Options Trading: The Hidden Reality ("Options: Perception and Deception" & "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" revised & expanded, Printed in Color) ("Options: Perception and Deception" & "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" revised & expanded, Printed in Color) [Hardcover]

Charles M Cottle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2006

Required Reading for the Serious Options Trader This book is an expanded revision of "Options: Perception and Deception" and "Coulda Woulda Shoulda". "Options Trading: The Hidden Reality" (OTTHR) is printed in color and has 100 more pages than previous versions. In addition to 3D graphics and Skew Library, OTTHR features Position Dissection (the Market Maker Risk Management Tool) illustrations on popular wingspread (stretched-out condors, slingshots and skip-strike-flies) and calendarized spread (double diagonals, straddle strangle swaps and double calendars) configurations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 430 pages
• Publisher: RiskDoctor, Inc.; 1ST edition (2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977869172
• ISBN-13: 978-0977869176
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get the book, November 14, 2008

By 

D. kiash "David" (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Options Trading: The Hidden Reality ("Options: Perception and Deception" & "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" revised & expanded, Printed in Color) ("Options: Perception and Deception" & "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" revised & expanded, Printed in Color) (Hardcover)

I wanted to comment on my experience with the book and some of the other customer reviews.

You do not need to be a market maker or veteran options trader to read and get value from this book. I am a retail options trader, with a very serious full time job, and have virtually no mathematical aptitude, and I have already started benefiting greatly from the book.

In my opinion you should make sure you have basic familiarity with how options work, and some of the basic outright positions and spread techniques and what market view they support, and you will be ready to start learning what options are really about from there. You cannot go wrong by using this book and Mr. Cottle's other materials as the very next step.

Be under no delusion---after the basics---options can get very complicated very quickly--if you let them. I have discovered, contrary to my initial impression, that Mr. Cottle in fact through the use of detail is really attempting to simplify option strategy decisions and trading itself. Through the use of what seems to be complicated examples---CC cuts through the fog and gets to the meat of options strategies and how and why one might choose one over the other--and invariably the best choice is something straightforward.

Based on what I know about him and my experience with his materials, he is committed to teaching. If you expect to read this book without pen and paper in hand, with little or no effort on your part, and have him simply say "do x and you will get rich" this book and his approach is definitely not for you. He is like any good teacher. He will make you work for the answer, but not leave you hanging when you struggle. In working for the answer---and having his approach, experience and techniques available--you will most assuredly gain a grasp of options and how to make money trading them that you never had before.

Don't be intimidated when you first view the book. The presentation looks strange, the tools he uses will be different from those you have seen or used before, and the terminology will be strange to some. There is a reason he takes the approach he does and it will, with a modicum of effort, become clearer every time you are exposed to it and use it.

Here is what it has done for me.

It has forced me to actually think about what may be happening underneath the option quote and the day to day change in a position.

It has convinced me that trading outright positions whether short naked or long does not necessarily produce the best results. Yes longs are problematic due to all the standard theta reasons, and yes naked shorts are risky---we all know that---the trick is to figure out how to take the inherent advantages of either of these approaches, and make them work for your view of the market without getting killed in the process.

What he has made me a believer in is that risk can be reasonably controlled, while still making very attractive rates of return, and if you are looking for a method to make reasonable returns in the market, the raw tools are there for the taking.

He has convinced me that uncomplicated but well constructed spreads, for debit or credit, can actually allow me to participate in the market with a reasonable expectation of success, and allow me to sleep at night in the process without position adjusting every 10 minutes. He has also made me a true believer that options, by their very nature, provide huge flexibilities that outright underlying positions cannot, and allow much wider margins for error if I prove to be wrong in my view in any given position if they are structured correctly in the first place.

You do not have to be a rocket scientist to make money in options. In fact if you arbitrarily go out and sell an option this afternoon at random, odds are it will expire worthless and you will make money. The problem lies in the odds piece that is not in your favor. You also do not have to be a rocket scientist to get killed by these odds. Although small in most cases, when it goes against you---you will be dead unless you are very savvy and well prepared to deal with such an eventuality. This is the piece that CC is so good at getting at--managing the underlying risks in any given option situation, structuring the position correctly and buying or selling it right to hold as much risk as possible in check--while still giving you the opportunity to make some money.

The thing that finally made me a believer was the time he took to talk to me. He is not a prima donna. When I had concerns about spending even one more nickel on books, learning materials, educational seminars, etc. because so much of what I spent has been a waste of money and merely kept the educator in new Mercedes for so long---CC came through with flying colors. He took almost a half hour and spoke with me on the phone, and since then has never failed to answer a polite note or inquiry in his forum on his website Riskdoctor.com. He certainly is not getting rich from my buying the book or a seminar tape as his prices are very fair and honest. All these factors have convinced me that he must have the true teaching bug and his desire is to teach and help me improve.

He is not an easy taskmaster--and he is not going to tell you what to trade. He is a good teacher and like any good teacher he always tries to stay out in front of you a bit with his teaching and materials. This is a good thing for those willing to stretch just a little because the nuances start to emerge very quickly. The best part is he is there to get you untangled when you do get stuck in the weeds.

One more thing, after you read through the book once---go on his website and spend a little money and get one of his taped training sessions that he has actually done with live students [I started with Straddles and Strangles]. It will DEFINITELY help you clear some of the confusion that the book will inevitably create.

If you want to know more about options than any of these get rich books can ever tell you--buy the book---it will pay for itself many times over in your first couple trades, and the bonus is you will understand why it paid for itself, rather than your just having made a lucky guess or two.

DDK

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars how to actually use options., March 14, 2006

By 

Bruce B. Lawrence (Chicago, Illinois and Mumbai, India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Options Trading: The Hidden Reality ("Options: Perception and Deception" & "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" revised & expanded, Printed in Color) ("Options: Perception and Deception" & "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" revised & expanded, Printed in Color) (Hardcover)

First I need to point out that i know the author and worked with him on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade during the late 1980's. Charles was a superb trader but is an even better teacher. Options can be daunting because of all the associated terminology. This book will give the motivated reader numerous tools for understanding and choosing strategies for using options to control risks and achieve trading objectives. I know of no book that better serves a user of options as opposed to those whose interest is theoretical or academic.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most advance yet very practical options books out there!, April 8, 2006

By 

Sriram Ganesh - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Options Trading: The Hidden Reality ("Options: Perception and Deception" & "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" revised & expanded, Printed in Color) ("Options: Perception and Deception" & "Coulda Woulda Shoulda" revised & expanded, Printed in Color) (Hardcover)

This books differs from other books in that it presents not only the profit stories but also the stories about how certain positions lost money and why. The 3D risk graphs in color are great and after looking at them for a few minutes a flash bulb goes in your head making your understanding of options better. Detailed examples of advanced strategies like gamma scalping helps an intermediate retail trader to pickup and start using these strategies. If you are serious about options trading this book is a must have.