Futures & Options For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)) (Paperback)

by Joe Duarte MD (Author) "If you're one of those people who look at their mutual fund portfolios once a year and wonder how the results came about, futures trading..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Federal Reserve, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The days of buying and holding stocks and mutual funds for years are gone; nowadays, futures and option markets offer some of the best opportunities to make money trading in volatile times. But like all investments, high risk is involved, and in order to become a successful trader you must be prepared to work as a geopolitical analyst, a money manager, and an expert in all types of commodity markets.

Futures & Options For Dummies will show you how trading is done and how to survive and succeed in these ever-changing markets. Filled with nuts-and-bolts advice, you’ll soon discover how to manage the risks involved and reap the rewards of futures and options trading. This straightforward guide gives you the tools you need to understand:

• Ins and outs of trading futures and options
• How to analyze the markets and develop strategies
• Interest-rate futures and speculating with currencies
• How to stock up on indexes
• The direction of commodity futures
• Organizing your financial data and calculating your worth
• Developing strategies now to avoid pain later
• The execution of successful trades

Trading takes an iron-cast stomach and nerves of steel to perform, and this book features ways to keep yourself sane and secure. It also lists resourceful Web sites, commodity exchanges, books, newsletters, and magazines to assist in your trading endeavors. From technical analysis to finding a broker, Futures & Options For Dummies has all the information you need to capitalize on these markets!

From the Back Cover
Earn more money — start trading futures and options

Packed with helpful information on the futures market

Even experienced investors need help understanding the world of futures and options. Thankfully, Futures & Options For Dummies explains all the risks and rewards in futures trading, and gives you nuts-and-bolts advice for getting started. From technical analysis to finding a broker, this straightforward, easy-to-read guide covers it all.

Discover how to

• Choose the right broker
• Analyze market data
• Develop effective stock option strategies
• Trade financial and commodities futures
• Use market sentiment to your advantage

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (April 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471752835
• ISBN-13: 978-0471752837
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #291,413 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Short on details, July 26, 2008

By	Joseph Conklin (Kentucky, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This isn't what you expect from the "For Dummies" series. Meaning you don't close the book feeling you can get started with confidence (unlike, say, Currency Trading for Dummies, after which you can do just that). Overall it's a useful primer but nothing more. Its strengths are some macroeconomic insights and occasional tips on how the big players play the game. It is average in terms of giving the basics on calls and puts and basic spreads, and it gives the usual overview of charting and technical analysis. The three main weaknesses are: 1) An overemphasis on using historical charts to show where you could have bought and sold based entirely on 20/20 hindsight; 2) Trying to cram in too many subjects in the second half of the book, offering brief intros with very few insights but what feels like at least 2 warning per page on "Don't forget there is risk involved" and "Moves can be huge and reversals are unexpected;" 3) An absence of an overview of the tools and software available. This last is the clincher why I gave it only 2 stars. Because trading in futures is considered the big league (and rightly so, because there IS huge risk involved), the best softwares cost money and are sold business to business. It is still not considered the realm of the burgeoning individual speculator. For internet software, well for any software, you need to have a simulation so you are expert in the workings of the software before trying to trade real time- imagine losing thousands of dollars because you don't understand how to correctly set up your spread in the software!
If software does include a simulation package for evaluation, it is likely using simulated data. The better software packages that offer simulation for options will balk at futures and tell you you need to be approved for a futures account, in other words you need to commit before seeing it. This current grey area for individual speculation is to be expected, but that's why I bought the book, hoping it would bridge those gaps. It did not.

35 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A future in options, October 27, 2006

By	John Duke - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This author has explained concepts and strategies which I have used to make money. One trade, 100% return in one month, another 40% in two days!

This is the reason I read this book, to make money. No one should try to make money in options based on simple formulas. One must have a deeper understanding of how things work. Duarte has a firm grasp on this concept and ably communicates to his reader.

Particularly helpful is the section on recognizing trends and getting ahead of the curve. His 'Developing Strategies' does help the careful reader avoid pain in the market. Also helpful are his ten killer rules.

Futures and options trading isn't for the faint of heart. Useful information contained in this book offers information needed to have confidence in developing a trading plan that you understand and can make work. This is very useful indeed.

A very credible tome on a subject written with obvious insight and judgment that can only come with experience.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars need to know, October 25, 2007

By	Steven - See all my reviews

If you're new to options, this is _the_ book to start with. Surely, online resources are plentiful, but no single web site can give you all the information and explanations you need to really get a good grasp on whqat exactly might be happenning. I've already made some money in options but, believe it or not, I've made more in stocks because I didn't quite grasp how these things work. This said, if you understand options and have a good idea of how the underlying (stock) is going to perform you can see your option appreciate 20, 50, or even 100 plus percent in a very short time. This is the draw of options. The most important thing you need to know, however, and this is 'experience' speaking, is that you have to, i mean, have to reel in your money if you see so much as 5 or 10 cent markdown in the price of your option. Why? because, unlike stocks, you can always buy right back in if the thing does start going your way With stocks, you usually hold it until you see , say, an 8% depreciation in value. This is not true with options. If you have, say, ten contracts, you're leveraging 1000 shares. Thus, if your thing goes down 5 cents, you've lost 50 dollars; 10 cents, 100 dollars and this usually happens intra-day, within a few minutes. For this reason, options are classified as 'high risk', but it's only high risk if you're averse to gettting rid of them. Stocks might take 2 or 3 or 5 days or more to show such a drop; that's when you might sell. Oh, and one more thing...having the right software makes or breaks your trading. Schwab offers options, but not any kind of software that gives you all the information and tools you need. Check around; there's a few that offer killer stuff. Visit investools.com
I hope this helps future traders but, if you must know, you gotta digest all the info in the options part if you're to get a grip on the thing.