The Complete Guide to Option Selling [Hardcover]

James Cordier (Author), Michael Gross (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071442081 | ISBN-13: 978-0071442084 | Publication Date: December 10, 2004 | Edition: 1

Selling naked options, long considered profitable for professional traders but too risky for most investors, has been surging in popularity. The Complete Guide to Options Selling avoids dry, complex theory and jargon in favor of a simple, direct approach that sophisticated investors can use to produce surprisingly consistent results with only slightly increased risk. This down-to-earth book explains how to apply market fundamentals--while avoiding common options trading mistakes--to make options selling a profitable part of any portfolio strategy.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Option writing strategies that can dramatically improve your odds of profiting--despite what your broker might tell you

Fewer than 10 percent of options are ever exercised, representing a total loss to the buyer left holding the option at expiration. Who wins?

The seller who wrote the option, and now keeps the collected premium, free and clear. The Complete Guide to Option Selling shows you how to consistently be on that winning side, outlining a clear, high-probability approach for augmenting investment returns through selling options. Avoiding complex theory and mathematics to focus on a technique that can be understood and implemented by any investor, this straightforward book explains:

• The basic mechanics of selling options and profiting from "time premium"
• Numerous advantages of selling options versus the more common, and lower probability, strategy of buying options
• Professional strategies for selecting optimum markets and options

Retail brokers who downplay option selling as "too risky" don't understand that, when done correctly, the risk of option selling is actually very manageable. The Complete Guide to Option Selling will show you how to take full advantage of option selling, and make it a profitable and lower-risk component of your overall portfolio program.

Increasing numbers of investors are looking beyond unwarranted fears of "unlimited risk" to see option selling for what it really is--a commonsense, risk-controlled approach that dramatically improves an investor's chances of profiting while providing better-than-average returns in every type of market.

The Complete Guide to Option Selling explains how to make option writing on futures a profitable part of your trading and investing program. Unlike most options books, seemingly written for quants and mathematicians, it explains in plain English who wins and who loses in the options game, then provides step-by-step strategies for staying on the winning side.

Authors James Cordier and Michael Gross are active futures brokers with decades of combined experience in the futures trading industry. In The Complete Guide to Option Selling they cut years from your learning curve with hands-on details including:

• Why selling options on futures is markedly similar to selling options on equities, with far better profit potential
• How to select the right market, strike price, and month to improve the likelihood that options you write will expire worthless
• Strategies for controlling risk by selling far out of the money options, with low deltas, diversified across different markets
• All about SPAN margin--the key to consistently high returns
• Fundamentals of select futures markets, from soybeans and corn to cattle, energies, precious metals, and others
• How to utilize reliable seasonal tendencies, along with examples of the most consistently tradable patterns
• Six mistakes new option sellers commonly make, and how to learn from and preempt them in your own account
• Methods for trading profitably without spending hours each week studying the markets

Professional investors have relied on the proven performance and stability of option selling for decades. They know that, while no investment strategy can be both lucrative and risk-free, option selling provides a risk/reward ratio that is difficult if not impossible to come by in any other investment.

The Complete Guide to Option Selling explains the why, what, where, and how of writing options. Written for the individual investor, it reveals techniques you can use to seamlessly integrate the knowledgeable writing of options into your own investment program.

About the Author

James Cordier is president and head trader of Liberty Trading Group, managing assets for a worldwide client base. Cordier is regularly quoted in financial media including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, and Barron's. His weekly market commentary is published on several major investment websites.

Michael Gross is director of research at Liberty Trading Group. An active broker, he is involved in writing the firm's research reports and has been quoted in Bloomberg News. Along with Cordier, his articles have appeared in Futures and Yahoo Finance.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 245 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071442081
• ISBN-13: 978-0071442084
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #715,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent book but misleading title., June 17, 2006

By 

Andrew P. Kasch "Andrew Kasch Publishing dot com" (California USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Option Selling (Hardcover)

A good read for those interested in trading options from a "net seller's" position. But a "complete guide" it ain't. Far from it.

The view from the authors is very narrow and they make unqualified assertions that their perspective is the only possible way to trade options profitably. (There are many professionals who make a living operating from a net buyer position as well.)

I really believe the authors completely skip the over any discussion of winning trading principles and focus soley on an argument for selling vs. buying options. There is risk both ways and the lack of a proper risk management discussion leaves a glaring hole in an otherwise good book.

Too much emphasis on selling naked positions. Spreads are briefly discussed but the only one recommended is a ratio write which still leaves exposure to naked positions. Eventually the worst happens in all types of trading, and those with naked short exposure holding overnight positions in options markets will experience something between a serious setback and complete ruin when it does.

It's a well-written and enjoyable book, but take it with a grain of salt.

54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written, different perspective, March 11, 2005

By 

RadKnee (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Option Selling (Hardcover)

I'm relatively new to option trading. I've been stock trading a while and was curious about options so bought the book 'Fundamentals of the Options Markets.' It totally fascinated me -- couldn't wait till the end of the day so I could spend a few hours studying.

Then I was browsing in a bookstore and saw 'The Complete Guide to Option Selling', and thought, "...this can't be right...the other book said selling options is too risky." But, since the book also covers the futures market, and I was interested in that, I decided to get it.

It's very well written and informative on both options selling and the futures market. The authors present a contrary view of the traditional view of 'limited risk' options trading, such as long spreads, straddles, etc., contrasting it with the 'potential unlimited risk' of selling short options. The main gist of the book is that selling options well out-of-the-money on futures options can yield high-probability winning trades (70% or higher), while good risk management can keep losses to a minimum.

The book is a little self-serving in that the authors run a brokerage firm, and try to steer beginning option sellers toward using a full-service broker rather than going it alone. But, it's not a hard sell, and they may have a point.

I haven't attempted using their methods yet but plan to in the near future.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, January 18, 2007

By 

J. Richardson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Option Selling (Hardcover)

If you are interested in option selling strategies, this is a very helpful read.

The authors advocate selling far out naked options. Far out means far out of the money and far out in time (3-4 months). The argument is that one standard deviations 30 days out is more likely to be hit than one standard deviation 90 days out even though, statistically speaking, the odds are the same. While I believe this is true, it is not very practical for stocks because the 3-4 month time horizon will usually include an earnings date. This is probably an unacceptable risk on naked options where your exposure is great. On commodity contracts your risk is lock limit days.

If one were to hold a far out naked short option until expiration, it is a high probability play. However, the authors suggest a loss limiting strategy that would get you out far before the short strike is hit. This severly decreases the high probability advantage.

The authors stress knowing the fundamentals is important. Your short position is taken in favor of the fundamentals and the strike is far enough out to survive the noise of the markets. Fundamentals do play a large role in commodities.

All in all, this book presents a reasonable strategy and a good honest discussion of the process. However, taking the stop loss approach into account, the risk:reward ratio of the approach is too much for my taste. I will stick to the more "complicated" lower risk trades selling options on stocks.

This book was not a waste of time or money and should be a part of your option selling education.