Customer Reviews

Trading Options to Win: Profitable Strategies and Tactics for Any Trader

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Johnston's book is very well done - an excellent read without the hype. It assumes the reader has some knowledge of the options markets. Beginners should start with Natenberg's book then read "Trading options to Win". It's a must read for anyone that's serious about trading options with a defined edge. The book covers several extremely practical trading methodologies, when to employ them (when the odds are very much in your favor), and how to defend when things go wrong(maybe the most important part of the book). I have read numerous books on trading options. This is far and away the most practical book I've found on the subject. It gives the reader something they can use immediately. I also enjoyed the real world trades and how they were deployed and defended. I have to give this book the highest rating.

Don't know what book Edward Lovette read, but it's pretty clear he didn't read the entire book. This is an exceptional book and anyone who trades options would be taking the short end of the bet by missing it. Johnston makes his points easily, clearly, practically, and (unusual for a book on options, which are usually dry as dust) it's very entertaining. Mainly, and again this is rare or nonexistent in the options books I've read, Johnston presents the background and the reasoning behind the trading strategies he's talking about and shows the WHY of making profits in the markets and not just the what and the how. The strategies themselves are pretty interesting. Everybody knows about straddles and strangles, but how about a "Martian ratio-spread" or a "WOOM non-seasonal?" I've traded options for a long time and read a lot of books on options, yet I never even heard of these strategies, so there's a lot of originality in this book, too. Any options trader will get a lot of good fresh ideas from "Trading Options To Win." I just wish it had been longer, but it's 5 stars anyway.

First, the problems. He takes awhile to get to his point. You need to get past his cute phrases and chatty style. Second, I use chapter and section headings to help me through a book. His headings a worse than useless. For example, one chapter heading is "Just the Facts, Ma'am".

Getting past all of that, I found my efforts well rewarded. He truly comes up with very original insights into trading. He examines risk from a unique perspective. His ideas on option writing cannot be found in any other book I have seen.

For example, most traders use seasonality to find market trends. His chapter on using seasonality to predict non-trending, choppy markets (important for the option writer) is truly a classic. He sees, smells, and thinks about how the option writer can make money in the markets, and I have found no other book with such real world trading ideas.

If you sell options, this is a must read.

Well, 5 of the 6 reviews prior to mine are all very favorable. Those favorable reviews are what persuaded me to buy the book. For me, the book was absolutely useless. The author takes forever to make his point and usually it's not a very useful point when it's made. The titles of each chapter and subchapter are also useless. Rather than just saying what each chapter is devoted to, he incorporates a phrase which the author apparently finds catchy. Finally, and I know some of you will find this unacceptable, I was not even able to finish the book. Mind you, I have been a very hard core student of the market for well over a year and have read many books, in addition to trading, practice trading, and attending seminars, but I eventually gave up about 2/3 of the way through when I realized (after about 2 months of trying to force myself through the book) that I was wasting my time, which is a greater annoyance than the money wasted on buying the book. Others' opinions obviously differ from mine, but for me, this book was extremely annoying in its presentation, contained very very little on how to actually trade any given strategy (or how to defend it), and, as the other unfavorable reviewer noted, is about 90% trading psychology and 10% how-to. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THIS: knowing what I know now, if I could go back in time, would I have purchased this book? NO. Because this stuff is my life, feel free to email me any questions at headbanger51 at yahoo -- be sure to put something like "Amazon review" or "options book" in your subject line or it will probably get deleted.

Outstanding book. I have corresponded with Stuart on a few occasions, and have found him to be a very genuine and intelligent guy. I personally enjoyed his writing style, and appreciate the fact that he didn't rub his advanced degrees in the reader's face. Very down-to-earth guy. I guess some readers such as Fletch prefer dry academic tomes instead of well written edutainment, so hey whatever cranks your tractor I guess. If I ever have insomnia I'll borrow one from you Fletch. Me on the other hand, I appreciate the way the concepts were presented. It made the book even more understandable, if for no other reason that his logical, humorous and chatty style kept my short attention span brain fully engaged.

Hats off to SAJ for this excellent book. My options understanding has increased by AT LEAST an order of magnitude.

This book is focused on selling options on futures. It is an excellent dissertation on risk control and profit expectancy, and is loaded with practical advice. This book assumes you have a basic idea of what a future's contract is. I recommend this book highly for anyone who wants practical advice and strategies for gaining a statistical edge in the marketplace which options afford.

This book is very good if you want to trade the futures market with options.
It's slow at the beginning ... you need to get through interesting but out-of-focus discussions, and then the strategies are presented.
The author only trades options on the commodity markets, and makes a strong case for it.

What I really like about this book is the trade defenses / adjustments.
To paraphrase the author :
"Look, I already know how to win; what I want to know is how not to lose. Consistent with this view, the examples of actual or hypothetical trades throughout the text are generally negative examples -- demonstrating what to do if a trade goes awry, how to deal with unanticipated risk, and even, occasionally, how to turn a loss back into a profit. After all, if a trade goes well, it goes well, we bank the profit, and there's little more to be said about it, right?"
This is really the added-value of the book.

On the minus side ... I regret that all the info is fundamental : there are statistics, normal and lognormal distribution curves ... BUT no charts !
It makes the examples somewhat difficult to follow (for example : the short strangle ... without a graph of the underlying it's very painful).
Another irritating thing is the writing style : it's very familiar, slangy sometimes ... English is not my native language and if the author tries (and manages !) to be funny, looking in the dictionary every page removes a lot of fun and reduces comprehension.

All in all, it's still a fine book, with very good information on how to defend option trades.

Johnston approaches options trading in a very unique way.
You wont find his approach in any other book which I quite liked as most option books tend to be repetive.
It would be great to see another book on the subject by him.

I read this book and must say it gives you a great grounding in options theory. A must read.

Great book for those interested in options. I would also recommend this book for anyone who is interested in investing/trading period. The chapter on making money with money is priceless in and of itself.

George

http://www.thelawyertrader.net