Getting Started in Options, 3rd Edition (Paperback)

~ (Author) "There are only two overall methods of investing-equity and debt..." (more)
Key Phrases: identical striking prices, different striking prices, time value evaporates, Defining Profit Zones, Options Clearing Corporation, Understanding Hedges (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anyone mystified by stock options or who simply dismisses them as too speculative will find Getting Started in Options an excellent first read on the subject. Beginning with the premise that it's not the complexity of the investment but that of its language that makes options difficult for new investors to understand, author Michael C. Thomsett has created a guided tour through the lexicon. The result is a nontechnical introduction to these specialized markets.

The book carefully and completely defines the terminology, explains options investing step by step, and presents strategies so that it is easy to understand at each level of risk involved. Choosing the right stock, buying and selling options, and combining techniques are all covered in increasing complexity, but this is a book for beginners, and those with basic knowledge of the subject will want to seek out more advanced reading.

The biggest drawback of this book is that, for some reason, the text is printed in green ink, making it somewhat more difficult to read and probably impossible for those who are green-colorblind. Publisher, take note! --Scott Harrison

Product Description

Investing in options sounds so risky that many people fail to capitalize on this potentially lucrative opportunity. In non-technical, easy-to-follow terms, this book thoroughly demystifies the options markets, distinguishes the imagined risks from the real ones, and arms investors with the facts they need to make informed decisions. 65 charts. 55 tables.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 3 edition (June 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047117758X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471177586
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #814,061 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 125 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent tutorial for investment using options, February 11, 2000

By	edge - See all my reviews

Options are a very powerful tool in investing. Any stock investor is running half blind if they do not consider using options as part of there investment strategy

This book is a great place to start for anyone who wants to have an understanding of what options are and how they can be used as both speculative and conservative investment tools.

The author provides a very through tutorial on what options are, what they are used for and how you can used them in your investment strategy. Many examples are presented to insure that each topic is fully understood. In fact there are so many examples that you may want to skip one here and there after you already understand the subject described. However, these examples are great in illustrating the various topics presented.

The book will be useful for both beginners and more advanced users who wish to know more about the various techniques used in options trading. Having said that, if you are a very experienced options investor who is looking for complex strategies, you would probably be better of with a more advanced book.

The ideal reader of this book would be a person who has been doing some stock trading and is now ready to move to more complex (and potentially rewarding) options based trading.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair but Not the Best, October 11, 2004

By	M. Carpenter (Baltimore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Getting Started in Options, Fifth Edition (Paperback)

Explaining options from the ground up is hard, and Thomsett gets most of the particulars right... but the book itself is not well designed, making it harder to read than need be. Since no beginning options book is perfect, this one is worth buying. No matter where you start, you'll need to read more than one book.

Getting Started in Options does have some very strong points for beginners... presenting the results of a complex trade in a table format (if the stock goes to $40, you make $X; if it goes to $45, you make $X...) instead of the usual cryptic risk profile graphic is good. On the other hand, there's peculiar misinformation such as the claim that the "striking price" (read strike price) is always divisible by 5. Not true, options come at 7.50, 12.50, 17.50 etc. strikes. And then there are the weird post-split prices. The major points are OK, though.

However, the reviewer below, who complained that she (he?) stopped reading when Thomsett told her that if she bought a put she wanted the stock to fall, which outraged her, was completely off base. She needs to read this book again, or another. Puts have multiple roles, and Thomsett give several uses. Thomsett started with the simplest case, trading puts. You certainly do want the stock to drop when you buy a put in that case. But if you owned the stock or similar stocks before buying the put,that's a different purpose with a different objective. That's a hedge, which is an insurance move, and the reviewer is right... we usually don't want to collect insurance.

But this is the kind of mistake that can happen when reading this book, and it is more the publisher's fault than the author's. It's a case of very poor design and somewhat tatty organization. Wiley is an indifferent publisher... if a manuscript comes in strong, OK, but if the author needs a professional editor, Wiley's not the place to find one. In this book, some key points will sail right by the beginner, others are hard to find. I have the third edition, which even has barely readable light green type.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best options books out there!, September 30, 1999

By A Customer

I have bought over a dozen books on option trading and this is the one that I refer to over and over again. If you want to learn about basic option strategies and concepts, this is the book to buy.