Options for the Beginner and Beyond: Unlock the Opportunities and Minimize the Risks

Product Author Bios

Dr. W. Edward Olmstead is the editor of The Options Professor, one of the world’s leading newsletters on options trading. He is also an options analyst for Spear Capital Management. He has consulted on short-term trading strategies with a member company of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Dr. Olmstead is Professor of Applied Mathematics in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Northwestern University. He has taught courses that cover both the theory for options pricing and practical strategies for trading options. Dr. Olmstead has received several awards including an endowed chair for teaching excellence and has been praised by his colleagues as “the quintessential teacher in our midst.”

Brief, carefully paced lessons on options and trading strategies using verbal definitions and many trading examples for clarification. Each lesson builds on the one preceding it and explains options in plain English, from start to finish. Step-by-step coverage of controlling risk, protecting your investments -- even advanced strategies other introductory books ignore! Authored by Dr. W. Edward Olmstead, contributing editor to The Spear Report and editor of The Options Professor newsletter.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Preface

Section I:  BasicConcepts

• 1: Introduction
  
  • Why Options?
  • The Basic Concept of Options
    • Major Differences Between Stocks and Options
    • Leverage
    • Time Limitation
    • Price Movement
    • Financial Risk
  • A Detailed Explanation of Options
    • The Option Contract
    • The Call Option
    • The Put Option
  • Comments


• 2: Option Selection
  
  • What Is a Cheap Option?
  • Selecting a Call
  • Overall Evaluation
  • Selecting a Put


• 3: Entering and Exiting Option Trades 
  
  • Entering a Trade
  • Exiting a Trade


• 4: The Greeks
  
  • Delta
    • Computing the Delta of a Call Option
    • Application of the Delta
    • Computing the Delta of a Put Option
  • Theta
  • Gamma
  • Vega
  • Rho


• 5: Risk Graphs
  
  • Single Option Trade
  • Multiple Option Trade
    • Comments


• 6: LEAPS
  • Comments


• 7: Assignment Anxiety
  • Comments
  • Applications


• 8: Broker Selection
  • Types of Brokers
  • Commissions
  • Trading Platform
  • Margin and Trading Limitations
  • Live Broker Assistance
  • Comments


• 9: Miscellaneous Tips
  
  • Time Is Money
  • Trading with the Trend
  • Risk Capital for Options Trading
  • Tracking Trades
  • Anticipating Events
  • Real-Time Quotes
  • Market Orders with Options
  • Options Calculator

Section II:  TradingStrategies

• 10: Vertical Spreads
  • Debit Vertical Spreads
  • Bull Call Spread
  • Bear Put Spread
  • Comments
  • Credit Vertical Spreads
  • Bull Put Spread
  • Bear Call Spread
  • Comments


• 11*: Event-Producing Credit Spreads
  
  • Comments


• 12: Calendar Spreads
  
  • The Rollout Maneuver
  • Comments


• 13*: Advanced Calendar Spreads
  
  • Volatility Skew Trades
    • Comments
  • Ratio Calendar Spread Trades
    • Comments
  • Deep-in-the-Money LEAPS Put Calendar Spreads
  • Diagonal Calendar Spread Trades


• 14: Covered Calls
  
  • An Idealized Trade
  • A Realistic Trade
  • Covered Call vs. Naked Put
  • Comments


• 15: Straddles and Strangles
  
  • The Straddle Trade
    • Comments
  • The Strangle Trade


• 16: Stock Repair and Stock Enhancement
  
  • Stock Repair Strategy
  • Comment
  • Stock Enhancement Strategy


• 17: Married Puts
  
  • Comments


• 18: Collars
  
  • Comments


• 19*: Advanced Collars
  
  • Comments


• 20: Naked Option Writing
  
  • The Risk of Naked Option Writing
  • Acquiring Stock with Naked Puts


• 21: Stock Substitutes
  
  • Synthetic Long Stock
  • Comments
  • Deep-in-the-Money Put
  • Deep-in-the-Money Call


• 22: Backspreads
  
  • Comments


• 23: Butterfly Spreads
  
  • Standard Butterfly Trade
    • Comments
  • Butterfly Trade with Adjustments
    • Comment
  • Unbalanced Butterfly Trade


• 24: Iron Condors and Double Diagonals
  
  • The Iron Condor Trade
  • The Double Diagonal Trade
  • Comments


• 25: An End-of-Year Tax Strategy
  
  • Tax Code Restrictions
  • Qualified Covered Calls
    • Basic Strategy
    • Follow-Up Variations
    • Comments

Section III  SpecialTopics

• 26*: Day Trading an Index with Options
  
  • Comments


• 27*: Delta-Neutral Trading


• 28*: Theory of Maximum Pain


• 29*: Implied Volatility and the Black-Scholes Formula
  
  • Historical Background
    • Derivation of the Black-Scholes Formula
    • Application of the Black-Scholes Formula
  • Implied Volatility
  • Applications of Implied Volatility
  • Comments


• 30*: THE PUT-CALL PARITY RELATIONSHIP
  
  • Calls Cost More Than Puts
  • Applications of Put-Call Parity

?*Chapters with more advanced content are marked with an asterisk and can be passed over by beginners during the first reading of this book.

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