-only), VIX (old VIX, now VXO), and how to interpret volume in an options chain for possible signs of predictive insider trading. Later chapters get a little more complicated, covering some strategies for volatility buying and selling, etc.
The “workbook” end of this volume is rather thin, basically comprised of 12-20 questions at the end of every chapter covering what you’ve learned, with an answer index in back.
If you’re a McMillan fan or new to options, you’ll probably like this book. Otherwise, check into his better-known volumes first.
Colt Sheppard (verified owner) –
The book is for a reader with some degree of investment and trading experience. Unlike the previous books by the author (Options as a Strategic Investment and McMillan on Options), this one covers each phase of the options trading process step-by-step, reinforces individual concepts, and thus allows you to hone and refine skills–in essence, a workbook or study guide. In other words, the aim of this book is study in repetition. You will revive in memory what you already new, and will probably pay attention to some minor new tips.
The unique characteristic of this book is that each chapter ends with a set of review questions and answers that will assist you in absorbing and implementing the material covered.
Chapter 1 moves right into the components of option price, using historical and implied volatility
to formulate your option trading strategy, and understanding the advantages an option model can provide. Plus, LEAPS, futures, and trading technology are each treated in detail.
Chapters 2 and 3 explain how to use options as both direct and contrary indicators, with examples showing how each can predict market direction and help you decide which options to buy under both scenarios.
Chapter 4 teaches you how to incorporate system trading into an overall options game plan and illustrates the value of taking the system approach. A variety of systems types are outlined that are applicable for both short-term and long-term investors.
Chapter 5 presents powerful methods for using options as “insurance” and portfolio protection, which is one of their key strengths.
Chapters 6 and 7 conclude with various strategies for profiting from trading volatility. I start by viewing volatility as a strategic indicator, and then move into both forward and reverse “skew” and spreading strategies. I then provide a more in-depth look at volatility analysis, the reasons behind volatility changes, and highlight the author’s favorite strategy plus personal criteria for buying straddles, “follow-up” action, and selling naked options.
Each chapter of the workbook can stand on its own, but taken together, they form the basis of a well-rounded options trading program. With the end-of-chapter questions provided, you can test your knowledge of the concepts, techniques, and systems featured in Profit with Options before you need to put them into action in the real trading world. And this learn-by-example workbook should prepare you for making the right moves at the right time, while reacting swiftly to opportunities that arise in the fast-paced options arena.
As a conclusion, this hands-on guide will complement the previous two works by the author. If you didn’t complete these two works, I don’t recommend to start with this one.
Adriel Richards (verified owner) –
Great book and very informative!
Nico Ali (verified owner) –
Very detailed book..
Johanna Huerta (verified owner) –
great
Douglas Sexton (verified owner) –
“Profiting with Options” is a book designed to conversationally delve into the trading concepts that were touched upon in other McMillan titles like “Options as a Strategic Investment”.
The first few chapters teach the reader how to use options as market signals. Put/call ratios, and paying attention to price and volume are discussed.
The next section discusses having a system for trading options. Developing your own system is paramount in options trading and the author reviews the different strategies that would and would not work based on the reader’s risk tolerance and temperament. Reading this chapter was helpful because it quickly filtered out many of the options strategies that look attractive on the surface but have risks that weren’t conducive with my goals.
The last half of the book details volatility trading and the best strategies and setups for success.
Almost all of the topics covered in this book were written about in other McMillan books, but the focus on each topic made the lessons hit home. The chapters on volatility were easy to understand and applicable to my daily trading.