The Options Playbook by Brian Overby

This week's featured book on options trading:

The Options Playbook
by Brian Overby
TradeKing (September 2009)

From the publisher: The Options Playbook was created to demystify option trading and teach investors different option plays for all market conditions. No confusing jargon. No unnecessary mumbo-jumbo. Just clear, easy-to-understand explanations of more than 40 of the most popular option strategies broken down into a play-by-play format including:

• Play Name: Long Call, Short Call Spread, Iron Condor, etc.
• The Setup: The goals and reasons to run each play
• Who Should Run It: Rookies, Veterans or All-Stars, based on degree of difficulty
• When To Run It: Describes each play as bullish, bearish or neutral
• The Strategy: A detailed overview of each strategy, their risks and the specific costs associated with multi-leg strategies.

For the first-time option trader The Options Playbook features a "Rookie's Corner," addressing the basic definitions and concepts you need to understand this market, tips to avoid common beginner’s mistakes, and suggested strategies to "get your feet wet."

For more experienced option traders, an expanded section on implied volatility explains how this handy variable can be used to find the potential range of the stock over the options life. A detailed section on pricing variables (Greeks) helps you understand how an option’s price is affected by changes in market conditions. You will also learn how time decay and a change in implied volatility can affect your trade after it’s in place and how to recover if things don’t go according to plan.

Options Trading for the Conservative Investor by Michael C. Thomsett

This week's featured book on options trading:

Options Trading for the Conservative Investor
by Michael C. Thomsett
FT Press (January 2010)

From the publisher: Michael C. Thomsett introduces powerful, carefully chosen options strategies that can help even the most conservative stock investor consistently improve returns without taking on unacceptable risk, including covered call writing on carefully selected stocks, contingent purchase strategies, and powerful "combination" strategies that produce cash to bolster current income. He guides you through every strategy, one easy step at a time, using actual examples, portfolios, and graphs taken directly from today's markets.

This thoroughly updated Second Edition includes a brand-new model portfolio that incorporates even more conservative investments; more coverage of downside protection, including options strategies that hedge against long portfolio positions; deeper coverage of the risks of volatility; and much more. No matter how cautious an investor you are, this book will give you powerful new tools for profiting in any kind of market -- and achieving your financial goals without losing a moment of sleep.

Also available: Options Trading for the Conservative Investor (Kindle edition). Learn more about the Amazon Kindle, a wireless reading device.

The Option Trader Handbook (2nd Edition) by George Jabbour and Philip H. Budwick

This week's featured book on options trading:

The Option Trader Handbook: Strategies and Trade Adjustments
by George Jabbour and Philip H. Budwick
Wiley (January 2010)

From the publisher: If you want to be a successful trader, you need to consistently improve your skills and never assume you know everything about the markets. That's why authors George Jabbour and Philip Budwick have returned with the second edition of The Option Trader Handbook.

Following the same structure of the first edition, this updated guide delves deeper into the mechanics of option pricing and trade adjustments to provide you with a new perspective on the art and science of option trading. Designed for both intermediate and advanced traders, this book skillfully highlights numerous strategies for minimizing risk and volatility; discusses stock and option positions; and details the various types of trade adjustments that can be made, what situations are appropriate for each adjustment, and the best time to make those adjustments.

An unparalleled resource for today's volatile investment climate, this Second Edition features fresh material that will help you hedge or even boost profits, limit losses, and create risk-free trades. Page by page, it offers in-depth insights and expanded coverage on:

• The nature of Implied Volatility (IV) and how it can change with respect to the market as a whole and to individual stocks;

• The "Greeks" and how they can be used to make better trading decisions and reduce risk;

• Implementing more sophisticated option spreads and combinations;

• Numerous charts and graphs that clearly demonstrate how each trade adjustment is done.

With even more tools and tips to improve your understanding of how options work and how to make better trading decisions, The Option Trader Handbook, Second Edition will become one of the most valuable assets in any trader's portfolio.

Also available: The Option Trader Handbook: Strategies and Trade Adjustments (Kindle edition). Learn more about the Amazon Kindle, a wireless reading device.

Generate Thousands in Cash on Your Stocks Before Buying or Selling Them by Samir Elias

This week's featured book on options trading:

Generate Thousands in Cash on Your Stocks Before Buying or Selling Them
by Samir Elias
Leathers Publishing (June 2007)

From the publisher: After a sell out first and second edition, Dr. Samir Elias added significant new material to the third edition -- the main focus of which is making money in multiple ways. You can make money by purely trading stocks using numerous combinations of technical indicators described in several chapters and supported by practical market examples. You can also make money by raising cash on your long term holdings using effective and simple option strategies. In addition, you can make money by increasing your return on profitable trades while significantly reducing losses on unprofitable ones by using risk control strategies described in a special chapter.

Learn also how to find stocks that have the potential to deliver explosive profits by incorporating ideas from the author's own stock scanning system that is presented in the book. Make the most of your trades by using specific techniques to determine the approximate best exit time and price using methods in the book applied in detail to the author's own trades. Whatever kind of trader you may be, this book will show you practical ways to increase your profits.

If you are a swing trader, you can use candlestick charts combined with two specific technical signals to enter profitable trades. If you are an intermediate term trader, you can use profitable chart patterns described in one of the chapters in combination with technical signals to increase your return. Long term investors can use CD charts described in an especially dedicated chapter to determine the long term direction of a stock as well as entry and exit points.

The Alpha Hunter: Profiting from Option LEAPS by Jason Schwarz

This week's featured book on options trading:

The Alpha Hunter: Profiting from Option LEAPS
by Jason Schwarz
McGraw-Hill (December 2009)

From the publisher: Discover how elite investors bring in triple-digit returns!

With The Alpha Hunter, readers will learn how to manage the “four winds” of the stock market: bubbles, currency, economic contraction, and economic growth. Blending technical skill with a deep understanding of the fundamentals, the author provides what readers need to achieve risk-adjusted returns that earn higher than benchmark (alpha), as well as successfully invest in long-term equity anticipation securities (LEAPS). Using the information here, readers will learn how to use option LEAPS as both a stock alternative and a means of diversification.

Also available: The Alpha Hunter (Kindle edition). Learn more about the Amazon Kindle, a wireless reading device.