Options as a Strategic Investment [Hardcover]

Lawrence G. McMillan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2001

"Options as a Strategic Investment" provides a solid foundation in the basic properties and advantages of options, listed and non-equity, and goes on to detail scores of proven techniques and tactics for a wide array of market scenarios.It reflects today's market realities and the new innovative options products available. With in-depth analysis, buy and sell strategies, detailed guidance for investing and coverage of the lasest developments in futures and futures options, this is a comprehensive guide.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The options world has a lot to offer investors and traders alike, but it can be dauntingly hard to understand. Since its original publication, Options as a Strategic Investment has answered many a question; and each succeeding edition has answered many more. It is the options reference in our office.

John Bollinger, CFA, CMT, President

Bollinger Capital Management, Manhattan Beach, California Larry McMillan’s Fourth Edition of Options as a Strategic Investment is a must read. This latest version of his original classic presents his latest thinking on options. McMillan is truly the master of his field.

John Murphy, President

Murphy Morris, Inc., Dallas, Texas

Larry’s book is the bible of the options community. It has established the benchmark by which all other option books are compared - and none measure up. Alex Jacobson, Vice President International Securities Exchange, New York, New York Larry has taken options education into the 21st century with this book. His insights into trading concepts will always stand the test of time. Keeping up with the latest information on options is mandatory and no one does it more masterfully than Larry.

Mark D. Cook, Professional Options Trader

Mark D. Cook Trading Instruction, East Sparta, Ohio

The options product is the premier tool for managing risk, but most professionals are no longer taught about it, and individual investors shun it because of its supposed complexity. Mr. McMillan not only makes this risk management tool easy to understand, but fun to learn. Did you realize that if you own a car you own a put? Read the book and find out how you are already using options as a risk management tool without realizing it. This book should be read by everyone - professionals and individual investors alike. Thomas J. Dorsey, President Dorsey, Wright & Assoc., Richmond, Virginia The best one-stop source of understandable option information that you can act on immediately. Every serious investor should read this book.

Ken and Daria Dolan

Heard daily across America on the WOR radio network.

About the Author

Lawrence G McMillan is the editor of "The Option Strategist Newsletter" and the author of numerous articles on options and investment trading. Formerly senior vice president of the Equity Arbitrage Department at Thomson McKinnon Securities, he currently publishes newsletters and gives seminars on options, manages money for private clients and trades his own account.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1001 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Press; 4 Sub edition (April 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735201978
• ISBN-13: 978-0735201972
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Business & Investing > Investing
  • #74 in Books > Business & Investing > Accounting

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

152 of 155 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The CBOE should require ALL traders to read it!, January 10, 2001

By 

Rob Ryley "Robert" (Northeast NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Options as a Strategic Investment, Third Edition (Hardcover)

Most people who trade either stocks, options, or futures lose money. This is because they 1) are undercapitalized, 2) have no system or 3) don't understand the instrument they trade. 4) some combination of 1, 2, and 3. This book won't help you if you don't go into the market with enough money, but it will help you develop your own system (after a lot more research) and figure out how to use options to increase returns or limit risk.

This book describes just about every fundamental strategy you could try with options. It covers the total return concept of covered call writing, the pros and cons of option buying, examines various types of spreads (vertical, calendar, and diagonal) and the various delta (price) neutral strategies.

There is some advanced math here (in an appendix), but anyone of average intelligence and stock market knowledge could follow it.

Don't pay attention to those reviewers who trash the book--they have no clue. I constantly refer to this book in order to gain a better understanding of different option strategies. No matter which direction option markets evolve, the information of this book will still apply.

104 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is THE book., July 15, 2002

By 

FreeAtLast (Newington, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Options as a Strategic Investment (Hardcover)

Try as I might, I cannot understand the negative reviews here. This is THE book on options. McMillan writes clearly and well. There is nothing glib here -- no promises of great wealth, no hype, no pandering to fools. What is here is solid information presented well and thoroughly.

A criticism that came up more than once (copy cat reviews?) is that the book doesn't show practical stuff. What! It provides all the information that any reasonably intelligent person needs to UNDERSTAND exactly what the strategies are and when to apply them. To ask for more is to ask for easy and oversimplified answers that will part you from your money.

The book is thick. True. You don't need all that is in it. True. The book is frightening or dull or not as useful as (gimme a break!) Wade Cook!!!

Hey! It's a text book, not a novel. Wake up! You can use it to find what YOU want to know.

There is more useful information in this book than in any hustler's high-priced and hype-filled seminar. It's all you need and it's currently selling for less $. Don't get scared off by the negative reviews or you'll miss out on the most respected and best of all the many books written on options.

If you're not willing to spend $ and a little effort to learn about options, you're not likely to profit from them. Buy the book. Then, sit down and read in it to find the definitive answers to your option questions. It simply doesn't get any more accurate, any clearer, or any better.

(Oh yes, one or two reviewers suggested that the book is out of date.

137 of 141 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for the small trader, January 5, 1999

By 

R. Braun (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Options as a Strategic Investment, Third Edition (Hardcover)

If you like detailed descriptions of every option strategy known to man, then this is an excellent book. I have spent thousands of hours pouring through this book; analyzing and trying many of the numerous strategies. To be honest, I have learned a lot about options, but I have also lost a lot of money. I still trade options. But now, most of my trades are limited to the basics: straight calls, puts, and vertical spreads.

After learning things the hard way, I believe that the small investor should focus on a few simple strategies and avoid the temptation to get into the more complex strategies. For some reason, I thought that the more complex,"advanced" strategies were better than the simpler ones. That isn't true. There is still plenty of money to be made in options without getting overly complex.

If, in spite of my recommendation, you are dying to try out some more advanced strategies, then this is the book for you. Good luck!