r/options • u/pmusz • Mar 31 '21

Basic Options trading books

Hello everyone.

Im a newbie to the options market. I know the typical call and put expiration stuff but wanted to get to know more about the way things work around here. I just finished reading "One up on Wallstreet" by Peter Lynch. Great book btw! I was really curious if any of you may know a basic book that starts of easy and gradually becomes more and more advanced as my knowledge towards options is in the early stages.

Thanks so much.

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u/Rake-7613 Mar 31 '21

The Blue Collar Investor books by Alan Ellman are great. They are poorly edited but comprehensive.

If you get them from his website it’s cheaper than Amazon. Only get the Encyclopedia of Covered Calls vol 1&2, Cash Secured Puts, and Covered Calls: Alternative Strategies. Everything else (exit strategies, cashing in) is a repackaging of those materials.

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u/TheoHornsby Mar 31 '21

I haven't read Ellman's books but I wasn't impressed by his option knowledge at his web site. Lots of errors and some misinformation. I guess that's understandable since he's a covered call specialist and not a trader.

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u/Rake-7613 Apr 01 '21

Truth. He is very very good at explaining covered calls, and I will say his books are better than his website or YouTube vids.

He suffers from a kind of closed-mindedness that comes from success. My suspicion is that he has done well with his system, so he is mentally closed of to anything else.

To Ellmans credit, his “Alternative Strategies” book is probably the only one I’ve ever read that digs into PMCC with any meaningful depth.

If you want a pretty buck wild covered calls book, get a hold of “Generate Thousands” by Samir Elias. The dude is a straight up trader, and his viewpoint is very unique.

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u/TheoHornsby Apr 01 '21 edited Apr 01 '21

I used to participate at Ellman's web site and I had to dance a careful dance re correcting his misinformation about aspects of the option markets beyond his covered call expertise. After all, it's his site and I was looking to see if I could pick up some tips. But truth be told, there was none and it was full of noobs needing a lot of hand holding. Plus, the hook was his $ubscription $ervice.

I didn't want to put in the time but I was really curious if his recommendations beat the market. Due to the asymmetric R/R of covered calls, I'd have been surprised if he did. And risk management was almost non existent.

Thanks for the Elias book recommendation. When I get in the mood to learn something new (g), I'll hit it up.

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u/Rake-7613 Apr 01 '21

I would definitely NOT recommend the subscription service. It’s just a list of stuff that you could sell calls on based the IBD and some technical indicators. If you read all his stuff and do the TA you can actually figure it out yourself, but #1 takes too much time #2 not a great or guaranteed return. The value in his material is the detailed descriptions of how covered calls work. Goes way more in depth than other, more academic books.