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This one was recommended by the former head of NYMEX to me when I started my career in trading. Written about Jesse Livermore who made and lost his fortune mult

This one was recommended by the former head of NYMEX to me when I started my career in trading. Written about Jesse Livermore who made and lost his fortune multiple times. He was often blamed for rigging the market, but his lesson is simple: you basically can't rig the market; it will destroy you way more easily. Take what the market gives you and be happy it even decided to give you that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reminiscences_of_a_Stock_Operator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reminiscences_of_a_Stock_Opera... And you'll see a lot of recommendations for everything from Hazlitt to Piketty, but my favorite you never see recommended for macro is The Way the World Works by Jude Wanniski. He was one of the life long Democrats who became a Reagan advisor (and basically quickly turned back into a Dem before passing away about ten years ago): https://www.amazon.com/Way-World-Works-Gateway-Contemporary/dp/0895263440 https://www.amazon.com/Way-World-Works-Gateway-Contemporary/... Besides that, this is a really broad questions. There is stuff like John Hull for derivatives (this is what I survive on): https://www.amazon.com/dp/0133456315\ https://www.amazon.com/dp/0133456315\ This is the game theory book I and many others have survived on in college and many years past. Haven't really found a better one yet: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Theory-Press-Drew-Fudenberg/dp/0262061414 https://www.amazon.com/Game-Theory-Press-Drew-Fudenberg/dp/0...

15155 10y ago
Good call on the Hull recommendation - How do you feel about Natenberg's Option Volatility and Pricing? What do you trade, out of curiosity? (Career software engineer and fledgling options trader here, these were recommended to me when I first started learning. Still looking to make an industry change.)
- jnordwick 10y ago
  For options the other two that I've read and liked are Sinclair and McMillian: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470181990/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470181990/ https://www.amazon.com/Options-Strategic-Investment-Lawrence-McMillan/dp/0735204659 https://www.amazon.com/Options-Strategic-Investment-Lawrence...
- totalZero 10y ago
  To chime in... Natenberg is solid, IMO better than Hull. There are some nuances in pricing that will not really be captured in either book. For example, you don't learn that the implied vol of a one-week deep-in-the-money call should be lower than the same-strike put vol in cases where you have a dividend going ex the day before earnings. You will likely exercise the call before earnings to capture the dividend, so you shouldn't price in theta (or, from another angle, variance) for the event. And the thing is, every good options trader views these nuances differently. All you really need to know about options pricing is: Greeks to understand the risk, skew/kurtosis/etc to understand the limitations of Black Scholes, and how to make sure your inputs are reliable so you can think critically about what constitutes a "fair" price. To build past those basics, you have to take some kind of view on the name/sector/market. Understanding the product is mainly a means to an end---that end, of course, being an elegant way to express your views about the market.

15155 10y ago

Good call on the Hull recommendation - How do you feel about Natenberg's Option Volatility and Pricing? What do you trade, out of curiosity? (Career software engineer and fledgling options trader here, these were recommended to me when I first started learning. Still looking to make an industry change.)

jnordwick 10y ago
For options the other two that I've read and liked are Sinclair and McMillian: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470181990/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470181990/ https://www.amazon.com/Options-Strategic-Investment-Lawrence-McMillan/dp/0735204659 https://www.amazon.com/Options-Strategic-Investment-Lawrence...
totalZero 10y ago
To chime in... Natenberg is solid, IMO better than Hull. There are some nuances in pricing that will not really be captured in either book. For example, you don't learn that the implied vol of a one-week deep-in-the-money call should be lower than the same-strike put vol in cases where you have a dividend going ex the day before earnings. You will likely exercise the call before earnings to capture the dividend, so you shouldn't price in theta (or, from another angle, variance) for the event. And the thing is, every good options trader views these nuances differently. All you really need to know about options pricing is: Greeks to understand the risk, skew/kurtosis/etc to understand the limitations of Black Scholes, and how to make sure your inputs are reliable so you can think critically about what constitutes a "fair" price. To build past those basics, you have to take some kind of view on the name/sector/market. Understanding the product is mainly a means to an end---that end, of course, being an elegant way to express your views about the market.