Options for Volatile Markets: Managing Volatility and Protecting Against Catastrophic Risk (Bloomberg Financial)


Product Description
Practical option strategies for the new post-crisis financial marketTraditional buy-and-hold investing has been seriously challenged in the wake of the recent financial crisis. With economic and market uncertainty at a very high level, options are still the most effective tool available for managing volatility and downside risk, yet they remain widely underutilized by individuals and investment managers. In Options for Volatile Markets, Richard Lehman and Lawrence McMillan provide you with specific strategies to lower portfolio volatility, bulletproof your portfolio against any catastrophe, and tailor your investments to the precise level of risk you are comfortable with.
While the core strategy of this new edition remains covered call writing, the authors expand into more comprehensive option strategies that offer deeper downside protection or even allow investors to capitalize on market or individual stock volatility. In addition, they discuss new offerings like weekly expirations and options on ETFs. For investors who are looking to capitalize on global investment opportunities but are fearful of lurking "black swans", this book shows how ETFs and options can be utilized to construct portfolios that are continuously protected against unforeseen calamities.
- A complete guide to the increased control and lowered risk covered call writing offers active investors and traders
- Addresses the changing investment environment and how to use options to succeed within it
- Explains how to use options with exchange-traded funds
Understanding options is now more important than ever, and with Options for Volatile Markets as your guide, you'll quickly learn how to use them to protect your portfolio as well as improve its overall performance.
Options for Volatile Markets: Managing Volatility and Protecting Against Catastrophic Risk (Bloomberg Financial) Review
I was surprised, when I got the book, that the first edition's title had actually been "New Insights on Covered Call Writing" -- a more accurate title, since about half the book is about covered calls. Did I, an experienced options investor, need a refresher on the simplest, most conservative strategy, covered writing?Turns out, when the author sharing insights is McMillan, that, yep, I do (his co-author, Lehman, must be about as good a writer, analyst, and money manager -- that's high praise). I've learned a lot from this book; the excellent writing made it a real pleasure to go through the studying (shouldn't take long -- it's a short 200-pages book).
The book is suitable for beginners, starting with summaries of option basics, pricing, covered writing -- experts should not skip these early chapters, which offer many insightful observations. It gets even better when implementation details are dissected, then advanced variations (put writing, ratio writing, diagonals, ...). The short coverage of put-call parity (titled "option-stock arbitrage") is the best concise treatment I've seen.
The book moves on to hedging (put buying, follow-ups, spreads, collars, ...), including a superb concise treatment of the psychological side of various forms of hedging; optionable ETFs; and, finally, VIX derivatives, in a 30-page final chapter which, again, is the best concise treatment of the subject I've ever seen -- full, like the rest of the book, of tips, insights, real-life examples well presented with tables and graphs and masterfully discussed, actionable advice on VIX futures and options (only one related ETN, VXX -- such ETNs are exploding in numbers and varieties, a detailed analysis would take another book this size).
In short, I can't recommend this book highly enough to anybody -- beginner, intermediate, or expert -- with any interest in options, or, indeed, in the stock market.
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