Reviews (55)

Best Introductory book for Quantitative Finance
Hull is the one stop shop for learning (and using as a reference once you have learnt "it") almost any topic in Quant Finance. This book really has it all - options, interest rate models, volatility modeling, credit derivatives, you name it. However, use it as an introductory book - learn the main concepts from here and then move on to advanced books. As a current student of quant finance, I find Hull's book to be indispensable.

Best book for quants new to finance
I recently entered the field of quantitative finance from physics, and this book has been by far the best resource as both a learning tool and reference.Its bredth of coverage is outstanding, covering topics as simple as bond yields and zero rates, to sophsticated libor market models, weather derivatives, bermudan swaptions, etc.While a bit wordy at times, Hull does present all the mathematics in a tractible manner.Books with more mathematical sophistication, such as Brigo & Mercurio, while interesting, are far less useful on the trading floor.
Just classical
Insightful, shines with intuition, easy to follow. Good start point, inspire further study, and visit it regularly you'll get more. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Derivative securities    5. Futures    6. Futures And Options Trading    7. Investment Finance    8. Investments & Securities - Futures    9. Investments & Securities - General    10. Stock options    11. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    12. Investment & securities   

Reviews (11)

Excellent reference book for all options traders
This book has it all with the strategies outlined in a very concise manner. Not only is every strategy listed with a nice synopsis of each one, an example of a trade is listed on every one.Also, every advantage and disadvantage of each strategy along with an exit strategy should the trade start to turn south. The nice thing about it, is it is so easy to look up a strategy you might want to try without having to comb through the entire book. And each one is listed by type of investor, aggressive, income, etc.
Good Reference
A no-nonsense, no-introductory-material reference library of option strategies. Cross-referenced by goal, risk tolerance, strategy type, name, and more. Herein one easily can find each strategy described with its theoretical outcomes, its benefits, and its drawbacks. Order entry and exit procedures and Greeks also accompany each strategy.
A great book that teaches
So many financial books are hard to follow. The author usually gives a vauge idea of what they do to make money in the market. The process is given in easy to read examples of what you do if you think (A) is going to happpen you do this (B).
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Futures And Options Trading    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Investments & Securities - Options    8. Options (Finance)    9. Stock options    10. Strategic planning    11. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    12. Investment & securities   

Reviews (163)

This book pays for itself
If you read and follow the principles in this book you will make enough money on your trades to pay for this book many times over. I have been active in the market for years (Averaging <20% return a year) and I agree with this author completely having lived out the greed, fear, and mistakes he talks about.Read this book and save yourself a lot of unnecessary losses.
One of the top TA books
This book is a gem amongst average books.I've read about 100 Technical Analysis books... and I've gone back and re-read this one 6 times.Very important.

Still good today
The info in this book stays current it's the "Art of War" of trading ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Futures    5. Futures And Options Trading    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Options (Finance)    8. Options (Futures)    9. Speculation    10. Stocks    11. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    12. Investment & securities   

Reviews (43)

Comprehensive and with depth
Well, I wrote about 10 reviews on trading books so far, so that should clear off some doubts of the previous reviewer.
You've got to wonder
Every reviewer rates this an exceptional book and every reviewer has only rated one book, this one. Isn't that strange (rhetorical question). I read a great many reviews of trading books; go to a book by Elder or one of the other market gurus and you'll find reviewers who have read and reviewed scads of trading books. There's of course no way for me to know, but maybe the author's real talent is writing trading book reviews.

The best traders manual
I bought this book due to the excellent reviews and I agree with all the 5 stars that everyone has given it.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Day trading (Securities)    5. E-Commerce - Online Trading    6. Investment analysis    7. Investments & Securities - General    8. Investments & Securities - Options    9. Portfolio management    10. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    11. Domestic trade & commerce    12. International trade    13. USA   

Reviews (41)

This book is absolutely awesome
I hesitated writing a review for this book because I didn't want people to be drawn to it and therefore increase their understanding of options trading.However it looks like alot of other people already have written there review so I'll add my two cents worth.
The Options Bible
This is the essential book for aspiring options traders. It is written in easy to understand language from a practitioner's perspective, as opposed to an academic's perspective. Nevertheless, a run down of the mathematics for the theoretical models is provided in the appendix.

Outstanding book!
Provides a clear and thorough explanation of options.The writing style is superb. One of the top books on options on my bookshelf. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Commodities    5. Finance    6. Futures And Options Trading    7. Investments & Securities - General    8. Investments & Securities - Options    9. Options (Finance)    10. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    11. Investment & securities   

Reviews (77)

A mediocre followup to Trading for a Living
I should probably begin by stating that I've read Elder's first book, Trading for a Living, and found it interesting but not groundbreaking.While it had some interesting concepts and had some great technical advice, the book did not revolutionize me as a trader.This book is more of the same with a little more added toward the end.In it Elder essentially restates what he taught in his first book, tweaks it a little (but not enough to justify buying another book), and then shows a few handpicked trades of his and attempts to demonstrate his theory in action.
Great Basis
Having been through many authors/gurus this is very simply the
Not for Short-Term Trading
I am glad that Elder recognizes that applying his concepts to short-term trading, such as daytrading, is much harder than applying them to a longer time horizon.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Futures And Options Trading    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Stock exchanges    8. Stocks    9. Trading rooms (Finance)    10. Business & Economics / Finance    11. Investment & securities   

Reviews (16)

Well Explained Option Strategies
This is an excellent book.It has a logical progression and thoroughly describes option strategies from the conservative to the aggressive.My only suggestion to enhance the book's practicality would be to have an appendix showing profit and loss worksheets for each strategy.His website, The Option Strategist, has some useful option market commentary.

Nitty-gritty street smarts for options traders
"McMillan on Options" is a rare kind of book, and one of the very best.Especially revealing are the discussions in Chapter 4, "The Predictive Power of Options", on how certain patterns of option trading volume and implied volatility can be tip-offs to insider activity and sharp moves in the underlying stock, and on how to take practical advantage of such patterns.The chapters on trading systems and on how to trade volatility and the volatility skew were also well written and useful to the active options trader.All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone seriously contemplating getting involved in the options game.
Exercise your option and buy this book!
As a ROP (registered Options principal) I feel I am uniquely qualified to review this book. First, understand that Larry McMillan is considered by many to be the best options mind on Wall Street (sorry Bernie Schaeffer). His knowledge of this less-than-logical derivative investment is the equivalent of Alan Greenspan’s knowledge of the economy.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Futures And Options Trading    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Investments & Securities - Options    8. Options (Finance)    9. Business & Economics / Finance    10. Business strategy   

Reviews (35)

the best book in options
This book is a really useful and practical introduction in derivatives from a guy who knows what he is talking about.
FOR EXPERIENCED TRADERS
VERY INFORMATIVE, WRITTEN BY AN ACTIVE TRADER, MANY USEFUL TIPS TO BE APPLIED ON THE JOB. ALL IN ALL AN EXCELLENT BOOK. PROVIDES REAL HELP AND KNOWLEDGE, MUST BE READ BY ACTIVE TRADERS.

Real bookfor traders
really great to figure out the intricacies of options. if you need something more conventional just get hull; this book is bysomeone who does it for a living and has different intuitions than what you get in the ivory tower.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Derivative securities    5. Exotic options (Finance)    6. Futures And Options Trading    7. Hedging (Finance)    8. Investments & Securities - General    9. Investments & Securities - Options    10. Options (Finance)    11. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    12. Stocks & shares   

Reviews (8)

What more could you ask for in abook???
Trading is serious business, although you wouldn't think so, considering the way many people approach it.
Solid technical analysis book
This book is worth the money. The author presents solid explanations on the use of technical indicators and statistical calculations of the market. He guides you step by step in order to understand the specific applications and use of technical analysis and use of mathematical calculations applied to the financial markets. The depth of research and examples is very broad and extensive, plus the examples of the actual programming code in order to create your own trading systems is very helpful. Recommended by MTA to complete the CMT course.

Technical Details for the Technical Analyst
Many people refer to the Achelis book for simple, straight-forward descriptions of technical analysis tools.I too have it on my primary bookshelf.However, lately, more often than not, I find myself reaching for Kaufman's book to get good background on the various ways of technically analysing trading options.He has chapters devoted to practically every indicator type you may encounter:chart reading, events, regressions, trending, momentum, oscillators, seasonality, cycles, patterns, multiple time frames, and advanced techniques.He then goes into some details regarding system testing, practical considerations, risk control, and diversification.As a wrap up, he provides some end-notes for the mathematically inclined.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Commodity exchanges    5. Finance    6. Futures And Options Trading    7. Interactive & Multimedia    8. Investments & Securities - General    9. Statistical methods    10. Business & Economics / Finance    11. Finance & Accounting   

Reviews (1)

Wilmott produces another gem
Wilmott has done it again - and produced another bible. The three volume book contains an additional 35% of material (plus CD), including:
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Derivative securities    5. Finance    6. Investments & Securities - Futures    7. Investments & Securities - Options    8. Mathematical models    9. Options (Finance)    10. Prices    11. Programming - Visual Basic - VBA (Visual Basic for Applicati    12. Business & Economics / Finance   

Reviews (10)

Absolutely Outstanding!!
I didn't know anything about options, and had come to Amazon to find a book that I could read that would cover the basics and hopefully go over practical trading strategies that a novice could execute. Well, I read the customer reviews on this book, at the time 9 reviews, all 5 out of 5.
Excellent book
This is a really practical book that illustrates how to trade options in context of what's happening with the price of your stocks.I like the sample trading plans, and there's an excellent chapter about trading psychology, something that is way too often overlooked.Recommended.
Thorough yet User Friendly
This is an excellent book that I now keep by my desk.Big emphasis on real life examples, putting them all into real life context and then heavy use of illustrations to help explain things in a very user friendly way.Certainly recommended and and written in a very unassuming, down to earth way. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Futures And Options Trading    5. Investments & Securities - General    6. Investments & Securities - Options    7. Options (Finance)    8. Speculation    9. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    10. Investment & securities   

Reviews (37)

Simply the best straight option book out there
Mr. Lucier has written a book with no bullspit or filler material.He simply gets down to the business of educating the reader about straight options and the best way to profit from them.

It only takes a Dollar to make more Money!
This book is great. It's concise, educational and to the point. Mr. Lucier provides enough information that Realtor's would never tell you. He also provides forms to guide you in the right direction. I am also reading his book about Pre-Foreclosures and it has a lot of insight with the in's and out's of the housing market.
Not for you real estate slackers out there...you know who you are.
I have read Mr. Luciers book from front to book in its entirety and I'm about to re-read it again along with taking notes and contacting the attorneys, combing thru public records, etc to make this strategy work.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. House buying    5. Investments & Securities - Options    6. Option (Contract)    7. Real Estate - General    8. Real Estate - Investments    9. Real Estate Administration    10. Real Estate Investment    11. United States    12. Business & Economics / Real Estate    13. Property & real estate   

Reviews (55)

My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance
One needs to consider what they want out the book before buying it.If your looking for a book with market trading tactics and think this book will provide that, then my score would be a "1"Its not about how to make YOU money and its title implies that.In fact, its title is a quite honest answer to what is inside, the reflections of this Quant on his life in physics and finance.While he does not give the reader any CLEAR suggestions on how to make money in the market, he does give a good view of life as a professional in the hard sciences most of them would find it boring, the book would be a goodfor some super high school achiever that is contemplatingor announced committment to a life as a PHd in hard science.He does do a good job of relating all the "posturing", the "idea stealing", and general BS that is the real world of both science and commerce.His descriptions of his finance modeling efforts and the difficulties does show why many big firms can go bust.But other than messing up your own trading, you have to know when a big firm had bad Quant.So, unless you can think beyond what your reading as to making money in the market and learning to make money is your goal, then pass on this book.I gave it a "3" as it is good at exposing BS. More BS exposure type books may some day help us all.But you won't find specific maket making money ideas in this book, thus no "5"
An interesting world line
It is very uncommon for scientists to be revealing of their personal lives, and even more rare for them to make written commentary on the people they have interacted with over the span of their careers or even a portion thereof. The author of this book, who began his career as a physicist and then chose to be a financial engineer, is thus a statistical outlier in this regard. His transparency has allowed the reader to gain insight not only into how it is to live, study, and work in academia, but also in the financial world. All personal life histories are subjected to random perturbations, to events and people that are unplanned and unexpected, but as this book clearly shows, with pertinacity, with determination, one can smooth out even the strongest of these perturbations, and trace out a world line that is personally satisfying and dignified.
intense modelling in finance
As a Physics PhD who left physics, I read Derman's book with especial interest. He too faced this career choice after getting his doctorate and doing a stint in academia. The book shows the sometimes [often?] intense nature of academia, with emphasis on getting a tenured position. Whereas some industries can offer much higher salaries.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Business    4. Business & Economics    5. Business/Economics    6. Derman, Emanuel    7. Futures And Options Trading    8. Investment advisors    9. Investments & Securities - General    10. Mathematical Physics    11. Options (Finance)    12. Personal Memoirs    13. Physicists    14. Scientists - General    15. Business & Economics / Finance    16. Finance & Accounting   

Reviews (3)

A Great Book to Learn Natural Gas Trading
Even if you do not have a solid understanding of derivatives, this book is really good explaining step by step how the different derivatives are used for hedging natural gas; regardless if you are the producer, trader, or end user.The author gives many examples of how each derivative works.I highly recommend this book if you are starting out as a junior trader, risk products trader, supply planner, etc.

educational sources for practical trading purposes
I have not seen any book that describes its domain with such generous detail and is geared for real life trading. The contents may not be enough for those who trade only financial energy instruments, but it is indeed a good course material for the market makers, and hedgers, namely end users and producers. I highly recommend this book to those who are involved in natural gas industry.

Excellent Resource for Natural Gas Traders
Was very pleased with the material contained in this book.Although I am a beginner in the natural gas trading field, I found Sturm's book both easy to understand yet challenging in its scope.A great deal of emphasis isplaced upon various hedging techniques and many helpful diagrams areincluded to portray the trading flow.Overall a very unique and insightfulbook for beginners and for those with years of experience in tradingnatural gas. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Commodities And Commodity Exchanges    5. Commodity exchanges    6. Engineering - General    7. Finance    8. Futures market    9. Gas industry    10. Investments & Securities - General    11. Natural Gas    12. Options (Finance)    13. Gas industries    14. Investment & securities   

Reviews (88)

Pearls of wisdom - encrypted over and over
First off let me assure you that Mark Douglas deserves all the generally positive reviews he's received for this book and for "Trading in the Zone."What Douglas has to share is essential, extremely valuable information for both aspiring and veteran traders alike.That said, stand warned that Mr. Douglas has quite a tedious writing style.He suffers (and thereby, so does the reader) from a particularly diffuse, circular, and repetitive style.He gives redundant a bad name.Here's a sample, you be the judge:
Search has ended
After 20 years of searching for system to make me a successful trader it turns out you are what makes a system successful or not.This book is a must for a serious trader on understanding the psychology of what makes you a successful trader.

lcsmith
This book probably deserves a 4th star but there was nothing new. I was hoping for more. I really like this guy because I suffered the same fate. I beleive he is honest and sincere.I agree with him. If your already successful buy Market Wizzards if your not have this delivered next day air ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Attitudes    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Commodities    6. Futures And Options Trading    7. Investments & Securities - General    8. Stock exchanges    9. Stockbrokers    10. Business & Economics / Personal Finance / General    11. Stocks & shares   

Reviews (15)

Good Informal Intro to Financial Math
Doesn't require post-graduate college courses (if you've ever done calculus and simple statistics, you're in, but you can get by with less).Definitely keeps it light and fun while pouring lots of info into your brainpan.
May depend on your background
Not interesting, dry and lacks math details. Lacks economic intuition. For me, Hull's book even does a better job explaining Ito's calculus. But Math/Physics guys may like it.

Teaching-like stuff
I recently adopted Paul Wilmott textbook for a course on financial engineering I regularly give. I have always thought that stochastic calculus and derivatives are subjects very difficult to teach in a friendly manner. Wilmott textbook is very helpful in that regard. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Mathematical models    6. Options (Finance)    7. Prices    8. Programming - Visual Basic - VBA (Visual Basic for Applicati    9. Applied mathematics    10. Business & Economics / Finance    11. Investment & securities   

Reviews (7)

Not substantive enough
I must agree with reviewer Ira Balli from London below.This book lacks substantive information regarding the quantitative methods and therefore is merely an introduction to quant ideas that have been discussed in the marketplace.Of course, anyone who might have proprietary and successful quant methods would be foolhardly to disclose them, so one should not expect that from any public writer.
Don't buy this book
I am trading since 10 years, lead two hedge funds and I am about to finish my study in Msc of Mathematical trading and Finance.
professional
This book is written by a market professional. And it is obvious from the start. There is no hype, and the whole approach is based on maths and probability. The book is concise, and it would be very difficult to make the text shorter than it is.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Futures And Options Trading    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Mathematical models    8. Portfolio management    9. Stocks    10. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    11. Investment & securities    12. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (6)

Must have for anyone interested on Derivatives
I really must thank John Hull for this book. The way every topic is covered gives you basic knowledge to enter the depths that await you regarding futures, options and other derivatives. The book is so masterfully written that the approach to every topic is very fluid. Once you've covered the book, you are ready to go on with a more complicated book, including Hull's "Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" which has a more anylitical approach than this introductory book. The examples are the easiest ones and you can understand everything so clearly I wish there were more books like this.

The best nontechnical introduction book on Derivtatives
Hull wrote a classic book for the introduction to futures and optionsmarkets. It's for the serious reader who doesn't want to all the deviationsand basics of option pricings. If, after reading this book, you're stillinterested in derivatives you cann proceed with Hull's "Options,Futures, and Other Derivative Securities", Kolb's "Futures,Options, and Swaps", or for the very ambitious student Wilmott's"Derivatives or Quantitative Finance".

Excellent book, must have for finance nuts.
The material is similar to his other book, OptionsFutures and OtherDerivatives, but much more easy to read.With Brealy & Myers, thisforms a good complementary text. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Finance    6. Futures And Options Trading    7. Futures market    8. Investments & Securities - General    9. Options (Finance)    10. Problems, exercises, etc    11. Economics    12. Investment & securities   

Reviews (59)

Vastly Overrated
If you have any interest in learning how to use a trend following methodology - or even how trend following really works - you should look elsewhere.Nothing in this book is applicable beyond a brief chart in the last third that explains support and resistance.While I do not agree with the position that trend following is dead, overrated, or otherwise worth ignoring, this book most assuredly is worth ignoring.What little it offers in practical advice can be found in many better, less expensive books on basic technical trading.

Where's the beef?
Looking for a trend following system? You won't find one in this book.Developing one and need some assistance?No help here either.The critical areas of system development are not covered (What to buy or sell, How much to buy or sell, When to buy or sell, When to get out of a losing position, and When to get out of a winning position).This book contains a shallow analysis of successful trend followers and their techniques.

Trend Hype
I read this book and I must say that I liked it but it really was just a bunch of hype as to why you should be a trend follower. Everyone in the trading business knows that the trend is your friend. Most have heard of the Turtles and know that trend following can be a great way to make money trading. But what this book doesn't address is how to trend follow. It talks alot about the money managers that do trend follow, but nothing about how, which the title of the book implies. It says "How" but fails to address "How" other then to say these guys are trend followers and you should be too. I would say the title is a little misleading. The title should be , "These Great Traders Make Money by Trend Following". So if you want to learn the "how to" then just forget this book as it will give little insight into that. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Futures And Options Trading    5. Investments    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Stocks    8. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    9. Business studies    10. Commodities    11. Finance    12. Investment & securities    13. Stocks & shares   

Reviews (9)

Well, it's almost okay
Murphy's books are great.The information in this book SHOULD work, but it doesn't.I've checked the data going back 20 years and it just doesn't hold up... although, again, I'll be the first one to say that it SHOULD hold up.Oh, well, guess that I'll have to stick with what Murphy REALLY does with his own money which is... ahh, shucks, I'll never tell, even though I really do know.