Trading Options For Dummies [Paperback]

George A. Fontanills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2008

Thinking of trading options, but not sure where to start? Trading Options For Dummies starts you from the beginning with clear, step-by-step advice on how to use top option strategies to reduce your risk while boosting your income and enlarging your retirement portfolio with index, equity, and ETF options.

This plain-English guide explains the common types of options and helps you choose the right ones for your investing needs. You find out how to weigh option costs and benefits, combine options to reduce risk, and build a strategy that allows you to gain no matter what the market may bring. You’ll learn the basics of market and sector analysis and what to look for when trying out a new option strategy. You’ll also find what you need to know about options contract specifications and mechanics. Discover how to:

• Understand option contracts and orders
• Determine and manage your risk
• Guard your assets using options
• Trade options on securities exchanges
• Protect your rights and satisfy your contract obligations
• Target sectors using technical analysis
• Minimize potential losses and optimize rewards
• Map out your plan of attack
• Limit your downside when trading the trend
• Combine options to limit your position risk
• Benefit from exchange traded funds
• Key in on volatility for trading opportunities
• Capitalize on sideways movements

Trading options is serious business. Trading Options For Dummies gives you the expert help you need to succeed.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Features top option strategies that reduce your risk

Navigate options markets and bring in the profits

Thinking about trading options? This plain-English guide explains the common types of options and helps you choose the right ones for your investing needs. You'll see how to weigh option costs and benefits, combine options to reduce risk, and build a strategy that allows you to gain no matter the market conditions.

Discover how to:

• Understand option contracts and orders

• Know and manage your risk

• Use technical analysis

• Guard your assets with options

• Minimize potential losses

About the Author

George Fontanills is the founder of Optionetics, which provides investment education services and tools for trading in today's markets.
Since 1993, Optionetics has provided investment education services and trading tools to more than 250,000 people from over 50 countries. Every day, Optionetics helps traders navigate the markets and chart paths to financial security. In fact, it not only stands by its pledge to provide the highest quality investment education possible, but it also guarantees it.
Optionetics high-profit, low-risk, low-stress strategies are based on over dozens of trading techniques perfected by master trader George Fontanills, founder of Optionetics. Avoiding overly theoretical or technically complicated material, Optionetics represents a practical, balanced approach to trading profitably in today’s markets. Optionetics diverse range of educational offerings includes seminars, publications, workshops, CDs and DVDs, home-study materials, books, and software.
Choose Optionetics for the premier educational resources and tools to help you become the successful trader you’ve always wanted to be.
Visit www.optionetics.com for more information.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (March 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470241764
• ISBN-13: 978-0470241769
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Insurance > Risk Management

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars May be your first book on Options, December 2, 2008

By 

Maxim Masiutin (Chisinau, Republic of Moldova) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trading Options For Dummies (Paperback)

This book assumes that the reader already have familiarity with stocks, and would like to move further, to options. The author doesn't take into account the fundamental analysis of the underlying security, however, there is a chapter about the technical analysis. In my point of view, it is a drawback: a reader already familiar with the stock market may be aware of the technical analysis, so either both technical and fundamental need to be covered or none.

The book covers three types of options: stock options, index options, and ETF options. There is a separate chapter devoted to ETFs, but a reader already familiar with a stock market will get no benefit from this chapter.

The book is printed with quite a large font have quite much space around the text, so it is quick to read. This may be a good introductory book to options. It is pretty basic and easy to understand, however, it fails to address an important technique of selling puts as a way of buying the underlying security. Warren Buffett obtains most of his stock holdings through selling puts. He got most of his Coca-Cola Holdings this way, and, recently, Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

If you need a much deeper book on options, I would recommend "The Options Course" by the same author. It doesn't have the drawbacks above mentioned, very friendly and easy to understand, although it is a much lengthier read.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for wrapping up loose ends, July 18, 2008

By 

C. Chiang (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trading Options For Dummies (Paperback)

What this book lacks in detail, it makes in subject completeness.

There are dozens and dozens of great websites out there describing options and trading strategies in far better depth and completeness than this book. So, if you're looking for complex spreads or techniques, this book will not satisfy you.

However, online searches are so saturated in trading strategies that it's actually difficult to become aware of real world transactional details (like, "who are the market makers? how does assignment work?"). this book nicely wraps up those "loose ends" that are hardly ever mentioned on your favorite search engine.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This Book is Too Complex for Dummies, August 28, 2008

By 

Tigre (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trading Options For Dummies (Paperback)

I wanted a book which would explain buying and selling options in a thorough way for someone who knew very little about options. This is not the book.

The author seems to have the intent to throw in as many complex terms without every explaining the simple things. Never once in this book is a walk through through on how to buy a call, how to sell the option, or on how to exercise the underlying contract. The same goes for simple puts.