Positional Option Trading - An Advanced Guide

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From the Inside Flap

Created for experienced traders who desire the significant benefits of including options in their trading strategies and portfolios, Positional Option Trading: An Advanced Guide shows readers how to find a trading situation with an edge, structure a trade, and control the risk.

Written in three parts, the first section of Positional Option Trading discusses the efficient market hypothesis and how, even if we accept it as true, it leaves plenty of room for the discovery of profitable trading strategies. These opportunities can be categorized as inefficiencies or risk premia, each of which should be traded differently. The author also discusses behavioral psychology and its ability to inform our strategies. Technical and fundamental analysis are explored as ways of finding trading edges.

Forecasting, as well as the overpricing of implied volatility are examined in the next chapters, while the section closes with a description of eleven specific phenomena that can be profitably traded.

The second part of the book discusses the distributional properties of some option structures used to monetize the trading edges revealed by the previously discussed techniques. Volatility trading structures and directional option trades are examined next.

Finally, the third part of Positional Option Trading discusses the concept of risk generally. The book closes with a description of specific topics like trade sizing and the idea of unknowable risks, using historical examples as a guide.

Perfect for moderately to highly experienced traders who hope to use option trading to reduce risk and increase returns in their trading strategies, Positional Option Trading belongs on the bookshelves of professional traders and money managers as well as those who wish to maximize the efficiency of their own portfolios.

From the Back Cover

Praise for POSITIONAL OPTION TRADING

"Euan Sinclair's book provides an investor with a systematic quantitative approach for using options to enhance returns. Sinclair has worked for over 25 years in the options industry with two of the most successful market making firms. Drawing from his vast experience he exposes tricks of the trade that were previously only available to professionals or exchange members."

―Blair Hull, Founder and Chairman, Hull Tactical Asset Allocation

"This book is another excellent example of Sinclair's in-depth understanding of derivatives markets. Chapter 10 alone is worth the price of the book; it deftly explains the real-world pitfalls that one usually learns about only after suffering losses. With astute analysis, Sinclair guides his readers through the complex world of derivatives markets."

―Arthur Duquette, Partner, Bluefin Trading

"Volatility trading is asymmetrically difficult either on the short side or on the long side. In recent years we have seen both long and short volatility shops going out of business ... Euan Sinclair manages to relay a strong message that the difference lies in finding trades with positive expected value, not with the sign of your trades. He proposes to analyze the term structure, fundamental factors, and earnings for edges.

He suggests evaluating the skewness and trade sizing to monetize the edges. This book is a must-read full of knowledge for anyone working with and learning about options markets!"

―Artur Sepp, Director of Research, Quantica Capital AG

About the Author

Euan Sinclair, PhD, is an options trader and financial engineer at Hull Tactical. He holds a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Bristol.

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A detailed, one-stop guide for experienced options traders

Positional Option Trading: An Advanced Guide is a rigorous, professional-level guide on sophisticated techniques from professional trader and quantitative analyst Euan Sinclair. The author has over two decades of high-level option trading experience. He has written this book specifically for professional options traders who have outgrown more basic trading techniques and are searching for in-depth information suitable for advanced trading.

Custom-tailored to respond to the volatile option trading environment, this expert guide stresses the importance of finding a valid edge in situations where risk is usually overwhelmed by uncertainty and unknowability. Using examples of edges such as the volatility premium, term-structure premia and earnings effects, the author shows how to find valid trading ideas and details the decision process for choosing an option structure that best exploits the advantage.

Advanced topics include a quantitative approach for directionally trading options, the robustness of the Black Scholes Merton model, trade sizing for option portfolios, robust risk management and more. This book:

• Provides advanced trading techniques for experienced professional traders
• Addresses the need for in-depth, quantitative information that more general, intro-level options trading books do not provide
• Helps readers to master their craft and improve their performance
• Includes advanced risk management methods in option trading

No matter the market conditions, Positional Option Trading: An Advanced Guide is an important resource for any professional or advanced options trader.

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