Options as a Strategic Investment: Fifth Edition Hardcover – August 7, 2012

This is the ultimate book on options and well worth the cost and effort to read it. Few people will ever want to read the entire book. Read the sections that match your option interest and investment strategy. An option position can be a safe and secure part of your investment portfolio management, adding income, protecting gains and avoiding heavy losses. At the same time an option position can be very risky with the possibility for unlimited losses. There's lots of hype floating around on making big money trading options. Beware the hype. This is not that book.This book has all the basics, read those sections. Go back and read them again. Explore the more complicated strategies more slowly. If you want to dig into real detail and the mathematics, it's there if you want it. This book would be the obvious choice for a two semester sequence as part of an undergraduate or graduate fiance program. At the same time if the extent of your interest is limited to buying puts and calls, generating income through covered calls and maybe buying stocks at lower prices through short puts, this book should still be in your library. If you have enough money to feel comfortable with the more risky aspects of options (100% losses sometimes) you certainly can afford to buy this book.In spite of the detail provided, each chapter is well written and not difficult to digest. It's the totality of the subject and the wide variety of trading strategies, some of which are complex and should be undertaken only by those with discipline and self confidence.I found this book a perfect companion to pursuing options trading through a free, on-line program offered by the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE). This is a program of on-line self training, with a certification test for each training module and a series of comprehensive tests for the basic, intermediate and advanced certification level I have completed most of the modules and concluded that many of the more complex strategies should be left to the real experts. Again, like this book, go with what you are comfortable with.

Extremely fantastic book that’s been so helpful for studying and content is great

Amazing way to learn about options.

This is a great book to learn Options trading. For all the nerds that don't want to pay a few bucks for one of the many options trading apps out there (OptionStrat, Barchart, etc.) to predict returns, probabilities and volatility, this book has all the theory you need to build your own spreadsheet or program. The book is geared towards investing with Options, not speculating. This will not teach you how to 0Day trade, but does acknowledge the practice and explain the risks in those types of strategies. It goes into great detail about all the different variations of call/put combinations, what situations warrant them for max effectiveness, and how to properly unwind should the stock move against you. This will not teach you what stocks to pick, but it does help you recognize advantageous situations and which strategy to employ for that situation to get the best probability for profit. Overall, it's a great reference and will help build confidence to employ strategies you may have shied away from in the past because you didn't understand all the risks.

I've read a lot of options books. Most of them are horrible and basic.Although this book is dated (and as a result the discussion of commissions is over-emphasized), it's fantastic to understand the concepts involved with options and talks about real-world exact step-by-step actions to take for entering, managing, and exiting options positions.It has helped me expand my thinking around how options can be used. Highly recomomend.Only getting 4 stars because the commission discussion is dated, but otherwise it's fantastic.

I bought the 2nd edition when it was published in 1988. It is the best reference there is on options in my opinion and should have a place in every serious options traders’s library.I just bought the 5th edition published in 2012 which is a whopping 1000+ pages, over 300 more than the 2nd edition. It has been upgraded and modernized to reflect significant changes in the options markets over the past 35+ years.It is not meant to be read cover to cover, although I’m sure some options braniacs do. It also may be over the head of the novice or someone who has never traded options before. If you are new to options, there are a plethora of videos for beginners and that is where I would suggest you start.While it does start with basic options fundamentals, it quickly delves into level II and level III options strategies. The new edition covers the newer advanced options strategies, how options pricing has changed, index options, futures options, new margin requirements and tax treatment of options income.I am retired and my day job is to actively manage the family retirement portfolios. I use options mainly for high probability low risk passive income and hedging.Options as a Strategic Investment is an indispensable reference resource for any serious options trader, professional, or someone who actively manages their growth or retirement portfolio.