Options: Essential Concepts and Trading Strategies

Wow, amazing, excellent, insufficient superlatives to describe my feelings - this one and Sheldon Nattenberg's Option Volatility and Pricing and you know more than most of the wall street professionals in my opinion. I found it practical and insightful, particularly with respect to the institutional trading strategies and how the trading floors operate.

This book presents a highly readable overview of the subject of options and I would recommend it to anyone. I have not been able to find one book on options which is as wide ranging in its scope (i.e., history, pricing, strategy, individual and institutional investors' approaches, how the trading floor operates, how market makers trade, etc.). The authors have struck a good balance between depth of the subject matter and readability. There are more detailed texts available in the area of strategy (McMillan's _Options as a Strategic Investment_) or pricing (Natenberg's _Option Volatility and Pricing_), but I would especially recommend this book to individual investors interested in options. After reading this book they will have a much stronger footing from which to approach the forementioned other books (which are also excellent, by the way). The previous reviewer's comments should be disregarded as I cannot conceive of anyone writing about this subject matter any more clearly (yes, I have read both of Fontanills' books) -- the authors appear to have put much effort into this book judging by its clarity, and one nitwit's daffy comments should not dissuade you!

This book is readable by anyone and useful all the time! It gives you the entire gamut of the options market, and the details of how options and option trading or investing strategies are used by individuals, institutionals, market makers, brokers and the exchange itself! Invaluable!!

Great book

This book was written by members (brokers and market-makers) and staff of the Chicago Board Options Exchange. It is excellently written, easy to understand and provides many insights into the detail oriented side of options. It discusses the various aspects of options pricing and trading strategies. I would recommend the book to beginners as well as advanced option traders