"Guy Cohen is the master when it comes to taming the complexities of options. From buying calls and puts to iron butterflies and condors, Guy explains these strategies in a clear and concise manner that options traders of any level can understand. His chapter on options and taxes is especially welcomed (and needed). The Bible of Options Strategies is a straightforward, easy-to-use reference work that should occupy a space on any options trader's bookshelf."
–Bernie Schaeffer, Chairman and CEO, Schaeffer's Investment Research, Inc. "The author delivers clarity, insight and perception making learning about options a joy, and practicing the art of making money that much easier: truly a bible from a guru."
–Alpesh B. Patel, Author and Financial Times Columnist "Guy Cohen truly makes learning about options easy in this fact-filled guide. Bullet points make for a quick and enlightened read, getting to the heart of what you really need to know about each options strategy. This book is a must for any serious trader's library."
–Price Headley, Founder, BigTrends.com Pick the right options strategies...implement them step-by-step...maximize your profits! Introducing today's first and only comprehensive reference to contemporary options trading! OptionEasy creator Guy Cohen identifies today's popular strategies...and tells you exactly how and when to use each one and what hazards to look out for! It's all here....

• Basic Strategies including

  Buying and shorting shares, calls, and puts.

• Income Strategies including

  Covered Call, Naked Put, Bull Put Spread, Bear Call Spread, Long Iron Butterfly, Long Iron Condor, Calendar Call, Diagonal Call...

• Vertical Spreads including

  Bull Call Spread, Bull Put Spread, Bear Call Spread, Bear Put Spread, Ladders...

• Volatility Strategies including

  Straddle, Strangle, Guts, Short Butterflies, Short Condors...

• Sideways Strategies including

  Short Straddle, Short Strangle, Short Guts, Long Butterflies, Long Condors...

• Leveraged Strategies including

  Call Ratio Backspread, Put Ratio Backspread, Ratio Spreads...

• Synthetic Strategies including

  Collar, Synthetic Call, Synthetic Put, Synthetic Straddles, Synthetic Futures, Combos, Box Spread...

• No other book presents this much authoritative, current information on options trading strategies

• Covers all of today's best income, volatility, leveraged, synthetic, and sideways market strategies

• Discover why each strategy works, when it's appropriate, and how to use it—step by step

• Includes a full chapter on tax issues associated with options strategies

• By Guy Cohen, whose OptionEasy application has helped thousands of traders achieve breakthrough results!

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 53 Ratings

Strong on strategy but lacks discussion of option behavior - 2009-10-18
Reviewer Rating:
This book explains the theory and logic behind the more than sixty option strategies available to the option trader, from the simple to the highly complex. The author touches on the advantages of each strategy,risk profile, greeks, time decay and entry and exit.Often an example is given for each of the strategies discussed.
Although it is alway good to be familiar with as many of the option techniqus as possible, most individual traders only focus on few simple option instruments in practice.To execute such trades successfully, it is critical to be at least qualitatively familiar with option behavior.This includes factors such as short interest on the stock, how close the stock price is to the strike, volatility of the stock and implies volatility of the option,open interest ratio.
These factors are key in deciding what trade to take. As an example consider a stock with the call to put ratio of 3:1 with few days left to expiration, what option is more likey to expire worthless?. Or A highly volatile stock pinned at strike near earnings, what strategy will you use to trade options in this case? etc. The answers to such questions are critical in deciding how to trade. Some traders use options to mitigate losses on their stock trades or increase profits. In such cases where stock /option trade combinations are executed, technical analysis in addition to option behavior becomes critical. These are areas that this book does not touch on, probably because they were not within its intended scope . I would suggest for advanced option traders reading The Volatility Edge in Options Trading or Trading Options at Expiration. Beginning and intermediate traders that are more interested in simple option strategies combined with trading stocks, I would suggest Generate Thousands in Cash on your Stocks Before Buying or Selling Them: Third Edition.
Using these books in combination with " the bible of option strategies" allowed me to translate theoretical knowledge to money making trades, which I assume is the goal of most traders.

Bible of Options Strategies - 2009-10-17
Reviewer Rating:
It is hard to find a book that shows you the different ways to trade options in combination as well as the risks, rewards, and special considerations of each one. It is not a long tutorial but rather a set of logical groupings of related types of trades to choose between for a specific situation. It is more like a recipe book so you can quickly look up the the types of options that are good choices for a situation. It also defines each type of option strategy in a similar layout in just a few pages each. Very helpful!

good book - 2009-10-06
Reviewer Rating:
I am a pretty experienced stock trader but I must admit trading options is much more challenging. The good news is once you start understanding options you won't want to trade stocks again. This a very well structured book, a bit repetitive here and there but overall I liked it. Despite the title I won't consider this book the "Bible" of options, if you really want a "Bible" I would recommend "Options as a Strategic Investment" by McMillan. However, this the best book to start learning options. It gives you the basics, it explains all the strategies out there and in which conditions you should use them.

It's OK - 2009-05-12
Reviewer Rating:
Gives basic details on many option strategies. As an income trader, I often use the covered straddle / strangle technique: both listed in the book as not recommended! Not to argue with the author, since the audience for this book is wide, and therefore one must take a conservative stand. So, after noticing one of my favourite strategies being marked not recommended, I naturally then searched the entire book for other not recommended strategies, which did give me a few ideas!

A person new to options would probably like the book for the most part. However, I'd recommend the Options Playbook, by Brian Overby as an easier to understand, and more practical, first options book for beginners.

Nice organization, presentation, and content - 2009-04-18
Reviewer Rating:
I've found this book useful. It is the best book I've seen in regard to providing a complete, consistent, and logically presented overview of option trading strategies. As others and the author note, it's more of a reference book than something you read front to back.

PS: The grammatical errors noted in earlier reviews have been addressed.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Business

Sub-Categories:
Business > Investments