Larry McMillan Options Books/DVD Courses

[Chris Paciello]

Hello,

Just wanted to get some feedback on those who have either read a Larry McMillan book or taken one of his courses? Was it worth it? Did you get a lot from it? If so, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tommcginnis]

Hello,

Just wanted to get some feedback on those who have either read a Larry McMillan book or taken one of his courses? Was it worth it? Did you get a lot from it? If so, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

If only to be knowledgeable when somebody asks, "Have you read McMillan?" And you can say yes. He's a standard. He is a smart guy, and wrote a seminal book. But it's not the be-all-and-end-all that it is sometimes made out to be. (FWIW, I would get a cheap used Options As A Strategic Investment before the other two derivatives.)

For me, LM's best contribution might be something easily gleaned from a video -- that options are risk vehicles, not something magical. They're just insurance. They operate in a mostly 3-surfaced world, where looking at graphs of delta, theta, and vega, over 3-month, 1-month, and 1-week, pretty much tell the whole tale. The whole tale. (He's very relaxed. I bet he'd be great to sample whiskys with -- and I'm a beer guy. )

 

[rwnomad]

The above referenced book is a good place to start your learning, It will not prepare you to do any trading. After reading the book you could start sim trading and backtesting to formulate a trading plan. You could also look at some books that lay out specific options trading strategies, like Michael Benklifa's book on Iron Condors. That book has a very basic plan to trade in it. There is still a lot more to learn about the Iron Condor trade beyond the book.