Customer Reviews

Options Demystified

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Options Demystified" is a worthy addition to McGraw-Hill's "Demystified" series, easily living up to its claim of being a self-teaching guide. Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of puts and calls, but this large-format paperback is by far the best I've come across for the aspiring option trader. It is comprehensive, well organized, generously illustrated and easy to understand. The book also includes many quizzes and a "final exam" to help the reader master the material.

The author, Thomas McCafferty, has been around commodities, stocks and options for many years and written numerous books on those subjects. This one not only lays out the basics of the options game, it also condenses much of the author's impressive horse-sense into a very readable and relatively short work (251 pages, plus an excellent index). "Options Demystified" should be on every trader's shelf. Even pros will find some pearls here, including a chapter on "trading philosophy" that's perfectly attuned to today's frothy markets. I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone looking for an options primer that is both comprehensive and easy to imbibe.

..then this is the book you should be reading first.
I bought two books to help me understand what options were about, "Options Made Easy" by Guy Cohen and this one. Guy Cohen's book has so many incomprehensible charts and diagrams on practically every page that it left me with nothing learned. His book is definitely not for the beginner such as myself. I stopped reading it about a third of the way through, thinking I'm never going to "get options".

Then I took up reading "Options Demystified" and it was like a breath of fresh air. I went through the whole book in 3 days, highlighting the essentials that I wanted to return to and will shortly start on re-reading it again before actually purchasing any Puts and Calls.
"Options Demystified" definitely adheres to the KISS philosophy ("keep it simple, stupid") and for the beginner to get an overview of the mechanics of option trading, this is exactly what we need.

I will agree on one point with the previous negative reviewer on his suggestion to go to the CBOE website (Chicago Board Options Exchange) and go into their Learning center. They also keep it simple so we newbies can "get it".

This was a quick enjoyable read which provides an overview of options. This is a good first book to read to see if you want to invest more time studying.

This is just awful as it fails to give graphic examples of stock options. The author just blabs and blabs without any coherance. I bought this book to shed light on this confusing subject---it confused me even further! Go to the CBOE to get crystal clear answers to most of your options questions. There must be better options out there!!!