A Good First Book on Options

J

jmiles301

Hello all,

I have been an equity trader for the past 5 years, but I am now considering adding options to my trading arsenal. At this point, I don't know much about options so I am looking for others' opinions on which book(s) would be a good place to start. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks,

Jon
 
First - LEAPS by Harrison Roth

Second - Options as a Stratigic Investment by McMillian

Third - Option Volatility and Pricing by Natenburg

Fourth - Trading Options To Win by S Johnson

Fifth - The New Option Secret: Volatility by Caplan



This is a reasonable start IMHO.

Peace and gtty,

Lar
 
Thank you very much to all who have responded -- I appreciate it. I was just curious if anyone has ever read "Options Made Easy" by Guy Cohen? Some have recommended this to me as a good starting point before moving into Natenberg and Baird. Any thoughts?

Thanks again,

Jon
 
If you are truly new to options then Natenberg and such might be way over your head for right now.

Start with a book that first tells you what options are, how they trade and what the strategies are. Some suggestions are:

Getting Started In Options by Thomasett
Options as a Strategic Invesment by McMillion
Fundamentals of Options Market by Williams and Hoffman.

These are basic introduction books with more intermediate stuff in the second two. These books will get you familiar with wha options are, how they are traded and priced, the greeks and different strategies and when to use them.

Then when you are comfortable with those books, I recommend the next two to take it to the next level:

Option Trading: The Hidden Reality by Charles Cottle
Option Pricing and Volatility by Natenburg.


There are a lot of titles that cover the same info but these are some good all around books that should be more than enough. Also CBOE and Options Industry Council have free educational resources.
 
Natenberg over your head? Straight forward and clear in my opinion -- if you want to kill yourself from boredom and have an IQ of 10, then read McMillian.

Yes I hated the McMillian book. Absolute garbage.
 
Quote from 2006:

Natenberg over your head? Straight forward and clear in my opinion -- if you want to kill yourself from boredom and have an IQ of 10, then read McMillian.
More...

I did not say it was over MY head, but it will be over the head of a complete newbie. Natenberg jumps right into option pricing and volatility but it is assumed one has the basics of options mastered. I recommend someone work on mastering the basics before looking to Cottle or Natenburg.

This advice was not for you, but for a complete beginner to options.
 
Quote from jmiles301:

Thank you very much to all who have responded -- I appreciate it. I was just curious if anyone has ever read "Options Made Easy" by Guy Cohen? Some have recommended this to me as a good starting point before moving into Natenberg and Baird. Any thoughts?

Thanks again,

Jon
More...

I bought Cohen's book a few years ago, its a good first port of call... it'll introduce you to the greeks and various strategies in an easy to understand way... Devour the CBOE's and OIC educational section then move onto Natenburg.
Cottle and Baird later.
I'll second the opinion mentioned earlier that you should know at least the basics before Option Volatility and Pricing...
 
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