Option

Learn continuous time finance from this book: you won't be disappointed. I have read almost all the most famous finance books and I must say that this is by far the best one of them. Although somewhat limited in scope, it is masterfully written: everything is explained clearly and carefully. All statements are rigorously proved. I would say it is suitable both for beginners, having a minimum exposure to measure-theoretic probability and willing to spend some time on it, and for advanced students. Personally, I first read the book as a beginner and found it extremely useful, but even now, that I understand and know most of the material, I find it to be an invaluable reference. The level of mathematical sophistication is quite high, so don't expect anything like Neftci, Baxter and Rennie, Mikosch or Bjork. The level is the same of Duffie, but, while Duffie presents a lot of material and most of the time he doesn't provide proofs and explanations (which, personally, I find irritating), this book is limited to few selected topics, but they are explained at length.
Unfortunately, the perfect finance book has not yet been written (finance professionals seem to be too busy and well paid to write good books), but this one is almost perfect. If you really want to understand quantitative finance, I strongly recommend that you invest a good amount of hours in studying this book. Two good books to acompany this one might be Resnick's book on probability and Steele's book on stochastic calculus.

Nielsen has written a virtually self-contained treatise on the subject. Reading this book was a beautiful learning experience: The author's clarity of thought was striking; the examples made particular points transparent; and the exercises made invaluable contributions to understanding.
The three appendices (on measure and probability, the Lebesque integral, and the heat equation), and the first three chapters make the book as self-contained as is possible.
Synopsis: I do not know of a better book on this subject.

This is an excellent textbook on financial mathematics. It is quite mathematical, but self contained, clearly and carefully written. The appendices are very well written condensed reviews of basic technical facts. The book also contains discussions of a topics that I've never seen anywhere else, such as "Arbitrage and Admissibility" and "The doubling strategy". As mentioned in the preface, the book is based on a doctoral-level course, and the author clearly had the benefit of a large amount of feedback from students. Reading it, one can't help notice the presence of a very large number of extra remarks and hints, inserted on every page in order to clarify what must have been a denser original text. Finally, I have to mention the excellent editorial work done by Oxford University Press in producing this book, as compared to similar books published by Wiley.

This book delivers, I did not know about options prior reading, the simple and yet comprehensive presentation allows to develop a good grasp of how to use options on a conservative and solid fashion.
What he advocates (protection and enhancement) of a portfolio is well presented and plan to use his advice.
More likely will now seek more information and knowledge with more elaborated books (not sure is really needed) but the basics are here.
thank you Wolfinger

I found this book to be just what I was looking for. After a complete introduction to the topic, Mr. Wolfinger helps the novice options investor clearly understand one conservative strategy. The author is very dedicated and thorough in explaining the concepts. He makes no assumptions that the reader has previous knowledge of what he teaches, yet he is never condescending. I also appreciate the easy to read font size. The text is large enough that I can read it without my glasses! Many thanks to the author for having the patience and know-how to start a beginner from "square one". I look forward to other books on the subject by this author.

Enjoyed this book! It delivers as promised. I picked it up hoping to get a clear understanding of options and how they work. I was more than pleased, as this book provided all I was looking for, and more. The author presents material in pleasant, easy to grasp language. I now have a very clear understanding of options. The covered call writing strategy sounds good to me. I never knew it was so easy to obtain some safety for my stocks. I have already opened my options account and my broker is offering encouragement.

Among the several books that we got just before and after we recently adopted a rescue dog, this was truly the stand-out. It covers virtually everthing you should consider in finding the right dog, to good advice on basic training.

We highly recommned it (and adopting a rescue dog vs. buying one).

This book saved my life! My owners are nice people, but they probably wouldn't have figured out that they were right for me if they hadn't found this book first. The shelter labeled me as "HYPER" and "aggressive with other dogs" - but thanks to the tips and tests in this book, my owners could tell the difference between a hyper dog and one that simply had been cooped up too long and needed some time to play. We've now been a very happy pack for five years - and I recommend this book to all my human friends!

Anyone who thinks that they want to bring a dog into their home should read this book first. I volunteer for Labrador Retriever Rescue, and constantly am amazed at how many people assume responsibility for a dog without knowing what they're getting into. This book is clearly written and offers excellent advice on all aspects of choosing and raising a dog from a shelter. The advice applies to other "used" dogs as well, whether they're from rescue organizations or your neighbor. Not only can it help you decide if you SHOULD be sharing a home with a dog, it will help you find the right dog and it will save a life. Giving a dog a second chance by adopting from a shelter or a rescue organization is very rewarding. I know--one of my dogs was a stray, one was from a shelter via a neighbor (who shouldn't have had a dog), and two are from Lab Rescue. All have been fabulous creatures!

Kendra Smiley's "Helping Your Kids Make Good Choices" is insightful and full of wisdom, but also enjoyable and easy to read. Her real life examples and Bible stories brought to life are extremely helpful and often amusing. The book not only gives the tools to help your kids make good choices, but the surprise was that it helped me think about my OWN decisions as well. I used to think that if you were a Christian your kids would turn out fine; but I have too many Christian friends whose kids are now ages 16 - 21 and are making bad life-changing choices. If this can happen in good Christian families, then we need every tool available to help avoid it. Kendra's book is such a tool!!!!! This is an excellent book for parents and parents-to-be.

I found this book to be very beneficial as two of our children are in school and are now experiencing social pressures. (Even at second grade and kindergarten!!) Many of the book's points are so practical and easy to incorporate into daily decision making. The fact that the basis for the book is taken from the Bible is all the more important for our family as we try to make scripture and christian values a part of our daily life. I would recommend this book to anyone with children or anyone considering a family. Thank you Kendra!!

As a Christian Mom I am faced every day with the task of helping our two kids make choices. I often forget to guide them through the process with a Biblical perspective. Kendra's book was right on track with very real examples. Many of her examples hit home and made me realize how much more I can do when it comes to helping my kids make choices. The book was great; I enjoyed Kendra's style and sense of humor. This was just what I needed to read!

Mr. Walker is clear and concise in his depiction of how the options markets work. He details various strategies and makes options investing understandable to those new to it.

In my 11 years as a futures investor, broker, and author, I have never seen someone with as much grasp of options investing as Mr.Walker and have the capability to explain it.

Comprehensive, simple, full of examples - worth the money.

Yes, As a beginner I can confidently say I know what option is, it's uses and the risk involve. The Author did not only explain the principle but gave practicable example everyone can relate to. All in simple and plain English, you don't need to have been to a school of economy to know what an option is. With the help of this book, I can't look stupid when others uses terminologies relating to option. Keep up the good work Joseph.

I have read this book and its' contents are electrifying and informative and dispels the myth about hysterectomies. I concur that this is a MUST READ for women who are faced with major decisions concerning their health. This book is worth reading as it provides mounds of statistical data and research. Thank you Dr. Stanley West for your contribution to health and medicine.

The explanations are clear, extremely helpful to anyone facing the possibility of this kind of surgery. A good reference and recommended reading for all women.

This book details women's reproductive system and offers easy to understand reproductive surgery. It is excellent as is Dr. VG Hufnagel's NO MORE HYSTERECTOMIES published in l989, five years prior to this one. BOTH should be on every woman's bookshelf. Both expose the unjustified medical practices women are constantly being subjected to. Intelligent, questioning women everywhere need these tools in order to demand the care they require if they are to remain healthy. If 51% of the world's population is female, someone better catch on or there're going to be massive legal problems ahead for the medical and insurance world.

Very well written and even entertaining in places, this book has lots of nuts and bolts you won't find in other primers, like the best explanation of First Notice Day and Last Trading Day I've seen anywhere. The section on choosing a broker is not very useful, but everything else is. You get a good treatment of Fundamental Analysis in addition to Technical Analysis, and two chapters on moving average systems, which Kleinman considers THE most valuable trading tools. If you're looking to start trading futures (mastery takes 5-10 years), make this one of the first five books you read.

An extremely well written primer for the novice and polisher for the expert. An absolute plethora of information and advice for those at any stage of commodity trading. The "bible" for traders.

WOW. What a powerful, easy to understand book about the whole ball of wax. If you are looking for THE book on Futures and Options, how they work, the reason behind price changes and an easy to understand system to trading look no further! A heart felt thanks Mr. Kleinman on a real work of art.

Reviewer: The author, Charles M. Cottle *** charles@RiskDoctor.com
Although this original text was written for professional market makers, it proved to be a valuable resource for sophisticated retail investors and hedgers. I therefore created a new book, "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" (available for free download at www.riskdoctor.com) which borrowed about 80% of the original text and added more tools for non-professionals including an email dialogue with a relative novice, spanning 2 months. Most of the strict market making tools have been removed but will be resurrected in book 3; "Taming Your Portfolio" due out later this year.

There are basically two types of options books: mathematical
books on valuation that tend to be filled with solutions
for ever more exotic contracts, and books for traders that
go over the practical workings of positions in various
concrete scenarios. Cottle is definitely of the second type.
There's not really much math in it, unless you're intimidated
by three-dimensional graphs. What it does have is an incredible
wealth of insight, from experience, into the tricks and the

exceptions--the rent-a-call, the dividend plays, contract
risk and post-expo deltas, complicated synthetics, the
interrelations between greeks.

That said, what moved me to write a review was to take
exception with a previous reviewer's comment: "No lazy
editing or prose here". The prose is okay, but the editing
is worse than lazy--it's horrendous. Flipping my copy open
at random I come to p.151-152 on Break-Even analysis. Try
finding column 7 in exhibit 4-23, or the supposed arrow in
column 4. It's all a mess. That's an extreme case, but
throughout the text, it's hard enough trying to pick up
the bond options lingo (futures in 32nds but futures-options
in 64ths--all "ticks"; and the different multipliers for
indexes and futures), without having to deal with missing
words, inaccurate references, etc, etc. But ultimately, working
to figure it all out gets you to understand it all the better.

With five years of floor trading as an equity options market
maker, and having read and reread and rereread... Natenberg,
Baird, Hull, Connolly, Cox Ross Rubinstein, Chriss, Taleb--and
others--I'd say Cottle is clearly the best book. That said,
however, I don't know how much use a non-professional--someone
who doesn't manage a large, actively traded book of options--
will get out of it. It should be intellectually rewarding if you
can figure it out. Maybe inspire you to go look for a minimum
wage clerking job in Chicago, NY, Philly, or SF to get abused
for a year or so and then maybe get a badge.

I read Options: Perception and Deception at least 3-4 times before many of the advanced concepts began to sink in. This is not a book for an options novice; in fact, I would suggest that most people read Natenberg's book on options prior to engaging in this incredible text. While many of the advanced 3-D graphs were beyond my grasp, I particularly liked Cottle's description of "real world" options positions, how he executed them and how he managed them throughout their duration. Of particular interest to many readers should be the concept of "gamma scalping", and the section on wingspreads and adjusting positions. This text is so far beyond "mainstream" options books, that words do not describe how important this book will become.

You should know I'm biased. Mr. Cohen is my personal financial consultant. Over the past three years while many of my friends were losing a fortune in the market, my portfolio grew substantially thanks to the principles discussed in this book. If you can't have Jeff as your personal advisor, the next best thing to do is read his book and see how he does it. - Wm.G.Hayden,M.D.

If you were like most investors, you would leap at the opportunity to earn consistent double-digit stock market returns with greatly reduced risk. This excellent book on Put Options introduces you to an innovative, proven program designed to do just that--produce consistent and regular stock market returns while minimizing the risk of losing those returns during a down market.
The secret, as described in detail in the book, is in implementing a low-maintenance, easy-to-follow program of selling put options on quality stocks while hedging those investments by buying puts on the overall market. Far easier to implement and track than it sounds, this strategy is frequently used by institutional investors, whose reputations and careers depend on garnering decent returns without assuming unnecessary risk.
Put Options explains this proven technique in terms that virtually any investor can understand and implement. The rare investment book that supports its claims by providing the actual results of actual trades using actual household-name stocks, Put Options provides a step-by-step template on how you can use author Jeffrey Cohen's SafetyNet program.
This book is for the individual small investor that makes his own investment decisions. The existing base of such investors is huge, and growing rapidly, as evident by the subscriber growth rates of the online brokers. The reasons for these investors making their own decisions and thus controlling the performance of their portfolios is quite clear when you consider the following scenario:
The savvy investor is no longer content making a 2% annual return in a passbook savings account or 4% on a Bank Certificate of Deposit. Some mutual funds may do a little better than this but their performance is not always consistent.

Today, everyone wants his or her money put to hard work, aggressively generating more money. Since the stock market outperforms all other investments over time, people are increasing turning to the stock market and the options market, where much higher rates of return can be made with relative small increase in risk to capital.

Before the later part of 1997, it was difficult for the small investor to become actively involved in the stock market. The commission fees charged by the full service brokers were high. Research into companies and analysis of stocks were difficult, obtaining timely information was nearly impossible for the average person. It used to be that stock and option investing was considered the domain of professional money managers and the wealthy elite. The Internet has changed all that by providing a wealth of financial information and online brokerage firms. There are hundreds of Internet sites that provide free instant access to stock quotes, stock charts, company profiles, late breaking company news, detailed technical analysis, and even specific stock and options recommendations.

With computers and Internet connection available to everyone inexpensively, the small investor has opportunity like never before! These days, virtually everyone knows about the stock market. The number of mutual funds has grown 50 folds since the 1970's... 401(K) plans have flourished ... kids these days get stocks as birthday and graduation presents... there is 24 hour stock coverage on TV... online trading accounts are everywhere...

My point is this: we have become a generation of stock investors. We are raising our children to be stock investors. And with savings interest rates hovering around 1%¾there are trillions of dollars in cash still waiting on the sidelines¾with no place to go except right back into the stock market. All it will take is more good news from sectors recovering from over growth and the recent pullbacks.

The most important of all is the fact that investor expectation of reasonable return on investment has been moderated after the recent stock market bubble burst... and a 20% to 30% per year return on a sustainable basis is very attractive and acceptable. In my opinion, anyone who has a portfolio or manages investor or corporate funds is a potential reader [of the Put Options book] and user [of the SafetyNet program] by Jeffery Cohn.

Put Options will change the way you invest by literally changing the way you view investment. It shows you how to invest in today's best blue chip and technology stocks in such a way as to profit when they do well while protecting yourself when they do poorly. Packed with facts, figures, and actual examples of SafetyNet program in action, it unquestionably supports the bottom-line premise that writing options can, if done correctly, be far safer than owning shares of stock--and then shows you exactly how to do it.

Cohen's book is a compelling analysis of selling put options and covering the risk with the purchase of index puts. He compares this strategy with the purchase of long stocks and describes how the strategy reduces risk. Overall a solid description of a well developed strategy. Not some get-rich-quick scheme!

I was skeptical to buy it since there were more than 100 different books available on options... but I am glad I choose this book. Its easy and the software developed beats anything I have seen yet... All the free softwares available are excel based but do not offer such insight on the subject as this book.
I would strongly recommend it to anyone. Only hitch is that the software is bit slow to run but it performs...

Fantastic software!

The book is really a step by step tutorial on how to use the
probability forecasting software that is on the CD.

Excellent learning tool as well as a decision-analysis tool for investments.

Really great. Loved it. Learned a lot!

Many thanks to the author.

One Caution: It doesn't work on a Macintosh
(unless you have PC emulation software for your Mac).

Cheers,
---Freddy

Any student or trainee having to study this topic really should buy this tutorial.

Having a degree in Mathematics and a professional accountancy qualification did not prepare me for the explanations of Black Scholes to be found in most text books.

They may have got a Nobel prize for their option pricing model but Black and Scholes were never going to get an award for clarity of explanation.

Having grappled with this area for a few months, I decided I needed a little more innovative help; hence my purchase of Jerry Marlow's interactive tutorial.

Two days later and I feel I could go for the next Nobel prize myself!

So many things click into place so quickly, it's marvellous.

Jerry gives his email address which I had to resort to for one query. He answered most helpfully within a couple of hours.

I suspect that it helps to have had an overview appreciation of the area before starting the tutorial but this shouldn't deter first timers from starting with this.