Put Option Writing Demystified by Paul D. Kadavy

This week's featured book on options trading:

Put Option Writing Demystified
by Paul D. Kadavy
Arrow Publications (June 2009)

From the publisher: Put Option Writing Demystified is the book devoted exclusively to the subject of generating double-digit income returns from a little-known, often misunderstood and conservative investment opportunity known as put option writing. In fact, it can be more conservative than simply owning stocks alone. And the good news is that this strategy works best during slow growth, flat or even slightly declining markets.

This book fully stands on its own, but it can also be viewed as a companion text to Covered Call Writing Demystified. These are the reasons:

• Put option writing and covered call writing have essentially the same reward and risk characteristics. When used as outlined in the book, they are very conservative (unlike many other uses of options).

• Investors using covered call writing will find opportunities to use put option writing to achieve similar double-digit investment results, but also to have the opportunity to purchase stocks or Exchange Traded Funds at a discount from their present value.

Option Trading in Your Spare Time: A Guide to Financial Independence for Women by Wendy Kirkland and Virginia McCullough

This week's featured book on options trading:

Option Trading in Your Spare Time: A Guide to Financial Independence for Women
by Wendy Kirkland and Virginia McCullough
Sphinx Publishing (July 2009)

From the publisher: This book, geared specifically toward women, describes how to be a successful option trader, even if you hold down a full-time job or are a full-time stay-at-home mom.

While option trading is definitely not a risk-free method of investment, for women who have a few hundred extra dollars that they want to use to break into investing, option trading can be a lucrative way to make money.

This book explains what everything means and how to be an option trader in easy-to-understand, step-by-step ways that makes it great for the beginner or the more advanced investor. It is primarily focused on trading online and tells you what you need to know to better your chances of being successful.

Exit Strategies for Covered Call Writing by Alan Ellman

This week's featured book on options trading:

Exit Strategies for Covered Call Writing
by Alan Ellman
Wheatmark (May 2009)

From the publisher: Exit Strategies for Covered Call Writing reveals the best and most effective procedures to manage your stock option positions. After selling a call option, many investors simply permit the result to run its own course through expiration Friday. This will cost you money! By administering well-thought-out exit strategies, based on sound fundamental and technical principles along with your common sense, your profits will be maximized and your losses will be diminished.

Alan Ellman, author of the best-selling Cashing In on Covered Calls, speaks to the average blue collar investors of the world. In a practical and straightforward manner, he offers sound, honest, and easy-to-understand management techniques that will take the mystery out of covered call writing. Inside you will discover and learn about:

 •  What exit strategies can do for you
 •  The key parameters to consider
 •  Exit strategy alternatives
 •  Executing exit strategy trades
 •  Real-life examples
 •  Profiting with the Ellman calculator
 •  And much more.

Also available: Exit Strategies for Covered Call Writing (Kindle edition). Learn more about the Amazon Kindle, a wireless reading device.

Equity and Index Options Explained by W. A. Beagles

This week's featured book on options trading:

Equity and Index Options Explained
by W. A. Beagles
Wiley (June 2009)

From the publisher: Written by experienced trader and consultant Bill Beagles, this book is a practical guide to trading equity options for the everyman and everywoman whether you are a professional investor or a part-time “punter”.

You probably already know that options “erode”, that buying options costs money or that selling options can be dangerous, but to maximise your returns and minimise your risk you need to understand the bigger picture. You need to understand the decision making process, the way that option prices are likely to change and how to optimise returns.

This book will guide your way – moving you towards a full understanding of this wide-reaching subject. Starting from absolute basics and moving on to advanced trading techniques; Bill explains both the theory and practice of equity options in clear, accessible terms.

Starting with a basic introduction to the subject and the language of trading equity and index options, the book moves on to cover option uses, pricing and strategy, then a range of option spreads before concluding with the ways in which options may be combined with the underlying.

It includes plenty of real-world examples drawn from Bill’s extensive career in the industry, along with practical trading tools, including links to a pricing model, and resources. Plentiful exercises of varying degrees of difficulty are also included directing you towards a truly intuitive understanding of the subject.

Trading equity options is a volatile business; options present a unique opportunity to manage and exploit that volatility. Don't let a lack of knowledge hold you back!

Spread Trading: An Introduction to Trading Options in Nine Simple Steps by Greg Jensen

This week's featured book on options trading:

Spread Trading: An Introduction to Trading Options in Nine Simple Steps
by Greg Jensen
Wiley (May 2009)

From the publisher: Though there are many variations and nuances, the basic concept of option trading is simple -- an investor can purchase an option to buy stock without actually buying the stock itself. Then, as the value of the stock rises, the value of the option rises as well. The investor can then sell that option to someone else for a profit without ever having owned the underlying stock. But trying to learn option trading from most experts, says author Greg Jensen, is like trying to learn the tax code from an accountant: they'll toss around big words that you've never heard of, and if you ever actually muster up the courage to ask what a particular term means, they'll explain it to you using other terms you don't understand. In contrast, this engaging book provides the basics of making money with options in a way that anyone can easily learn-even using a little humor to help you along the way.

In nine simple steps, Jensen teaches how you ought to approach the market. It's called spread trading, the safest and best way to make money in the stock market while reducing risk. He uses the story of two regular guys figuring out how to trade options with each other to reveal-in small, logical, bite-size pieces-all you need to know to safely earn remarkable profits in today's market.

Spread Trading begins with the fundamentals, explaining just how put and call options work, before moving on to reveal the secrets of the experts-such as how to combine option instruments to reduce risk and make money regardless of whether the market is trending up or down. The author details, in straightforward terms, the fundamentals of spread trading in short steps, showing you how to get phenomenal results and yet not be ruled by fear or greed along the way.

Most people invest in the stock market hoping that good things will happen-and hoping that bad things won't. With the approach revealed in Spread Trading, you won't have to "hope" that things will turn out well, because you'll actually have control of the situation. By simply managing the spread, you'll be able to make money without fear and actually sleep at night.

Also available: Spread Trading (Kindle edition). Learn more about the Amazon Kindle, a wireless reading device.