Customer Reviews

Trade Options Online (Wiley Online Trading for a Living)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is only a decent overview of options trading. Its pluses include its concise descriptions and profit/loss graphs of different option strategies and invaluable information on finding an online options broker. HOWEVER, it leaves the reader with unrealistic expectations (like all of Fontanills' and Optionetics' materials) in that ALL of the trades in the book are profitable. Take it from someone who has learned this personally -- options trading is NOT a "get rich quick" scheme. Should you choose to try it you will have MANY unsuccessful trades. A book which is very easy to understand, yet which provides valuable guidance on WHAT CAN GO WRONG is Max Ansbacher's _The New Options Market_. I sincerely recommend that book because it is able to describe the pitfalls of options trading in a manner which I've not found in other books. Good luck!

Wow! A book that really delivers the goods.

Starting out with Online Investing 101. and moving on to Online Trading Resources Fontanills introduces the world of cyber trading. Then he moves to introduce the options basics strategies. In particular he concentrates on Vertical Spreads. and Covered Writes to show how to trade online.

Then he moves to his trademark of Delta Neutral Strategies. The book covers Ratio Spreads and Backspreads, Sideways Spread Strategies. Now we got to the bits that I really was thrilled by the Cybervesting from A to Z. This is a complete analysis of all the investment web sites that options traders need to know. If it is not here then forget it. This is an exhaustive review of all the players on the web for option trading.

As a frustrated option trader I was enthralled by his review of all the brokers and their rankings. He is candid and brutal in his rankings. he concentrates on their performance not their marketing. I was surprised by his choice for best broker.

He wraps up with good sections on Living Online, Appendices and of course a Glossary.

This was a great read that will live on my desk as a reference guide for my trading. It is the Fontanills trademark of being easy to understand, practical and written for the average reader not the PHD. This man can really write so others can grasp the complex strategies that he conveys.

I like the candid story of his life, cancer victim, Harvard MBA etc. and now a money manager for a living.

Great read and invaluable guide to how to trade options online.

Alison Pearlman

First 8 chapters give you a very superficial introduction to the options trading and some strategies. Let me repeat - very superficial. If you want to learn that matter, you definetely need another book.

So, I was trying to get usefull info on the WEB resources. Let me tell you - two years make a big difference in the Internet world. Many sites do not exist. Some of them have nothing in common with the description, which you find in a book. Chapter 9 - "cybervesting from A to Z" is a complete waste of time and is full of frustration. It guides you through interfaces of nonexisting web pages. The pages, which, according to th author, answer the crutial questions of a trade. I lost most of time just to verify nonexistence of the referenced resources.

I bought the book after reading others' good reviews here, and was fully expecting a wealth of options strategies and most importantly, personal experience and insights from such a celebrated option trader-author. However, IMHO, this book turned out to be a combination of

- superficial introductory text to 'online investing' (from Chapter 1 to 4), which is more suited to a Finance 101 course of high school students, if there's such one. - a decent list of option trading strategies (Chap 5-8) - an extremely rich list of online resources for financial web sites, online brokerages, and other sites geared for options trading. The extensive listings are surely impressive, however, as another reviewer pointed out, can get outdated easily.

It is certainly not a bad book, but I usually buy books because I expect to find more insightful writing which is not readily obtainable from the web. To this front I was a bit disappointed in this book. To me it seems that the author practiced a low-cost approach to make money out of this book by just compiling a long list of online resources and writing some very basic educational text, instead of sharing his trading strategies and experiences. Maybe this approach is good for a beginner who has not started stock trading yet, but for a typical stock investor/day trader who is trying to diversify into option trading, there is room for more value-added discussion.

At the same time, the author seems to be keen on promoting his Optionetics website, which itself is pretty impressive (if you pay to subscribe the Platinum service).

All in all, the book is a pretty good reference to get started, simply because it has a wealth of pointers to online resources, and a decent listing of option spread strategists. But if I get more experienced in options trading, I'll look for a better book to keep.

I won't pretend to be an expert option trader. I'm in my third year of seeking a bachelor's, and the degree will not be very finance or investing related. This is the first book I read about options, and it successfully heightened my interest by introducing me to some basic option strategies. Another success of the book is the advice it gives on how to initiate and monitor trades throughout the trading day.

Unfortunately, the only people with time to check these complex positions each and every minute are multi-million dollar hedge fund managers (such as the author). The rest of working class America and I can only check our investments on occasional evenings. My guess is the average reader does not have the time or the stomach to sit on pins and needles every day wondering if it's time to exit their risky positions. The only advice the author lends about early exits from trades is that if the stock looks poised to move against you then get out.

Also, the author tells us to start looking for trades based on increased media coverage, high volume, and/or price volatility. This sort of herd following mentality is what I think leads to the massive market swings which cable commentators and industry insiders pretend to understand but incorrectly predict on a daily basis. If the author could truly capture these wild swings, writing this book would not be necessary.

Even the author's own website (after buying expensive extra services) does not search through all optionable stocks to find volatility skews that would make the pie in the sky trades illustrated throughout the book possible. The "platinum" site lets you pick a stock and then see what you can do with it. The odds of randomly finding a stock where you can risk less than $75 and possibly gain over $400 with a 15 point spread of profitability (chapter 8, long condor), are close to a needle in a hay stack.

Applicable advice to average investors is something this book truly lacks. Modifying simple stock ownership with options is not discussed. All of the option strategies included contain absolutely no stock positions (long or short). Trading within IRA's was important before the maximum contributions started being increased, but now they will become more important than ever. I suspect the rankings of brokers in the book and on the author's website are based more on advertising compensation than usefulness to individual traders. The rankings refuse to recognize the lowest-commission-charging online brokerages, and left out completely is the issue of assignment and exercise fees. Assignment and exercise fees can range from 15 to 30 dollars - per contract ... emphasis on per contract. I chose my current broker (not on any ranking list) only because they do not charge those fees.

In a final derogatory note, the seventh chapter contains text that contradicts itself when explaining the ratio call spread and the call ratio backspread. I had to reread the chapter a few times to sort out where the errors are, and what those positions entail.

Again, the book did shed light on an area of investing I knew little about, and intrigued me enough to want to learn more. Yet by sporting a sexy neon cover and depicting life from the point of view of someone managing millions, this book and others like it will probably keep average people thinking of options as risky, scary, and strange. Other than giving me a basic understanding of some common ways to trade, all this book really accomplished was motivating me to write a better one.

This is a good book on how to trade options online. I liked the review of the top web sites on the internet for options traders. My broker E-Trade was not in the top 10 - I agree with that as they are out to lunch for options trading. Fontanills, not a broker, expressed a blunt for and against of the brokers. I may change my broker to try his ideas. The top options website reference guide has already become invaluable.

I thought this book complimented his Options Course Book that I bought last year. Trade Options Online is a practical guide for every options traders library. I liked it.

I really liked this book. Devoting itself to internet trading and options it introduces the reader to how to research a trade, apply option strategies and find a broker.

It was refreshing to see Mr. Fontanills put his neck out and give an opinion on subjects such as brokers, web sites and rank them for the reader. I have used his suggestions of research tools and have had some success already.

I liked the fact that he does not promote himself but instead gives a candid review of his successes and failures as he learned to become a successful options trader.

The A-Z of Cyber trading is a complete summary for the reader and designed to be all the option trader needs to know. He does not spend time going through Internet basics assuming that the reader knows that.

A valuable resource for any option trading that wants to get the edge for trading online.

Finally a book that decodes the complexities of online trading from an option trader's point of view! I was happily surprised by Fontanills' candid reviews of online sites and even more surprised that he boldly rated online brokerages in a top ten list. His writing style was fresh and easy to read, and I applaud his attention to detail. For once, I looked forward to reading an investment book and highly recommend it to anyone who feels overwhelmed by the prospect of joining the online trading revolution!

Finally a book you can sink your teeth into and getstarted. I've read dozens of trading books where you finish and youwonder what your next step should be. Here the author gives detailed examples of strategies. There are also very few typos or mistakes which to me is most infuriating. You buy a "how to" book and you need a decoder ring to try and figure out what the author really meant because they didn't bother to proof the book. Not so with this book.

Chapter 9 was so refreshing! Here the author walks thru step-by-step what his typical trading day would involve. No "well-chosen" examples to fit the author's purpose, just fundamentals that he looks for and where online he looks.

The web site reference section alone is worth the price of the book. For me it well save hundreds of hours of World Wide Wait (WWW) searching for relevent sites with good, useful and reliable information. The reference site also had pricing info for those sites that weren't free. It also gave me an idea of what's available out there, Online!

There was a lot of educational sites for those remaining questions, like the break down of the "Greeks". These would of been too much to cover in this book and I'm glad the author didn't try to.

This book is a great first-step for ONLINE Option traders.

Good Luck Trading!

PS The author doesn't self promote. He mentions a couple of his own sites amoung the hundreds of sites he references. The reference would be less than complete if he had left out his own sites.

The book focuses on option strategies that you can use online and option disciplines.

Chapter 1 & 2 introduce online trading for an option trader. Chap. 3 is a step by step through stock and option basics. Then 4 through 8 go through 15 managed risk strategies for online traders.

That was all very interesting and then I got to what for me made the book. In chapter 9 it was all pulled together by walking through a step by step series of web sites in search of a profitable trade. Moving on to an analysis of online brokers and how they rate for option traders. His top 10 option firms gave me a place to start my own research. Then he goes into how to place a trade online.

I did not expect such a great analysis of all the top web sites in the Appendix of 250 top financial sites. The Appendix go on and on.

It is totally untrue to state that Mr Fontanills states that he invented option trading strategies. He confides in this book and his other Option Course Book that he learned it from the floor of the exchange. It is his interpretation in an easy to understand manner that is so unique. When I read other texts I get lost. When I read Fontanills work I understand. That is his essence .. "that he can communicate the complicated so I can understand".

So my negatives of the book is that he should have covered certain strategies in more depth. But I would imagine that at 350 pages, Wiley the publisher, wanted to keep the cost of the book down. I believe this is a great addition to any option traders library. It is refreshing to find a real trader that teaches his art to the masses.

Bravo Mr. Fontanills.