Understanding Options

It's not hard to understand why options trading continues to growin popularity, especially among sophisticated investors with largestock portfolios. Options are a cheaper and therefore, inherentlyless risky way of speculating on the price movements of stocks orother under-lying goods, yet, due to their volatility, they providemore price action per dollar than do stocks. And, when traded inconjunction with stock portfolios, options can significantlyenhance an investor's ability to manipulate the risk and returncharacteristics of their entire investment. Yet, despite these andother advantages of options, many investors shy away from thishighly lucrative type of speculation because of the seemingimpenetrability of many of its underlying concepts and technicalprinciples.

Now in a book that demystifies options for financial professionals,Professor Robert W. Kolb, one of the nation's leading authoritieson the subject, provides readers with a solid grounding in theprinciples and practices of options trading. An excellent resourcefor investors who need to quickly get up to speed in options,Understanding Options offers a balanced presentation that buildsswiftly from the most basic concepts and terms to advanced tradingstrategies and techniques. Written in plain English and filled withreal-life examples and case studies, it schools readers in:
* All essential terms, concepts, principles, and practices
* Popular trading techniques and their payoffs
* Option strategies
* Option hedging
* Formal trading models, including the Binomial and Merton models
* Options on stock indexes, foreign currency, and futures
* Option pricing in both the American and European markets
* The options approach to corporate securities
* And much more

Concise yet comprehensive, authoritative yet highly accessible,Understanding Options gives you everything you need to feel rightat home in the lucrative world of options.

Comprehensive, practical, authoritative--the fastest, mostaccessible route to the lucrative world of options

From the basics of what an option is to advanced techniques forprofiting from options in a variety of markets, UnderstandingOptions covers all the bases. Written by a leading internationalauthority on options trading, this practical, hands-on guide offersdetailed, step-by-step coverage of option trading techniques andtheir payoffs, option strategies, European and American optionpricing, option hedging, and much more. It also explores options onstock indexes, foreign currency, and futures, and takes a closelook at the options approach to corporate securities.

A concise, yet comprehensive, introduction to options for financialprofessionals
* Gets you quickly up and running with all the essential knowledgeyou need to break into the options markets
* Featuring a balanced presentation that moves swiftly from basicterms and concepts to advanced trading models
* Packed with easy-to-follow examples and case studies that lucidlyillustrate all points covered

ROBERT W. KOLB, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert in options trading and an expert in using options and futures to manage risk. He is also Professor of Finance at the University of Miami. A prolific author, he has written numerous articles for finance magazines and journals and more than twenty books and monographs on the futures markets, investing and options trading, bond portfolio management, and other topics in finance and investing.