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Kim

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This is the list of my favorite Options books:

Getting Started in Options by Michael C Thomsett

Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence G. McMillan

The Rookie's Guide to Options by Mark D. Wolfinger

Profiting with Iron Condor Options by Michael Benklifa

Options Made Easy by Guy Cohen

The Bible of Options Strategies By Guy Cohen

Get Rich with Options by Lee Lowell

The Complete Guide to Option Selling by J. Cordier and M. Gross

Trading Option Greeks by Dan Passrelli

The Volatility Edge in Options Trading by Jeff Augen

Option Volatility & Pricing by Sheldon Natenber

 

General trading books, trading philosophy etc.:

Super Trader by Van K. Tharp

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van K. Tharp

Come Into My Trading Room by Alexander Elder

The Complete Trading for a Living by Alexander Elder

Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas

 

Finally, a list of my most popular and/or valuable articles outlining my trading philosophy. I apologize for placing my articles at the same place with Augen, Van K. Tharp and Elder, I just wanted my readers to be able to see everything in one place.

Exploiting Earnings - Associated Rising Volatility

Why I Dislike Holding Strangles Through Earnings

How To Profit From Sideways Markets

My Investment Strategy For 2012

Google Earnings Trade: To Hold Or Not To Hold

Google Earnings Trade: Risk Vs. Reward

Why I Wouldn't Sell Options Now

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Hi Kim

I joined your group a couple of weeks ago. My first tree trades where losers. Now, after 11 trades I have 4 losers and 7 winners, and I am about 500 bugs in the green including commission. Considering the effort that might not be impressive but considering my inexperience I am quite hopeful. I am glad to be here. You are doing a great job.

Sometime last year I read The Rookie's Guide to Options by Mark D. Wolfinger. I plan on reading it again. Going through your list I am thinking Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence G. McMillan could helpful. I want something to expand my knowledge and deepen my understanding so it becomes easier for me to profit from and contribute to this group. The book should be practical! Is this book a good next step for me or is there a better alternative? Also, which trading book would you recommend the most.

Thanks!

Hannes

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Hannes,

First of all, congrats! It is a common belief that you should be very satisfied if you didn't lose any money during your first year of trading. It actually makes perfect sense. To become an engineer, you have to study at least 4 years - why people expect it to be different in trading?

$500 of course doesn't tell the whole story - I don't know how much did you allocate per trade, how much are your commissions etc. Making $500 on 10k portfolio is not the same as making $500 on 100k portoflio.

The McMillan book is more a reference. The Wolfinger book is actually my favorite for novice and intermediate options traders. Cohen's books are also very good. I also highly recommend the Van Tharp books.

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Dan Sheridan mentoring getting really good reviews. It is not cheap at 6k, but you get a lot for that money, including lifetime membership.

Thanks. I could probably write it off. Just exploring alternatives at this point in time.

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I am experienced trader/investor and a newbie to site. So far I like it. One thing does make me cringe however, and that is that "The Complete Guide to Selling Options" by Cordier and Gross is on the recommended reading list. I invested with these clowns about 8 years ago and lost 23,000 in one day. They may have changed their strategy since but basically they sold large number of OTM puts on futures. In this case it was Live Cattle. Even when the price moved against the position by the amount they recommended you exit, they left the position open. Then mad cow hit, and my entire account was wiped out. They had no risk management that I could see. Yes, I know, it's investor beware and I do take this experience as a painful lesson. Since then, risk management is key for me and thats what I like about this site.

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Thanks for sharing that Jay.

I read the book few years ago and remember it was a good reading. Sometimes people don't practice what they preach (or maybe they learned their lesson from 8 years ago). I remember they did write about importance of risk management - maybe based on their previous experience.

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This is the list of my favorite Options books:

Getting Started in Options by Michael C Thomsett

Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence G. McMillan

The Rookie's Guide to Options by Mark D. Wolfinger

Profiting with Iron Condor Options by Michael Benklifa

Options Made Easy by Guy Cohen

The Bible of Options Strategies By Guy Cohen

Get Rich with Options by Lee Lowell

The Complete Guide to Option Selling by J. Cordier and M. Gross

Trading Option Greeks by Dan Passrelli

The Volatility Edge in Options Trading by Jeff Augen

Option Volatility & Pricing by Sheldon Natenber

General trading books, trading philosophy etc.:

Super Trader by Van K. Tharp

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van K. Tharp

Come Into My Trading Room by Alexander Elder

The Complete Trading for a Living by Alexander Elder

Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas

Finally, a list of my most popular and/or valuable articles outlining my trading philosophy. I apologize for placing my articles at the same place with Augen, Van K. Tharp and Elder, I just wanted my readers to be able to see everything in one place.

Exploiting Earnings - Associated Rising Volatility

Why I Dislike Holding Strangles Through Earnings

How To Profit From Sideways Markets

My Investment Strategy For 2012

Google Earnings Trade: To Hold Or Not To Hold

Google Earnings Trade: Risk Vs. Reward

Why I Wouldn't Sell Options Now

of the books listed would you recommend one that reflects your trading philosophy more that the others?

Pat

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For just entertainment sake, try The Quants, by Scott Patterson and Liar's Poker, by Michael Lewis. Both are very well written (Lewis also wrote The Blind Side, since turned into a hit movie, which I also recommend, especially for football buffs) quick reads and have enough technical trading discussion in them that SO members will "get" a lot of what most readers won't. Both are also useful cautionary tales about over-confidence, trading in things you don't understand, and risk/reward decisions (or the lack thereof).

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This recent book seems relevant to our strategies, esp. chapter 6:  http://www.amazon.com/Option-Strategies-Earnings-Announcements-Comprehensive/dp/0132947390 

 

I'm working my way through this one and Augen's book.

Let us know what you think of it when you read it please. At the first glance (looking at the table of contents and the preface) they go through all possible strategies around earnings including the one we're doing here but I'm not sure whether they'd offer me any new insights - so curious to hear what you think.

cheers,

m.

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Sorry about that I think the editor is butchering the link. Trying again and also including add'l info.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Option-Strategies-Earnings-Announcements-Comprehensive/dp/0132947390

 

 

Option Strategies for Earnings Announcements: A Comprehensive, Empirical Analysis [Hardcover]

Ping Zhou (Author), John Shon (Author)

 

Publication Date: October 28, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0132947390

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Guest enb

Kim

As a newbie, I'm still paper trading and trying to wrap my arms around the strategies. As it appears having a sound understanding of volitility is imperative, can you recommend which book you feel would be the best for me.

Thanks

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The classic that can't be left off this book recommendation list is Market Wizards. The vast majority of trading is psychology and risk management, and that's what the interviews from the most successful traders of all time consistently mention in the Market Wizards series.

 

Don't forget to check out your local library, I'm often surprised to find books like this show up in mine (both in print and e-book).

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