Book Review > Professional Options Strategies for Private Traders - A Guide to Trading Financial and Commodity Markets

The author Nick Katiforis describes this book as a "Guide to trading financial and commodity markets".
As a book it is probably as good a 'guide' book on this subject that you will find in the dimly lit recesses of inner city bookshops. If you are like the reviewer you probably wander into these hallowed stores in search of 'the' book that simplifies the complexities of investments.
Unfortunately simplicity and option's strategies are two concepts that do not sit well together. But Nick has taken his decade of floor trading from the Sydney Futures Exchange and put together a very good read.
In common with all good books on investments, the reader can approach this presentation from two levels. You can pick up a logical approach to option trading and, richer still, you can grasp some classical guidance on investment strategy.
Coming from a biase of mixed results in broker assisted option trading, the reviewer liked the book. This book does have the tool-kit to help most AIA members who may be intrigued by this field of investment. If there is an overlying theme in this book it is to have a plan that will give you a trading edge.
"Planning is one thing that can increase the odds of success for everyone who trades, yet only a small proportion of traders plan their trades. Planning allows you to create structure where there otherwise is none. It allows you to make sense of the almost limitless amounts of often-conflicting information that as a trader you will be bombarded with. Indecision caused by confusion can be lethal in the market…Plan what you want from a trade and how you will get it. Then plan what you will do if you are wrong in your judgement. Only by doing this will you be able to achieve consistency to your trading efforts, which is what all professional traders aim for." (Page268)
Coming from this philosophy the author has laid out an intelligent pathway through trading financial and commodity markets.
The book is in six parts.

1. Understanding Options, the basics on what an 'option' really is.
2. The principles of professional options trading. Nick lists four: Limited risk, Time decay, Volatility and Option miss pricing.
3. Markets: a description and summary of the major commodity exchanges.
4. Directional strategies.
5. Non-Directional strategies. Part 4 and part 5 are the "Guidebook" component of this book. The author is to be congratulated for the amount of information presented in a logical and user-friendly format. Like all guidebooks this part of the book could be referred to many times depending on the circumstances the investor experiences whilst using options.
6. The trading plan. The author finishes up with his "Top 10 secrets of the pros" which make for interesting reading. Prior to this there is guidance of a sort on developing a trading plan. In essence, this is an exploration of "Option Wizard" Software. The web site www.optionwizard.com has a free demonstration available for a few days play on commodities if you feel like taking this topic further.

The layout of the book is quite user friendly. The inclusions of highlighted "Trading tips" throughout the book add value and interest. Each chapter closes with a bullet point summary, which helps to reinforce the content.
This is an Australian book written after September 2001.The reviewer got into the book slowly as I was sceptical that the author could deliver on the title. By the end of the book I liked what the author had provided. It is a book full of wisdom on option strategies.