Option

Although this is a dated volume that deserves a publisher's reprint with the author's update, Satin comes quite far here from where he started with his prior book "New Age Politics". Satin has a real eye for what makes thhe culture and polity tick -- and he uses that sixth sense to get at what ails our collective governance of ourselves and each other. By taking an apporach which gets beyond left and right and which "creates new options", and by focusing on what works in the real world (using real life examples of politcal and social action that is often unnoticed but still effective) Satin does us all a great service here. He helps to highlight what's been missing from the political scense for so long, and then lays out contcrete remedies. Good swtuff.

This is a selection of the best cover stories from my old, idealistic, counter-cultural newsletter, New Options (1983-92, R.I.P.). They are personal in tone and very passionate. New Options started from scratch and built itself up into the second largest independent political newsletter in the U.S. with no funding from foundations or rich people. It eventually won Utne Reader's first "Alternative Press Award for General Excellence: Best Publication from 10,000 to 30,000 Circulation" and made the Washington Post's chart of 12 periodicals spearheading the "Ideology Shuffle."

Soon after this book was released I went to law school and became more "radical middle" in outlook; see my book Radical Middle (2004) elsewhere on this site. Radical Middle may be a more relevant book for the 21st century than New Options for America. It is almost as personal in tone, and a lot more analytic and well-informed. But sometimes I miss the sweet, eternally hopeful person I was in the 1970s and 1980s and the dreams that the idealistic fragment of my generation carried around with it. And when that happens, all I have to do is open this book and I'm right back in the middle of it again -- "Small, Organic Farms Can Solve the Farm Crisis"; "Drugs Are Not the Enemy"; "Siding With the World's Poor"; "Some of Our Daughters, Some of our Lovers" (about prostitutes); "You Don't Have To Be a Baby To Cry" (about the very early daze of the U.S. Green Party). . . . It was fun being young and hyper-idealistic until age 45. If I didn't also care about the real world, I might have stayed that way forever.

This is probably a book for ordinary investors, but certaily not for "Quant". The book is definitely very easy to follow. However, other than a few technical analysis tools, Kestner didn't really address quantitative investing. He just provided a few computer printouts for a few technical strategies - no fundamental data or "real" quantitative tools were ever used. If you don't have the math/statistics/finance backgroud, but want to learn how to systematically use technical analysis, buy this book. For serious Quants, don't worry about it.

Worth the money, as the book provides an in-depth explanation about money management and risk. It is also very well written with good illustrative examples and easy to follow.

It also provides great ideas to trading systems and very insigthful information on how to analyze trading performance. The great advantage of this book is that it actually explains the assembling of a trading system from concept to an actual trading tool. However, it lacks explanation on real-trading, commission and slippage issues.

I like the book due to a defined and well ordered stream of information. Perry Kauffman's trading system book is the complete opposite of Kestner's work. Despite Kauffman's solid knowledge, his writing is so hard to follow to the point that some sentences provide a double meaning interpretation. The information is also shuffled and disorganized to the point of addressing some unnecessary issues.

Kestner's work is much more enjoyable...

Trades off cycle analysis and various indicators (detrended, money flow, open interest) and divergences. I can't say I will be using any of the methods in this book , but it is written well and explained well .. and for that it gets another star.

Has developed an oscillator which factors in volume to the oscillator equations. It is very good at picking short term tops and bottoms. He has also defined a stop point that gets taken out only when price has reversed prematurely. I have made money with this but I believe you must study it for awhile to be successful.

This book is clearly written and thorough. I would have given it at least 4 stars, except for one thing: it has more errors than any book I've ever read (and I've read thousands). It has sentences that make no sense or that you have to interpret because words or phrases are misplaced or jumbled. It has math misprints and math errors all throughout. You would not notice many of the math errors unless you worked through the equations and examples in the book.

Otherwise, this book is good enough that is should be updated and rewritten.

There are lots of books on options but this book stands out above all the rest. It is clearly written with lots of practicle examples. It also is one of the only option books which shows how market makers make markers. Also, risk managers would be interested in the portfolio analysis section. This is a great book for option traders.

I don't believe that the other review for this book is legitimate, which is why I am writing this one. I did not find this book very useful. The material is dated, and the "rules" are really just a collection of thoughts the author has had about the market -- nothing useful for the non-floor trader. I recommend checking this one out of the library before you buy.

The original Trading Rules gave me a bible of rules to use when looking at markets. This one goes one step further by offering even more insight into market strategies employed by the market insiders. Eng's explanation of stock splits as a form of revisionist history shows how the big boys really use stock splits to rewrite their original costs ... and screw the public ... is an insightful chapter. Eng's use of arbitrage clearly explains how I can use it outside of the markets! Other chapters are just as valuable to making money. In fact, no other book has portrayed the game played against the public as this one book by Eng. Eng's twenty years of market experience certainly shows up here. This is for today what Reminiscences of a Stock Operator was to investors and traders of the 1920s

No one knows what the value of a particular commodity truly is. So many factors determine the price that while you are buying on the way down you are throwing good money after bad. Gold did not increase in value for three years. Can you imagine hedge scaling and rolling over a losing position for three years? That's insanity.

I have been trading futures for 11 years, I have been an investor, a broker, and an author, I have written three books on the subject of futures investing and I would never tell a client to use this ridiculous strategy.

Mr. McCaffery writes with clarity and leads the reader surely towards a grasp of this somewhat arcane futures trading strategy. Scale trading with options means : buying (or shorting) a hedged commodity with the expectation that the price will revert to its mean within a certain period of time.

Specifically, you buy a commodity (sugar, soybeans, oil, etc.) that's trading toward its historic lows. You purchase put options to put a floor under the trade (limiting your risk), and scale into the trade (buy more futures at pre-determined intervals) if the price continues to fall. You are relying on the near certainty that the price must eventually rise. If you hold long enough and if all goes as it should (i.e., you execute), you will make a boatload of money in the eventuality. Obviously, attempting to scale trade a stock, which may have no tangible worth (think "Enron") is a bad idea, hence the focus on commodities futures.

"Understanding Hedged Scale Trading" offers a relatively user-friendly technique for playing in the pits. After explaining how the futures markets work, the author gets right down to the real nitty-gritty: deciding which commodities to trade, the mechanics of trading futures, and how to buy more time (roll over your position). There is even a short treatise on technical analysis.

According to the publisher (and my Amazon search), this is the only comprehensive book on hedged scale trading currently available. Good thing that it's a keeper.

I was very disappointed in this book. It's attention to detail was weak , the writing was poor and a good portion of the book dealt with running an I attack. There are many other books on the veer that are better-Wacker & Morton, Holtz, Homer Smith etc.

This book is a must for any coach who wants to run a successful option offense. The material is easily explained and includes well detailed diagrams. I've used the book to design an offense that averages 350+ yards a game on the ground and 40pts. a game. This book needs to be in your coaching library

A pamphlet would have accomplished what this guy said in the entire book! I wanted to strangle him! Repetitive, condescending, overly simplified and so BOOOoorrring!!! Here is the nuts of it all: Pick a stable stock with a narrow spread between bid and ask. Buy 2000 shares and then sell it 1/16 higher right away. Everything else is simply preamble... over and over and over. Hope I saved you 20 bucks.

I was surprised at the information. It was an eye opener. But..I can't seem to find A broker that will accept Limit Trades at $10. This is crusial as Mr. Farrell explains. It seems that the industry is going to take us for a ride on commisions. I can only find firms that charge $25 for transactions + another .005 per share for listed stocks. Now I'm no genius but 2*$25 + 2*1000*.005 (for Super dot routing) = $60 for a buy and sell ( not even a limit order) UMMMMMM.... If I make 1/16 on 1000 shares thats only $62.5 - $60 = $2.5 profit!!! not to mention their software charges etc. My feeling is that the small guy is not wanted in this market, also many are geared towards Nasdaq market. I wish Mr. Farrell could have left his email somewhere in the book so that we can ask him these questions. But I did like the flow and content in his book. If anyone can recommend a good online trading firm that allows us to make a reasonable profit with Farrell's strategy, please email me. For now I'm going to stay on the sidelines until price competition allows the small guy to make some money as well.

Even though this book might be dated(1999) it contains excellent ideas on day trading and tells about the author strategies on pecking away at the Specialist & Market Makers. It's very simple read,It tell's you to stick to a game plan to keep your profits ahead.

Good Read

Wall Street Money Machine and Stock Market Miracles has changed my life drastically! I'm 37 years old and have worked very hard my whole life. I read these books just about a year ago and traded on paper (just as he suggests) for 6 months before ever setting up an account with a broker. I am very risk adverse, and I know options trading is like taking a big wad of cash and going to a casino. So I tend to stay away from it. However I also know that casino's make a lot of money, so I decided that covered call writing was for me ( sell the gamble, not buy it). Using the advanced strategies in this book, I have made money even when the stock I bought lost 10 pts in 2 days ( a 27% drop). I bought 500 shares of a stock at $39 and sold a $40 call for $5.25. The stock went down to $29 in two days. I bought back my $40 call options for $1.50, bought 500 more shares at $29 ( cost basis is now $34.50) and sold 10 contracts of the $35 calls at $4. My total investment in this stock is $17,250 ( I use margin) and my profit so far is $5,700 and the stock is currently at $34. It is an excellent book if you consume the WHOLE book and not just the highlights. To do this you must read it several times. You will learn to NEVER invest more than 5% of your portfolio in straight option plays. I currently have 2% in straight option plays. If you lost all your money in options, you didn't get your advice from this book! While paper trading with $50,000 I averaged $8,000 per month for a 16% monthly return. I've had my account open since 2/23/98, and using my $50,000 I made $10,500 my first month, $12,500 my second month, and $17,000 so far in my third month which includes a $12,500 day. All on covered calls, which by the way is the most CONSERVATIVE investment strategy in the stock market today as defined by the pamphlet that is required by the SEC that you read before you are allowed to trade options in your account. Covered Calls is also one of the stategies used by Warren Buffet to aquire his extreme wealth ! ( he sold CC's on Coca Cola for years). This book has enabled me to effectively retire from my 50+ hour a week job, I spend all my time now with my family. My Father is testing the waters with $5,000 and using this books strategies, in two months is now up to $7,500. The formula's work, now you have to do your homework and pick quality stocks to plug in the formula's. Wade is the ONLY author who puts his money where his mouth is; every trade he does is posted on the internet within minutes of the actual trade ( buys and sells; winners and losers). His company's stock (Wade Cook Financial Network) has a PE of 4.5! Wade Cook is a financial genius for making cash now, and preserving it.

I've only seen one positive review of this book, so I figure I will add mine. I don't think these people have ever even tried his techniques. Everything in the market takes an education. If you can paper trade, sometimes it will save you thousands of dollars depending on market movement. It can also make you thousands... The only problem with paper trading, is that you leave EMOTION on the sidelines and take chances that you otherwise wouldn't. As always, don't go on gut feel or a rumor your neighbor's co-worker's brother-in law is talking about. 99% of the time, it will fail. You will feel better when you lose your money on your own mistake. I just wish I had more time in the day to read all of his books. I recommend buying and reading, re-reading, and visiting his seminar and maybe I will see you there.

This was actually my first Wade Cook book. I bought this before Wall Street Money Machine probably because I was so dissappointed with the results or lack thereof from following my brokers advice that I needed a miracle.

Stock Market Miracles offered me the solution I was looking for. Powerful trading material. This book in particular covers option trading very well. Covered calls, buying calls and puts and selling calls. Tandem plays was interesting as well.

The new version (Wall Street Money Machine Vol 2) has more information such as strategies on spreads and straddles. I also enjoyed the chapter called behind closed doors which has Wade talking to his sales people. As someone who is in direct sales and heads a sales team I found that very interesting.

Stock Market Miracles is a good book and I highly endorse it.

1 Star was the lowest rating I could find, if "SCAM" was na option I would have selected it. This book will soon serve as "exhibit A" in the case against these highway thieves. Do your homework first. Look at this post before you spend anything on this book[...]

Proceed with caution!

In three words....GREAT TRADING BOOK. I am a full-time proprietary day trader working at a NYC trading firm and I've read at least 20 books on the subject of trading. I wish I had read this one first instead of last. It would've advanced my success rate substantially. Velez starts off by talking about the psychological & mental aspects of successful trading and explains, in clear & simple language, how to mentally prepare for the trading process - from entering a position to exiting it. The remainder of the books goes into various technical analysis strategies, buy & sell chart setups, entry & exiting strategies, stop loss strategies, for both swing & intraday trades. In summary, this book is a great book for an entry level or seasoned trader & is well worth every nickel. I can honestly say that this is one of the top three books Ive read without a doubt. You will not be disappointed by this book, it's all meat-no fluff.

Jim R.
Maywood, NJ

The people who previously reviewed this new book by Oliver Velez and Greg Capra seem to have started in the middle of the book, looking only for The Holy Grail to lead them to immense profits heretofore undiscovered by anyone else. I found the real value in the first half of the book, which tries to show you why you haven't been a successful trader up to now and what to do about it. This is worth the price of the book in itself. They are teaching you how to fish, not giving you a fish, as the old saying goes. They should include a mirror with every copy, as I see myself in every page when they describe the mistakes made by beginning traders. I started trading commodities in 1989 and switched to stocks in 1998, so I have had the rare opportunity to make all the mistakes they describe and more. But the good news is...that's what makes you a success later on. Chapter 5, "The Seven Deadly Sins of Trading", doesn't just tell you the sins, but actually tells you how to eliminate them. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book to me.

I became profitable in 1998 and support my family totally from trading income, using many of the tools described in this book. I have tried many of the software "black box" programs out there, been to many seminars (some great ones, some worthless ones), bought many trading books, and it has all led me to where I am now. If I had let an unfavorable review like the ones here steer me away from a fantastic book like this one, I would not be trading today and making a living working for myself half a day and hiking, biking and skiing the other half. So what if they promote their own seminars, web pages, trading room, etc. in the book. Wade Cook and many others use their books as free advertising the same way...nobody is forced to buy the other products. We all have the ability to decide whether or not we will delve further into these products, don't we?

To be fair to the other reviewers, they may already be successful traders that don't need the advice in the first half of the book and were only looking for a book that would reveal a system or method to double their income in the next three months. All I can say is that I have been trading for eleven years and the book will probably double my income in the next six months even if I never read the second half. Buy it, read it and decide for yourself.