Download or read book Option Strategy Risk Return Ratios written by Brian Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by Brian Johnson, a professional investment manager with many years of trading and teaching experience, Option Strategy Risk/Return Ratios introduces a revolutionary new framework for evaluating, comparing, adjusting, and optimizing option income strategies. Drawing on his extensive background in option-pricing and on decades of experience in investment management and trading, Brian Johnson developed these tools specifically to manage option income strategies. Unlike crude rules-of-thumb, these revolutionary new tools can be applied to any option income strategy, on any underlying security, in any market environment. Risk and return are timeless concepts in finance and trading, but this is the first time both concepts have been integrated successfully into a consistent approach for managing option income strategies. Option Strategy Risk/Return Ratios is written in a clear, easy-to-understand fashion and explains how to apply risk/return ratios to condors, butterflies, calendars, double diagonals, and even hybrid income strategies. Created especially for investors who have some familiarity with options, this practical guide begins with an examination of option income strategies and is followed by a review of the option Greeks, the building blocks of option risk management. Next, a critique of common adjustment triggers lays the foundation for a detailed explanation of these exciting new tools: option strategy risk/return ratios. Each option income strategy is explained, evaluated, and ranked using these new tools with complete descriptions and graphical examples. The book includes over sixty separate graphs and tables to illustrate how risk/return ratios behave using specific strategy examples in actual market conditions. The risk/return ratios are then used to introduce a new hybrid strategy that combines the best characteristics of the other income strategies. Finally, the last chapter examines practical considerations and prospective applications of these innovative new tools. Not only are the formulas provided for every calculation, but each risk/return ratio is explained intuitively and depicted graphically. For traders who are not mathematically inclined, Option Strategy Risk/Return Ratios also includes a link to an Excel spreadsheet with macros designed to calculate all of the risk/return ratios introduced in the book. About the Author: Brian Johnson designed, programmed, and implemented the first return sensitivity based parametric framework actively used to control risk in fixed income portfolios. He further extended the capabilities of this approach by designing and programming an integrated series of option valuation, prepayment, and optimization models. Based on this technology, Mr. Johnson founded Lincoln Capital Management's fixed income index business, where he ultimately managed over $13 billion in assets for some of the largest and most sophisticated institutional clients in the U.S. and around the globe. He later served as the President of a financial consulting and software development firm, designing artificial intelligence-based forecasting and risk management systems for institutional investment managers. Mr. Johnson is now a full-time proprietary trader in options, futures, stocks, and ETFs primarily using algorithmic trading strategies. In addition to his professional investment experience, he also designed and taught courses in financial derivatives for both MBA and undergraduate business programs. He has written articles for the Financial Analysts Journal, Active Trader, and Seeking Alpha and he regularly shares his trading insights and research ideas as the editor of www.TraderEdge.Net. Mr. Johnson holds a B.S. degree in finance with high honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA degree with a specialization in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Download or read book Option Strategy Hedging and Risk Management written by Brian Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-25 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brian Johnson, an investment professional with over 30 years of experience, is the author of three pioneering books on options: 1) Option Strategy Risk / Return Ratios, 2) Exploiting Earnings Volatility, and 3) Option Income Strategy Trade Filters. His new in-depth (80+ page) article, Option Strategy Hedging and Risk Management, presents a comprehensive analytical framework and accompanying spreadsheet tools for managing and hedging option strategy risk. Drawing on his extensive background in option-pricing and on decades of experience in investment management and trading, Brian Johnson developed these practical techniques to hedge the unique and often overlooked risks associated with trading option strategies. These revolutionary new tools can be applied to any option strategy, in any market environment. Option Strategy Hedging and Risk Management is written in a clear, easy-to-understand fashion and explains how to apply market-specific hedging techniques, using several different hedging vehicles. Created especially for readers who have some familiarity with options, this practical guide begins with a review of position sizing, including a detailed analysis of the implicit assumptions and embedded risks that could have disastrous consequences, particularly for option traders. Chapter 2 includes a comprehensive description and analysis of the actual option strategy, position model, and trade rules that are used to create real-world option strategy hedges in the subsequent chapters. This is followed by a thorough explanation and a concrete example of how to use futures to hedge option strategy exit risk. Surprisingly, futures are not well understood in the option community and very few traders employ this simple, effective, and virtually free hedging tool. The next two chapters present a common analytical and hedging framework that is used to identify the most cost-effective hedging solutions for an actual option strategy in a real-world market environment. The process used to identify the lowest-cost hedging solution using actual VIX call options is explained in Chapter 4, followed by the same hedging analysis using put options on the underlying security in Chapter 5. All hedging examples in the article use real-time market prices and actual analytical results. Proprietary research is included in the article to provide validation for the analytical framework. The article was written to be accessible to a wide audience, so very few mathematical formulas are provided in the text. However, several important formulas are included to facilitate the understanding of important concepts, and to provide further research opportunities for inquisitive traders. The article also includes thirty separate graphs and tables to illustrate how the tools can be used in practice. Perhaps most important, Option Strategy Hedging and Risk Management includes a download link to the accompanying Excel spreadsheet with macros designed to perform all of the position sizing and hedging calculations in the article. Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 5 all have their own dedicated tabs in the spreadsheet. The data from the article is included in the spreadsheet, which allows the reader to reproduce all of the examples from the article. All of the spreadsheet functions are automated through the use of push-button macros, making spreadsheet operation as simple as possible. Finally, Chapter 6 examines practical considerations and prospective applications of these innovative new tools.

Download or read book Option Income Strategy Trade Filters written by Brian Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2016-11 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brian Johnson, a professional investment manager with many years of trading and teaching experience, is the author of two pioneering books on options: 1) Option Strategy Risk / Return Ratios: A Revolutionary New Approach to Optimizing, Adjusting, and Trading Any Option Income Strategy, and 2) Exploiting Earnings Volatility: An Innovative New Approach to Evaluating, Optimizing, and Trading Option Strategies to Profit from Earnings Announcements. His new in-depth (100+ page) article, Option Income Strategy Trade Filters, represents the culmination of years of research into developing a systematic framework for optimizing the timing of Option Income Strategy (OIS) trades. His research was based on the analysis of 15,434 OIS trades, each with a comprehensive set of objective, tradable entry and exit rules. The results for each of the 15,000 plus trades were scaled to a constant dollar amount at risk, to ensure all trades were equally-weighted when calculating the performance metrics. The back-test results were all based on actual option prices and are summarized in this article for a selection of back-testing filters, making this one of the most comprehensive studies of option income strategy results ever published. The results of over 100 different back-tests are provided. The OIS strategy back-test results for ten different types of filters are evaluated in this article, including unique filter combinations that delivered exceptional results. A custom market-edge hypothesis was created in advance for each filter type, which was then used to evaluate the filter-specific results. This critical step helped identify robust, exploitable relationships, rather than spurious correlations. Several of the resulting filters generated over 95% winning trades, with average returns of over six percent per trade (including losing trades). The ratios of cumulative gains to cumulative losses were over 20 to 1 for a few of the best performing filters. Option Income Strategy Trade Filters is written in a clear, understandable fashion and provides detailed examples of how to create and test market-edge hypotheses using the recent advances in back-testing software. Very few formulas were included. As a result, the material in the article should be accessible to all option traders. Useful for traders with a wide range of option trading experience, this practical guide begins with a detailed review of option income strategies, including basic examples that provide the requisite foundation for subsequent chapters. Portions of this crucial background material also appeared in Brian Johnson's first book: Option Strategy Risk / Return Ratios. Chapter 2 includes a comprehensive description of the option income strategy, position model, and trade plan used to generate the back-test data. Every entry and exit rule is explained in detail, including actual graphical examples. The performance metrics for the 15,434 unfiltered OIS trades are summarized at the end of this chapter, which provide a performance benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness of the trade filters introduced in the next three chapters. The trade filters are grouped by classification, with a chapter devoted to each class or type. The market-edge hypotheses and corresponding results for trend filters are analyzed in Chapter 3. Unlike trend filters, discriminating filters exclude an increasing percentage of trades as the filter condition or threshold becomes more extreme or restrictive. The discriminating filter market-edge hypotheses and results are analyzed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 is devoted entirely to a very unique and powerful example of a discriminating filter: the OIS Universal Filter (OISUF). The final chapter examines practical considerations and prospective applications of trade filters and other resources in managing option income strategies in actual market conditions.

Download or read book Volatility Trading website written by Euan Sinclair and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-06-23 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Volatility Trading, Sinclair offers you a quantitative model for measuring volatility in order to gain an edge in your everyday option trading endeavors. With an accessible, straightforward approach. He guides traders through the basics of option pricing, volatility measurement, hedging, money management, and trade evaluation. In addition, Sinclair explains the often-overlooked psychological aspects of trading, revealing both how behavioral psychology can create market conditions traders can take advantage of-and how it can lead them astray. Psychological biases, he asserts, are probably the drivers behind most sources of edge available to a volatility trader. Your goal, Sinclair explains, must be clearly defined and easily expressed-if you cannot explain it in one sentence, you probably aren't completely clear about what it is. The same applies to your statistical edge. If you do not know exactly what your edge is, you shouldn't trade. He shows how, in addition to the numerical evaluation of a potential trade, you should be able to identify and evaluate the reason why implied volatility is priced where it is, that is, why an edge exists. This means it is also necessary to be on top of recent news stories, sector trends, and behavioral psychology. Finally, Sinclair underscores why trades need to be sized correctly, which means that each trade is evaluated according to its projected return and risk in the overall context of your goals. As the author concludes, while we also need to pay attention to seemingly mundane things like having good execution software, a comfortable office, and getting enough sleep, it is knowledge that is the ultimate source of edge. So, all else being equal, the trader with the greater knowledge will be the more successful. This book, and its companion CD-ROM, will provide that knowledge. The CD-ROM includes spreadsheets designed to help you forecast volatility and evaluate trades together with simulation engines.

Download or read book Trading Option Volatility written by Brian Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-03 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trading Option Volatility introduces a practical new analytical framework that generates theoretically correct and internally consistent, current and future option prices, volatility index futures prices, and risk metrics (Greeks) - for all term structures of volatilities and all term structures of interest rates.

Download or read book Exploiting Earnings Volatility written by Brian Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2015-04-08 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploiting Earnings Volatility introduces an innovative new framework for evaluating, optimizing, and trading option strategies to profit from earnings-related pricing anomalies. Leveraging his extensive background in option-pricing and decades of experience in investment management and trading, Brian Johnson developed this inventive approach specifically to design and manage option earnings strategies. In an Active Trader article titled "Modeling Implied Volatility," Mr. Johnson introduced a formula for aggregating discrete volatility measures into a single metric that can be used with conventional option pricing formulas to accurately model implied volatility before and after earnings announcements. The practical application of this formula has profound implications for option trading and strategy development. Exploiting Earnings Volatility is written in a clear, understandable fashion and explains how to use this novel approach to 1) solve for the expected level of earnings volatility implicitly priced in an option matrix, 2) calculate historical levels of realized and implied earnings volatility, 3) develop strategies to exploit divergences between the two, and 4) calculate expected future levels of implied volatility before and after earnings announcements. Furthermore, Exploiting Earnings Volatility also includes two Excel spreadsheets. The Basic spreadsheet employs minimal input data to estimate current and historical earnings volatility and utilizes those estimates to forecast future levels of implied volatility around earnings announcements. The Integrated spreadsheet includes a comprehensive volatility model that simultaneously integrates and quantifies every component of real-world implied volatility, including earnings volatility. This powerful tool allows the user to identify the precise level of over or undervaluation of every option in the matrix and to accurately forecast future option prices and option strategy profits and losses before and after earnings announcements. The Integrated spreadsheet even includes an optimization tool designed to identify the option strategy with the highest level of return per unit of risk. Written specifically for investors who have familiarity with options, this practical guide begins with a detailed review of volatility and an explanation of the aggregate implied volatility formula. A separate chapter provides a conceptual and mathematical explanation of "True Greeks," accurate measures of risk and return sensitivity that reflect the real-world behavior of options. New option Greeks that are specific to earnings announcements are also introduced. Four chapters explain how to use the Basic and Integrated spreadsheets and two chapters document trade examples that use actual market data and analytical results from both spreadsheets to design a unique option strategy to exploit earnings-related pricing and volatility anomalies. The final chapter examines practical considerations and prospective applications of these innovative new tools. This book introduces a new analytical framework that may sound complicated at first, but is really quite intuitive. The formulas presented in the book are limited to basic high-school algebra. Mathematical relationships are also explained intuitively and depicted graphically. Most important, you will not need to perform any of these calculations manually. Exploiting Earnings Volatility includes a link to Excel spreadsheets that perform all of the calculations described in the book. The unique price and volatility behavior of options before and after discrete earnings announcements is an enigma to most option traders, even to many professionals. The aggregate volatility formula is relatively simple, but it has profound implications. When integrated with a real-world volatility model, it offers unique insights into earnings volatility, price behavior, option strategy construction, and prospective value-added opportunities.

Download or read book Lifecycle Investing written by Ian Ayres and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-05 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diversification provides a well-known way of getting something close to a free lunch: by spreading money across different kinds of investments, investors can earn the same return with lower risk (or a much higher return for the same amount of risk). This strategy, introduced nearly fifty years ago, led to such strategies as index funds. What if we were all missing out on another free lunch that’s right under our noses? InLifecycle Investing, Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres-two of the most innovative thinkers in business, law, and economics-have developed tools that will allow nearly any investor to diversify their portfolios over time. By using leveraging when young-a controversial idea that sparked hate mail when the authors first floated it in the pages ofForbes-investors of all stripes, from those just starting to plan to those getting ready to retire, can substantially reduce overall risk while improving their returns. InLifecycle Investing, readers will learn How to figure out the level of exposure and leverage that’s right foryou How the Lifecycle Investing strategy would have performed in the historical market Why it will work even if everyone does it Whennotto adopt the Lifecycle Investing strategy Clearly written and backed by rigorous research,Lifecycle Investingpresents a simple but radical idea that will shake up how we think about retirement investing even as it provides a healthier nest egg in a nicely feathered nest.

Download or read book The Bible of Options Strategies written by Guy Cohen and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2005 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents today's most effective strategies for trading options :how and why they work, when they're appropriate, when they're inappropriate, and how to use each one responsibly and with confidence. This book will help you identify and implement the optimal strategy for every opportunity, trading environment, and goal.

Download or read book Investment Philosophies written by Aswath Damodaran and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The guide for investors who want a better understanding of investment strategies that have stood the test of time This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Investment Philosophies covers different investment philosophies and reveal the beliefs that underlie each one, the evidence on whether the strategies that arise from the philosophy actually produce results, and what an investor needs to bring to the table to make the philosophy work. The book covers a wealth of strategies including indexing, passive and activist value investing, growth investing, chart/technical analysis, market timing, arbitrage, and many more investment philosophies. Presents the tools needed to understand portfolio management and the variety of strategies available to achieve investment success Explores the process of creating and managing a portfolio Shows readers how to profit like successful value growth index investors Aswath Damodaran is a well-known academic and practitioner in finance who is an expert on different approaches to valuation and investment This vital resource examines various investing philosophies and provides you with helpful online resources and tools to fully investigate each investment philosophy and assess whether it is a philosophy that is appropriate for you.

Download or read book The Art of Quantitative Finance Vol 3 written by Gerhard Larcher and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-04-17 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The textbook discusses risk management in capital markets and presents various techniques of portfolio optimization. Special attention is given to risk measurement and credit risk management. Furthermore, the author discusses optimal investment problems and presents various examples. In the last section, the book includes numerous case studies based on the author’s own work as a fund manager, court-appointed expert and consultant in the field of quantitative finance. This book is the third volume of the quantitative finance trilogy by the author and builds on the theoretical groundwork introduced in the previous books. The volume presents real-life examples of the successful application of the introduced techniques and methods in financial services and capital markets.

Download or read book Options Trading for the Conservative Investor written by Michael C. Thomsett and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2010 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The author's option trading guidelines include important issues often overlooked by investors. Attention conservative investors! Michael C. Thomsett's Options Trading for the Conservative Investor has hit a bull's-eye...for you!" -Marty Kearney, The Options Institute, Chicago Board Options Exchange "Michael C. Thomsett has done a terrific job of showing how a conservative investor can use certain option strategies to his advantage. He spells out how that investor can utilize options to provide income, to protect stock holdings, or even as a substitute for stock itself. Every open-minded conservative investor should read this book." - Lawrence G. McMillan, publisher, The Options Strategist newsletter; president, McMillan Analysis Corporation; author, Options as a Strategic Investment "This book is a must for the diligent investor. Perfectly timed for these uncertain markets, Michael C. Thomsett provides a lucid guide for how to approach options trading conservatively, yet also focuses on the fundamental need for good returns and provides real examples throughout." -Guy Cohen, author of The Bible of Options Strategies and creator of OptionEasy (www.optioneasy.com) New downside protection strategies, detailed examples, and step-by-step techniques for conservative investors Easy enough for virtually any experienced investor to use-even those without options experience By renowned options expert Michael C. Thomsett, author of the global best-seller Getting Started in Options To protect yourself in today's volatile and uncertain market environment, you need to hedge losses, create extra sources of income, and reduce risk. In this book, internationally renowned options expert Michael C. Thomsett shows how to do all that effectively. One step at a time, Thomsett helps you exploit 12 carefully chosen options strategies that can dramatically increase your overall returns as you manage risks within your personal limits.

Download or read book Systematic Trading written by Robert Carver and published by Harriman House Limited. This book was released on 2015-09-14 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is not just another book with yet another trading system. This is a complete guide to developing your own systems to help you make and execute trading and investing decisions. It is intended for everyone who wishes to systematise their financial decision making, either completely or to some degree. Author Robert Carver draws on financial theory, his experience managing systematic hedge fund strategies and his own in-depth research to explain why systematic trading makes sense and demonstrates how it can be done safely and profitably. Every aspect, from creating trading rules to position sizing, is thoroughly explained. The framework described here can be used with all assets, including equities, bonds, forex and commodities. There is no magic formula that will guarantee success, but cutting out simple mistakes will improve your performance. You'll learn how to avoid common pitfalls such as over-complicating your strategy, being too optimistic about likely returns, taking excessive risks and trading too frequently. Important features include: - The theory behind systematic trading: why and when it works, and when it doesn't. - Simple and effective ways to design effective strategies. - A complete position management framework which can be adapted for your needs. - How fully systematic traders can create or adapt trading rules to forecast prices. - Making discretionary trading decisions within a systematic framework for position management. - Why traditional long only investors should use systems to ensure proper diversification, and avoid costly and unnecessary portfolio churn. - Adapting strategies depending on the cost of trading and how much capital is being used. - Practical examples from UK, US and international markets showing how the framework can be used. Systematic Trading is detailed, comprehensive and full of practical advice. It provides a unique new approach to system development and a must for anyone considering using systems to make some, or all, of their investment decisions.

Download or read book Security Analysis Portfolio Management And Financial Derivatives written by Cheng Few Lee and published by World Scientific Publishing Company. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 1190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Security Analysis, Portfolio Management, and Financial Derivatives integrates the many topics of modern investment analysis. It provides a balanced presentation of theories, institutions, markets, academic research, and practical applications, and presents both basic concepts and advanced principles. Topic coverage is especially broad: in analyzing securities, the authors look at stocks and bonds, options, futures, foreign exchange, and international securities. The discussion of financial derivatives includes detailed analyses of options, futures, option pricing models, and hedging strategies. A unique chapter on market indices teaches students the basics of index information, calculation, and usage and illustrates the important roles that these indices play in model formation, performance evaluation, investment strategy, and hedging techniques. Complete sections on program trading, portfolio insurance, duration and bond immunization, performance measurements, and the timing of stock selection provide real-world applications of investment theory. In addition, special topics, including equity risk premia, simultaneous-equation approach for security valuation, and Itô's calculus, are also included for advanced students and researchers.

Download or read book No Hype Options Trading written by Kerry W. Given and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-12-23 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A straightforward guide to successfully trading options Options provide traders and investors with a wide range of strategies to lock in profits, reduce risk, generate income, or speculate on market direction. However, they are complex instruments and can be difficult to master if misunderstood. No-Hype Options Trading offers the straight truth on how to trade the options market. In it, author Kerry Given provides realistic strategies to consistently generate income every month, while debunking many myths about options trading that tend to lead retail traders astray. Along the way, he makes a conscious effort to avoid complex strategies that are appropriate only for market makers or professional traders, and instead focuses on low-risk strategies that can be easily implemented and managed by a part-time trader. Shows how you can use option spreads in conjunction with stocks to produce a regular stream of income Each chapter includes exercises to help you master the material presented Examines how you can adjust option positions as market conditions change in order to maintain an optimal risk/reward profile Written for anyone interested in successfully trading options, this reliable resource cuts through the hype and misinformation that surrounds options trading and presents a realistic path to profits.

Download or read book The Best of Wilmott 2 written by Paul Wilmott and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2006-02-22 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Team at Wilmott is very proud to present this compilation of Wilmott magazine articles and presentations from our second year. We have selected some of the very best in cutting-edge research, and the most illuminating of our regular columns. The technical papers include state-of-the-art pricing tools and models. You'll notice there's a bias towards volatility modelling in the book. Of course, it's one of my favourite topics, but volatility is also the big unknown as far as pricing and hedging is concerned. We present research in this area from some of the best newcomers in this field. You'll see ideas that make a mockery of 'received wisdom,' ideas that are truly paradigm shattering - for we aren't content with a mere 'shift.' We know you'll enjoy it! The Best of Wilmott will return again next year...

Download or read book An Analysis of Risk and Return on Put and Call Option Strategies written by Martin Edward Zweig and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Trading Options at Expiration written by Jeff Augen and published by FT Press. This book was released on 2009-03-04 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Equity and index options expire on the third Friday of each month. As that moment approaches, unusual market forces create option price distortions, rarely understood by most investors. These distortions give rise to outstanding trading opportunities with enormous profit potential. In Trading Options at Expiration: Strategies and Models for Winning the Endgame, leading options trader Jeff Augen explores this extraordinary opportunity with never-before published statistical models, minute-by-minute pricing analysis, and optimized trading strategies that regularly deliver returns of 40%-300% per trade. You’ll learn how to structure positions that profit from end-of-contract price distortions with remarkably low risk. These strategies don’t rely on your ability to pick stocks or predict market direction and they only require one or two days of market exposure per month. Augen also discusses: · Three powerful end-of-cycle effects not comprehended by contemporary pricing models · Trading only one or two days each month and avoiding overnight exposure · Leveraging the surprising power of expiration-day pricing dynamics If you’re looking for an innovative new way to reignite your returns no matter where the markets move, you’ve found it in Trading Options at Expiration. “Learn and profit from Jeff Augen’s book: It clearly explains how to take advantage of market inefficiencies in collapsing implied volatility, effects of strike price, and time decay. A must-read for individuals who are options oriented.” --Ralph J. Acampora, CMT, Director of Technical Analysis Studies, New York Institute of Finance “A fantastic, insightful book full of meticulously compiled statistics about anomalies that surround option expiration. Not only does Augen present a set of effective trading strategies to capitalize on these anomalies, he walks through the performance of each across several expirations. His advice is practical and readily applicable: He outlines common pitfalls, gives guidance on timing your executions, and even includes code that can be used to perform the same calculations he does in the text. A thoroughly enjoyable read that will give you a true edge in your option trading.” --Alexis Goldstein, Vice President, Equity Derivatives Business Analyst “Mr. Augen makes a careful and systematic study of option prices at expiration. His translation of price behavior into trading strategy is intriguing work, and the level of detail is impressive.” --Dr. Robert Jennings, Professor of Finance, Indiana University Kelly School of Business “This book fills a gap in the vast amount of literature on derivatives trading and stands out for being extremely well written, clear, concise, and very low on jargon--perfect for traders looking to evolve their equity option strategies.” --Nazzaro Angelini, Principal, Spearpoint Capital “Instead of considering macro-time strategies that take weeks to unfold, Jeff Augen is thinking micro here--hours or days--specifically the days or hours right before expiration, and harnessing grinding, remorseless options decay for profit. He builds a compelling case for the strategy here. The concept of using ratio spreads plus risk management for as brief a period as one day--open to close--to capture expiring premium is worth the price of admission alone. A superb follow-up to his first book. Must-read for the serious options student.” --John A. Sarkett, Option Wizard software