Index-option

I grabbed this book online on a lark... and am I ever glad I did! I couldn't put it down! From the opening bell of the trading pit in the first paragraph, the author takes off at the speed of the markets, sidetracking only to share the lessons hard-learned along the way. For the first time ever I read about an "Everyday Joe" who buckled up for daily war and successfully fought to win in the greatest financial wars our society knows. He also lets us in on his REAL personal life, his fears, and the dichotomies and dilemnas of being a devout Christian operating ethically and morally in a world that most Christians neither understand nor condone. This is a work that stands for ANYONE trying to succeed in an arena that at first appears counter to their chosen values, regardless of religion or career. If you're reading these reviews to help you decide, STOP HERE! CLICK THE BUY BUTTON! It's the best trade you'll make today!

"Lessons from the Pit" is a page-turner! It is an honest and easy-to-read account of life in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. What makes it so fascinating is the way Joe and Terry bring characters and scenes to life and use them to show how God worked in Joe's life. No matter what their career, all readers will come away with valuable insights and helpful suggestions. My only wish is that the book had been longer. I didn't want to put it down.

Joe Leininger provides great insight in his daily efforts to be both a good and Christian person with his success as a commodities trader.

Few businessess are as brutally competitive as trading in Chicago exchanges. However, with great faith and works, Joe obviously holds to his strong Christian values in this tough environment.

This book helps me come to grips with striving for success while hoping to maintain the fundamental value of helping and loving one's fellow man (or woman).

While the book contains much detailed information about the history, regulatory environment and composition of the world's index futures, it does not provide much practical information about the "ins & outs of trading" these contracts.

Whether you think a CAC is the sound your cat makes when coughing up a hairball or a stock index in France, if you're a new investor or an experienced trader this book is an excellent reference to stock indexes worldwide. Susan Abbott Gidel starts with a brief history of the index and futures markets. Followed by an explanation of what makes the market move, definition of the market "players", and strategies for investing in stock indexes and index futures.

The worldwide market indexes are summarized by region. Each index is individually defined in very readable layman's terms. Gidel explains what equities make up each index, how each one is calculated and how the index and index futures are traded. The book has a glossary and index that easily guide the reader through it's wealth of information making it easy to find an index comprised of stocks that suit your investment need.

I enjoyed the book and plan on making it a permanent part of my financial library. Consider this book an investment. Think of it as an essential tool for understanding equities markets and diversifying your portfolio. It is a reference you'll find yourself going back to again and again.

i feel larry is giving a morsel here and a morsel there and not giving away the real meat! Disappointed.

besides it a dated book, needs an upgrade

satish paul

i feel larry is giving a morsel here and a morsel there and not giving away the real meat! Disappointed.

besides it a dated book, needs an upgrade

satish paul

Mr.Williams never ceases to amaze me. He has done a phenomenal job of putting this compendium together. He doesn't get bogged down in trivial mathematics. He makes futues accessible to the lay person. I have been trading futures as an investor and broker for the past 11 years. ... With my experience I find it is very important that new investors feel like futures is accessible. Mr.Williams does that in all of his books. The is definitely a great reference guide.

I read this book a couple years ago. On my first pass, I really enjoyed reading the book. The material seemed to be well presented. I'm a programmer and I needed a volume indicator for my charting application, and OBV was the way to go. I began writing the algorithms to add an OBV indicator to my application, and that's when I began noticing them. ERRORS. In the heart of the technical discussion of OBV, dozens of discrepancies and vague sentences that made it near impossible to generate accurate algorithms. It's a good thing I had other resources at my disposal. I contacted the author to get clarifications and I received a form letter. That was a lot of help. I was also sent a catalog, and encouraged to purchase high dollar training courses. Right! That book remains on my shelf, unused. There are many other sources, that are much more reliable, that don't require an author's intervention to clarify details! Personally, I wouldn't purchase another book by this author. At one time, he may have had a passion for trading and teaching, but it is no longer evident.

As and introduction to technical analysis techniques and their application, this book is satisfactory. Unfortunately, it was written pre-internet and pre-laser printer (mid/late 80's). The example charts are a bit ragged - they look like they were printed on an old dot matrix printer - and they aren't especially clear. And much of the book is dedicated to step-by-step proceedures for doing the calculations - not terribly useful information when all this analysis is now available for free via the internet.

Given the price, I would recommend more recent books by Martin Pring or the updated classic by John Murphy. The practice of technical analysis has changed dramatically since Eng authored his book.

This book covers a few of the more popular indicators in some detail, and as such I think it's a helpful book. Some of the more encyclopedic volumes, like Marty Pring's, can be overwhelming. This is not a bad place to start learning about technical analysis, or to review some basics.

If you have a copy of "Taking Profit from the OEX" by Arthur Darack then just re-read it. This book, supposedly published in 1995, is just a re-hash of the previous book. Even the chapter headings have the same name, and the same content. If nothing has changed since the first one (198?) then why change the title. Stan Graham

On reading further -- each chapter has been exended to include later trades (1990 - 93) and some strategic changes to the approaches are suggested. The book is interesting reading, some of the comments are good (amusing) but not always helpful in trading. The discussion of SP500 futures should deter many a would-be trader, I would think.

After reading this book on trading the OEX, I had a better insight as to how this instrument works. Personally, I'm still considering whether or not I should start trading the OEX. This book helped me a lot in my decision. If you have any interest in OEX trading, you should start by readin this book.

I guess I'm spoiled by Martin Schwartz's excellent book Pit Bull. I was expecting a trader's autobiography something along the same line with The Day Trader, but what I got was the first 130 pages of Borsellino talking about what a tough guy he is and about his mafioso father. After that he dips into a high-level discussion of the changes to the commodities and NASDAQ exchanges over the years. There is virtually no mention of trading technique or psychology, outside of the constant tough guy braggadocio, which is pretty sad to hear from a 40-year-old guy. And definitely don't buy it if you're looking for trading advice or techniques. There is none to be found. If you want a nice biographical read about a trader, read Pit Bull or Reminiscences of a Stock Operator instead. Borsellino simply doesn't write well enough to keep this one interesting. The story wanders around too much and is too repetitious.

While the title has disappointed some by leading one to think that this book contains the secret strategies of a successful day trader (it does not), I found this book to be perfectly appropriate for teaching everyone about an often overlooked concept and the one thing that kept him in the trading game: heart.

Through the lens of this notion, Borsellino gives folks a first-hand look of what it takes to make money in the S&P futures pits of the Chicago Merc. Much more than that, "Big Italy" gives you a no-holds-barred account of his humble beginnings and some of his more interesting episodes as a day trader on the Merc. The best story I ever read was about how he was able to earn over $1.3 million dollars on one trade...in about 1 minute! If you want to see what its like to be on the other side of the daytrading fence (the very profitable side) take a look at Borsellio's "The Day Trader". Also useful is an interview he gives in "The Best: TradingMarkets.com Conversations With Top Traders". There he discussed order flow and support and resistance from a pit trader and a pc-based traders point of view. Some useful nuggets there.

The book is not a tech how to book but in all fairness the auther doesn't claim it as one. This book is more of an autobiography and in that category it is a 5. The auther brags about himself at times but anyone who is that successful has a right too. Excellent read well worth the time!

I bought this book but it only contains outdated information.e.g on computers that should be used. The book is not true to its title of how to start day trading. Junk info like getting internet connection, comfortable chair etc are frustrating. Basic info like defining trading terms like t & f analysis, what are options & futures can be gleaned from anywhere free of charge. It is unwise to spend money on this book. If one just asks people on the message boards he will get the info free of charge.

This is in response to the first review of this book, written Nov 13, 2000 - The book came out Oct 27, 2000, right? And you were given this book by a 'veteran trader'? So, in 17 days, this 'veteran' trader read this book, it changed his life, and then he passed it along to you, and you read it too? C'mon. Obviously this review was written by the publisher or author(s). I, however, have read this book. But I can say this much. This book is more geared to the beginner, and as such it is very dangerous to recommend that a beginner day-trade futures and options. This book should not be used as the basis for actually getting into any sort of day trading.

Recently, a friend--a veteran trader--gave me a gift he said would help me--a novice--further my education. The gift consisted of two books: Oz' "The Stock Trader" and Katz and McCormick's "How to Start Day Trading Futures, Options, and Indices." As far as I'm concerned, these two books complement one another perfectly. One provides insight through example and the other provides basic knowledge and procedure. These books have not only helped me improve my trading and money management skills, but my appreciation of the nuances of the game.

This book contains absolutely no information on how to judge whether a particular option is over- or under-priced, or how to arrive at either a bullish or bearish outlook. The idea is that you have already come to some conclusion and then you consult the book to determine how you should play the option. That would be fine if the book did not contain numerous errors, all due to the fact that this book apparently was not proof-read. For example, if your outlook is bullish, you find the strategy for putting on a call spread, and select the type of spread you want to do. The author then copied the same instructions into the section on bear spreads, and then tried to change all the "calls" to "puts" or the "buys" to "sells." Of course, he missed many such changes, and there are multiple instances where the word "call" appears where it should read "put," and where "buy" appears when it should be "sell." If you buy this book, you will have to make your own corrections in it, or you may follow the instructions right into the poorhouse. I consider the money I spent on this book to be wasted.

The bad news: This is a classic textbook that requires all your attention and more. Even an experienced option trader can get lost easily. The good news: It is a comprehensive guide and reference book which I use once a week to help me choose the right move.

Option Strategies is an excellent intermediate treatise on option trading. While it doesn't go deeply into option pricing and implied volatility, its focus on strategy and decision structure serves the reader well. Almost every major position type, from the basic buys and writes to the more complex, such as ratio spreads and butterflies are covered. Each position is dissected in detail, with emphasis on how to deal with adverse and positive price impacts.

In the pantheon of trading tomes, Courtney Smith's work should appeal to those looking for a sound foundation in option strategy. It is one place where a trader can look at any idea and figure out which type of play offers the best risk/reward alternatives. A solid non-technical book.

The good news is that this book is very nicely done, providing a useful foundation to beginner and intermediate options traders. I found that I learned quite a lot about the interactions between option pricing and the various factors influencing pricing. The author provides numerous case study examples utilizing the OP-EVAL(TM) software included with the book. A majority of the book contains detailed examples describing how to use the software and interpret the output. The bad news is that the software will not run on current Windows operating systems (Windows 98 or newer). So don't buy the book if you want to try the software on your own. Efforts to contact the author, through the publisher McGraw-Hill, about the possibility of updating the software, have been unsuccessful. Otherwise a good book.

I trade options, and know that any options trader will benefit from this book. There are many parallels across markets, and this book delves into an area that isn't written about in detail anywhere else, and does a good job of illustrating the nuances of index options.

I also recommend "Credit Derivatives" by Tavakoli, for more about structuring index options in note form. Tavakoli also explains credit default options in detail.

This book demystifies the factors that make options such an attractive and powerful trading and investment tool. Bittman's clarity leaves no misunderstanding or ambiguity about how things work in plain language and steers you clear of common beginners' mistakes. The included software provides a hands-on interactive learning experience to reinforce ideas introduced in the book and is a useful tool to evaluate potential trades.

The sections that lay out trading plans and strategies present a straightforward and disciplined approach to identifying and evaluating attractive trading opportunities. Although geared to options, these are helpful to consider no matter what markets or instruments one is trading.

Read Bittman first to get a solid foundation, then move on to the MacMillan books for the post-grad experience.

An excellent value for the price!

This book surprised me because it was much better than I expected. It presents a very readable--the most readable I've seen--summary of the mechanics and strategies of option trading. Moreover, the book covers topics I've never seen covered before in a book on options, such as the benefits of using information from established sources on the Internet; and cites several academic studies without slipping into the stale writing style associated with academe. Still, there is reason for a reader to be skeptical of the effectiveness of the strategies discussed in the book. The reason for this is the long-term performance record of the author's newsletter, which like the book is entitled "The Option Advi$or." According to Mark Hulbert's ratings, which have been regarded in some circles as the most accurate standards for measuring the quality of investment newsletters, this newsletter's long-term record ranks near the bottom of all letters covered. Only Joseph Granville's "Market Letter," as far as I remember, has a worse ten-year record. That said, one has to wonder whether the strategies discussed in the book are going to be effective in the future. On one hand, past performance does not necessarily portend future results. On the other, however, Schaeffer's picks in the past, assuming they've been chosen according to the strategies discussed in the book, have been less than outstanding in the past. Careful readers should remember that if they want to use this book more than as a decent general reference guide.

Only 50% of the book is about options. The other 50% concentrates on how to use technical analysis to find winning stocks. It is probably the best book for the beginner and intermediate trader. With the Technical analysis, it can be used for both stocks and options. It belongs on every trader's shelf. The reason it didn't get a "5 Star" is that he really doesn't go into closing a position if the trade is going the wrong way. I pretty much had to learn that on my own. I have read it cover-to-cover 3 times and certain chapters at least 6 times.

I find it funny how many negative things I have been reading here and I have a few comments. First, this book is GREAT? In 4 months I made thousands of dollars by following Bernie's strategies. Second, he actually TEACHES how to do something with your money that isn't confusing, unlike many other money making strategy books. Third, he STRESSES over and over that you MUST CUT YOUR LOSSES when they hit 8% and let your winners run to overcome the deficit.
I wonder how many of these negative people that have posted angry messages here were too emotional and let their greed or fear get the better of them while making investment decisions attempting to follow Bernie's advice? I learned a long time ago that being negative and only talking about the problem and not a SOLUTION to the problem is NOT the way to live life.
Please read this book, and FOLLOW HIS RULES. It does actually work. And don't listen to Forbes, for crying out loud they have to hate anyone else that might actually compete with them and make them look bad. How many of you have made a dime off of what Forbes magazine taught you? I haven't. Read this book...it works, but ONLY if you work and FOLLOW THE RULES!