Customer Reviews

Options: Trading Strategy and Risk Management (Wiley Finance)

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

 

 

It's always refreshing to find a book written by a trader! Most of us in the industry have too many books authored by academics who have never managed risk for a living. This book would be very helpful for beginners looking to get into trading. It's a nice complement to find a text that can go beyond theoretical pricing mechanics and give you a feel for the market. Nice bite size chapters, good ideas, practical examples.

John Wiley & co owes me a couple of pages full of errata or, at least, my money back. (I note there are, at this time, 23 used or new copies of this book)
Books on options strategy and management with plenty of FX examples are few and far between. The only thing good about this book is that the chapters are bite-size. I'm only about half-way thru the book, but if I can expect a similar number of errors for the rest, then shame on John Wiley for allowing this book to publish before extensive editing.
Two handfuls of errors may not be much, but 79.95 is a lot to pay. Lucky for me I have a pretty strong grasp of the basics, but what if a beginner interbank trader got a hold of this book?
It's surprising that someone of Nassim Taleb's eminence would lend his name in editorial reviews of this book.

Sorry Simon.

Been meaning to find the time to write a re-review... with a slight improvement in the rating! haha

I didn't finish the book at the time I wrote the last review.

To date, I have, in fact, finished your book. And overall, the book was actually quite helpful. I must've had an off-day the day I reviewed it the first time.

Anyway, I figured you're just a (good?) trader after all, not a writer. A lot of options texts in the market nowadays are just a lot of marketing blather. So I'll forgive your minor short-comings.

To recap: overall, your book had a lot of good ideas. Your options examples were practical and relevant to the beginner institutional trader/risk manager. For me, the real meat of your book came from Parts 3 to 7.

I liked that your book is not US-centric, futures-centric, equities-centric, or even day-trader-centric.

And I liked the fact that all of your chapters were bite-sizes and a whole lot easier to digest.

Methinks this is the only book of its kind that I know of that caters to institutional traders/salespersons (regardless how Amazon is marketing the book), and (to a certain extent) beginner risk managers.

I won't recommend this book to a rank outsider or even Investors. I can, however, recommend this to novice traders/salespersons who would've have cut their teeth for at least 6 months before they can go into general resource books like these (and being able to recognize the difference between the mistakes I mentioned in my last review and gaps in their own knowledge! haha)

For your next edition, you might want to cover the latest exotic FX structures in more depth. And maybe you could convert your notes at the end of the book as end-of-chapter footnotes instead.

For your next book, if you can write something like the RiskDoctor Charles Cottle's latest book, but with plenty of FX options management examples (from directional trader's and/or market maker's POV) plus a CD-ROM with Excel spreadsheets and calculators, that would be great! haha

Erm... No need for a refund. Your book and Cottle's are the only desk references I use on a regular basis.

My other issues with this book:

The book is being marketed (either by the inside flaps or Editorial Reviews) as a "step-by-step" "practical guide" for "investors". Methinks while the book does have practical examples, it's not really a "practical" book over-all for the investor class. Institutional traders, maybe, but not investors.

And the book would really have to go that extra mile before it can claim the 'step-by-step" bit for investors. Can't say off-hand what that extra mile would entail; just that I don't see it yet.

However, I CAN say the book turned out to be a valuable resource.

My two cents anyway. "Step-by-step" is a very important standard for me. Hence, 4 stars, instead of 5 stars.

Exercises is the highlight of the book. It made many points much clearer.
Actually I did not find mistakes the previous review mentions.
I'd like to see more books from this author.

This is an excellent book on the strategy. Specifically recommended to the young audience who just joined the market

I have worked at futures market for quite a long time, but until recently options remained a very obscure and complex instrument for me. Some time ago I decided to master option market. So I bought several books on the subject, but none of them was as helpful as the one by Simon Vine. The book is clearly written by a practical expert who knows market realities.