The strategy of buy-and-hold has been replaced by buy-and-hope. Trying to grow your assets means worrying about how the next geopolitical crisis or government announcement will affect your portfolio. In an age of stunted economics and uncertain interest rates, attempting to guess market direction can seem futile.The good news is, you don't have to anymore. There is a better way to invest. It's time to borrow a page from the pros and radically change your entire philosophy to building a solid, high-yielding portfolio.The Complete Guide to Option Selling takes you through the process step by step. Updated to help you draw steady, high pro ts in an age of skittish markets, this classic text covers the ins and outs of:The Fundamentals of Option Selling Why writing options works so well, what kind of investor writes options, and how futures options could be the missing piece to your puzzleOption-Selling Strategy and Risk Management Choosing the right options to sell, the most powerful spread strategies, the mechanics of selling, and protecting yourself from downside risk like a proMarket Analysis and Writing Options How to find the best markets to take premium, the secret of seasonal trends, and tips on building your premium ladder You don't need a fancy Greek calculator to succeed in writing options. All you need is a little knowledge, a lot of common sense, and The Complete Guide to Option Selling.PRAISE FOR THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO OPTION SELLING: "A must-read. Cordier and Gross have covered all the bases in this book about the (arguably) best option strategy--writing options." -- LAWRENCE MCMILLAN, bestselling author of Options as a Strategic Investment and editor of The Option Strategist Newsletter and Daily Volume Alerts"The Complete Guide to Option Selling offers investors a truly unique, practical, and valuable perspective into another dimension of option strategy. A very cool book and interesting angle!" -- JARED A. LEVY, risk manager and author of Your Options Handbook and The Bloomberg Visual Guide to Options"James and Michael not only have an excellent ability to analyze market fundamentals, but more importantly, to design the appropriate option strategy to take advantage of their market outlook." -- DANIEL P. COLLINS, editor-in-Chief, Futures Magazine"The Complete Guide to Option Selling is an excellent reminder that selling options is less stressful and more forgiving than traditional direction trading strategies. This book has what it takes and is valuable to both novice and experienced traders." -- JACK WALKER, author of Volatility Trading Digest"Cordier and Gross comprehensively and convincingly demonstrate how options selling strategies can function not only as a facile income-producing technique but also as a performance-based investment strategy all on their own." -- GIL MORALES, Managing director of MoKa investors, LLC, and coauthor of the bestselling books Trade Like an O'Neil Disciple, How to Make Money Selling Stocks Short, and In the Cockpit with the O'Neil Disciples

    capitalism, the future of banking, and the root causes of the financial meltdown.Award winning, veteran sell side Wall Street analyst Mike Mayo writes about one of the biggest financial and political issues of our time - the role of finance and banks in the US. He has worked at six Wall Street firms, analyzing banks and protesting against bad practices for two decades.In Exile on Wall Street, Mayo:Lays out practices that have diminished capitalism and the banking sector Shares his battle scars from calling truth to power at some of the largest banks in the world and how he survived challenging the status quo to be credited as one of the few who saw the crisis coming Blows the lid off the true inner workings of the big banks and shows the ways in which Wall Street is just as bad today as it was pre-crash. Analyzes the fallout stemming from the market crash, pointing out the numerous holes that still exist in the system, and offers practical solutions. While it provides an education, this is no textbook. It is also an invaluable resource for finance practitioners and citizens alike.

    Read this first and you will learn that the surest path to success will be to start with yourself; solve that conundrum and challenges like understanding how you do and should react to markets will come to be solvable."--Marvin Zonis, Professor Emeritus, Booth School of Business, The University of Chicago"When it comes to fast-moving global financial markets, professional investors strive to evaluate complex economic conditions from data analysis, economic reasoning, and professional judgment. This is what is taught in business schools. Denise Shull demonstrates how investment decision making is also determined by unconscious emotions and perceptions. "Market Mind Games" is a fascinating book that proposes a new and unexpected hypothesis about the factors that drive financial decision-making."--A.G. Malliaris, Professor of Economics and Finance, Loyola University Chicago"Denise Shull wants us to get in touch with our feelings, not to beat our bare chests and utter primordial screams. Far from it--her techniques are focused on making more money."--"Financial Times""Denise Shull's gem of a book is long overdue. . . . "Market Mind Games"] has made the ability to analyze and overcome our unconscious biases and prejudices available to everyone."--Dr. Donald T. Wargo, Department of Economics, Temple University""Market Mind Games" is iconoclastic to say the very least Pay attention to the last word in the subtitle: "risk." This book will change your perspective on how to approach and think about the markets and your life "--Michael J. Levas, Founder, Senior Managing Principal, and Director of Trading, Olympian Capital Management, LLC"Denise changes the way you look at yourself and investing. Her insights and methods are necessary to succeed in the markets, period."--Jared Levy, Portfolio Manager and author of "Your Options Handbook """Market Mind Games" offers a new school of trading psychology. Truly an important work that needs to be on the bookshelf of every serious market participant."--Mike Bellafiore, author of "One Good Trade""Masterful explanation of not only why emotionless trading is a myth, but how we can take advantage of our natural wiring to gain an edge."--Derek Hernquist, Chief Investment Officer, Integrative Capital, LLC"Shull details ways to learn how you 'feel' before you 'act' so that your buy, sell, or hold decisions become more successful."--E. Bernstein, OPUS Trading"A must-read for those who want to make their livelihood as a professional investor, trader, or algorithmic trading developer."--Larry Tabb, founder and CEO, Tabb Group"Denise Shull enlightens the reader how to effectively unlock one's psychological capital and translate that awareness into clear and concise investment decisions."--Grant Mashek, Managing Member, Palm Equity, LLC"Shull's book is not only a great read but lays out an entirely more effective approach to thinking about any decision that involves the unknown--market related or not."--Leslie Shaw, Ph.D., Behavioral Economics, and trained psychoanalystAbout the Book:What if the mystery of market crashes stems from a simple but total misunderstanding of our own minds? Could everything we think we know about ourselves--intelligence and rationality versus emotion and irrationality--be wildly off the mark? Simply put: yes.With these words, Denise Shull introduces her radical--and supremely rational-- approach to risk. Her vision stems from the indisputable fact that human beings can't make any decision at all without emotion and that emotion gets the first--and last--word when it comes to our perceptions and judgments.Shull should know. She started out managing major accounts for IBM and then chose to research unconscious emotional patterns instead of getting her MBA. Next she became a trader and trading desk manager while continuing to study biopsychology.We are all taught that sidelining our emotions is the best way to make good decisions-- Shull declares the converse: "emotions inform us." Attempting to control them actually increases the risks we take. Shull advocates treating feelings as data, and she convincingly argues that doing so eradicates the baffling question that repeats itself in our heads after making a poor investing decision: "What was I thinking?"Through a series of "lectures," Shull logically but engagingly connects emotions, beliefs, and context to our innate reaction to uncertainty and risk (yes, the two are different). In "Market Mind Games," she merges more than 20 years of studying risk decisions into a single, astoundingly effective strategy.A reasonable approach to emotion is the best and only way to win the investing game. The methods Shull details in "Market Mind Games" shake the foundation of conventional market and decision psychology. And, most important, they work.

    Along the way, Bonner and Wiggin cast a wide angle lens that looks back in history and ahead to the coming century: showing how dramatic changes in the economic power of the United States will inevitably impact every American.Reveals the financial realities the United States currently faces and what the ultimate outcome may be Weaves together the worlds of politics, economics, and personal finance in a way that underscores the severity of the situation Addresses the events leading up to the implosion of the U.S. financial system Looks ahead to help you avoid the pitfalls presented by a weaker United States Other titles by Bonner: Empire of Debt, Financial Reckoning Day, and Mobs, Messiahs, and MarketsOther titles by Wiggin: I.O.U.S.A., Demise of the Dollar, and Financial Reckoning DayThe United States is heading down a difficult path. The New Empire of Debt clearly shows how this has happened and discusses what you can do to overcome the financial challenges that will arise as the situation deteriorates.

    Why? BECAUSE THAT'S HOW WALL STREET WANTS IT"[T]he always irreverent author of the Reformed Broker blog has written an excellent narrative that shares all of your broker's dirty little secrets. Much like Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker captured the essence of 1980s institutional Wall Street, Brown's Backstage Wall Street recreates the boiler room retail brokerage culture of the 1990s and early 2000s in vivid color." --FORBES "With a smirk, a lashing wit, and an appropriate irreverence, Joshua Brown gives voice to what all investment professionals are--or should be--secretly thinking."--MICHAEL SANTOLI, Barron's columnist"The pages of this book are filled with colorful expos�s of misconduct in the way Wall Street presents and sells itself (and its financial products offerings!). . . . Run don't walk to read Brown's chronicles of deception [perpetrated by] those wonderful folks on Wall Street, who nearly bankrupted the world's fi nancial system a few short years ago."--DOUGLAS A. KASS, Seabreeze Partners Management, Inc."Everything you've ever read about Wall Street is a total lie. Everyone is lying to you every day. Until you read this book."--JAMES ALTUCHER, Formula Capital and author of I Was Blind but Now I See"Joshua wants Wall Street to be awesome. You can feel it every day on his amazing blog and in this great book. He is happy to shout when Wall Street drives him crazy. I guarantee you will enjoy this book that describes the action behind the business of Wall Street and his own experiences along the way."--HOWARD LINDZON, Lindzon Capital and founder of StockTwitsJoshua Brown may be the funniest writer on finance today, but Backstage Wall Street could make you cry more than laugh. The buffoons, manipulators, and incompetents Brown parades before us are the stewards of our retirement accounts....What's important is that investors understand the choices before them. Backstage Wall Street goes a long way to taking us backstage, while making us laugh in the process.--BARRON'SAbout the Book: Wall Street is very good at one thing: convincing you to act against your own interests. And there's no one out there better equipped with the knowledge and moxie to explain how it all works than Josh Brown. A man The New York Times referred to as "the Merchant of Snark" and Barron's called "pot-stirring and provocative," Brown worked for 10 years in the industry, a time during which he learned some hard truths about how clients are routinely treated--and how their money is sent on a one-way trip to Wall Street's coffers.Backstage Wall Street reveals the inner workings of the world's biggest money machine and explains how a relatively small confederation of brilliant, sometimes ill-intentioned people fuel it, operate it, and repair it when necessary--none of which is for the good of the average investor.Offering a look that only a long-term insider could provide (and that only a "reformed" insider would want to provide), Brown describes:THE PEOPLE--Why retail brokers always profit--even if you don't THE PRODUCTS--How funds, ETFs, and other products are invented as failsafe profit generators--for the inventors alone THE PITCH--The marketing schemes designed for one thing and one thing only: to separate you from your moneyIt's that bad . . . but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Brown gives you the knowledge you need to make the right decisions at the right time.Backstage Wall Street is about seeing reality for what it is and adjusting your actions accordingly. It's about learning who and what to steer clear of at all times. And it's about setting the stage for a bright financial future--your own way.

    In the most candid and outrageous look at Wall Street since Liar's Poker, Cramer, co-founder of TheStreet.com, radio and television commentator, and for years a premier money manager, takes readers on the wild ride that is Wall Street -- revealing how the game is played, who breaks the rules, and who gets hurt. Confessions of a Street Addict takes us from Cramer's roots in the middle-class Philadelphia suburbs to Harvard, where he began managing money, and then to Goldman Sachs, where he went into business with his wife -- Karen, the "Trading Goddess" -- as his partner. He brilliantly describes the life of a money manager: the frenetic pace, the constant pressure to outperform the market and other fund managers, and the sharklike attacks fund managers make as they circle a fund perceived to be in trouble. Throughout the book Cramer is characteristically outspoken, offering his hard-won insights about the market and everyone in it, himself included. There has never been a more eloquent market insider than Cramer, nor a more high-octane book about Wall Street.

    In The Little Book of Valuation, expert Aswath Damodaran explains the techniques in language that any investors can understand, so you can make better investment decisions when reviewing stock research reports and engaging in independent efforts to value and pick stocks.Page by page, Damodaran distills the fundamentals of valuation, without glossing over or ignoring key concepts, and develops models that you can easily understand and use. Along the way, he covers various valuation approaches from intrinsic or discounted cash flow valuation and multiples or relative valuation to some elements of real option valuation.Includes case studies and examples that will help build your valuation skills Written by Aswath Damodaran, one of today's most respected valuation experts Includes an accompanying iPhone application (iVal) that makes the lessons of the book immediately useable Written with the individual investor in mind, this reliable guide will not only help you value a company quickly, but will also help you make sense of valuations done by others or found in comprehensive equity research reports.

    Morris, Chief Technical Analyst and Chairman, Investment Committee of Stadion Money Management, LLC, and author of "Investing with the Trend""Dual Momentum Investing" details the author's own momentum investing method that combines U.S. stock, world stock, and aggregate bond indices--a formula proven to dramatically increase profits while lowering risk.Antonacci reveals how momentum investors could have achieved long-run returns nearly twice as high as the stock market over the past 40 years, while avoiding or minimizing bear market losses--and he provides the information and insight investors need to achieve such success going forward. His methodology is designed to pick up on major changes in relative strength and market trend.Gary Antonacci has over 30 years experience as an investment professional focusing on under exploited investment opportunities. In 1990, he founded Portfolio Management Consultants, which advises private and institutional investors on asset allocation, portfolio optimization, and advanced momentum strategies. He writes and runs the popular blog and website optimalmomentum.com. Antonacci earned his MBA at Harvard.

    It states that securities prices in financial markets must equal fundamental values, either because all investors are rational or because arbitrage eliminates pricing anomalies. This bookdescribes an alternative approach to the study of financial markets: behavioral finance. This approach starts with an observation that the assumptions of investor rationality and perfect arbitrage are overwhelmingly contradicted by both psychological and institutional evidence. In actualfinancial markets, less than fully rational investors trade against arbitrageurs whose resources are limited by risk aversion, short horizons, and agency problems. The book presents models of such markets. These models explain the available financial data more accurately than the efficient marketshypothesis, and generate new predictions about security prices. By summarizing and expanding the research in behavioral finance, the book builds a new theoretical and empirical foundation for the economic analysis of real-world markets.

    This 245 page manual is considered by many to be one of the best books written on trading futures. Twenty-five years of combined trading experience is divulged as you will learn 20 of their best strategies. Among the methods you will be taught are: * Swing Trading - The backbone of Linda's success. Not only will you learn exactly how to swing trade, you will also learn specific advanced techniques never before made public! * News - Among the strategies revealed is an intra-day news strategy they use to exploit the herd when the 8:30am economic reports are released. This strategy will be especially appreciated by bond traders and currency traders. * Pattern Recognition - You will learn some of the best short-term set-up patterns available. Larry and Linda will also teach you how they combine these patterns with other strategies to identify explosive moves. * ADX - In our opinion, ADX is one of the most powerful and misunderstood indicators available to traders. Now, for the first time, they reveal a handful of short-term trading strategies they use in conjunction with this terrific indicator. * Volatility - You will learn how to identify markets that are about to explode and how to trade these exciting situations. * Also, included are chapters on trading volatility, trading Crabel, trading the smart money index, trading gap reversals, a special chapter on professional money management, and many other trading strategies!

    You'll see how to use the two investment approaches - technical and fundamental analysis - to indentify promising securities in strongly trending markets. In addition, this guide covers how to calculate investment returns and, most important, how to manage your portfolio's risk.Learn from a highly experienced trader, analyst, and portfolio manager - the author shares his insider knowledge Understand often overlooked topics such as money management, journal keeping, and strategy planning - key areas that will largely determine your success Focus on the fundamentals - often overlooked by swing traders, fundamental analysis can increase your chance of success Determine your entry and exit points with technical analysis - read charts, apply indicators, and compare markets Evaluate companies with fundamental analysis - grasp the basics of financial statements and the criteria to screen for undervalued or overvalued stocks Develop and implement your trading plan - outline what you trade and how often, decide your risk tolerance, and calculate your performance Open the book and find: The differences among swing trading, day trading, and buy-and-hold investing The pros and cons of technical and fundamental analysis A step-by-step anatomy of a trade A wealth of charts and screenshots Real-world examples of swing trading successes The 10 deadly sins of swing trading - avoid at all costs! Sample trading plans Useful resources for navigating data

    Welcome to the world of Martin "Buzzy" Schwartz, Champion Trader--the man whose nerves of steel and killer instinct in the canyons of Wall Street earned him the well-deserved name "Pit Bull." This is the true story of how Schwartz became the best of the best, of the people and places he discovered along the way and of the trader’s tricks and techniques he used to make his millions.

    

    While some have tended to view asset class mispricings as mere noise, this compelling book shows why they are important signals of opportunities and risks that will shape the market for years to come. One of today's most respected names in finance, Mohamed El-Erian puts recent events in their proper context, giving you the tools that can help you interpret the markets, benefit from global economic change, and navigate the risks.The world economy is in the midst of a series of hand-offs. Global growth is now being heavily influenced by nations that previously had little or no systemic influence. Former debtor nations are building unforeseen wealth and, thus, enjoying unprecedented influence and facing unusual challenges. And new derivative products have changed the behavior of many market segments and players. Yet, despite all these changes, the system's infrastructure is yet to be upgraded to reflect the realities of today's and tomorrow's world. El-Erian investigates the underlying drivers of global change to shed light on how you should: Think about the new opportunities and risks Construct an appropriately diversified and internationalized portfolio Protect your portfolio against new sources of systemic risk Best think about the impact of central banks and financial policies around the worldOffering up predictions of future developments, El-Erian directs his focus to help you capitalize on the new financial landscape, while limiting exposure to new risk configurations."When Markets Collide" is a unique collection of books for investors and policy makers around the world. In addition to providing a thorough analysis and clear perspective of recent events, it lays down a detailed map for navigating your way through an otherwise perplexing new economic landscape."SELECTED AS A 2008 BEST BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMISTWinner of the 2008 "Financial Times" and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award

    The book brings to life the people and ideas that forged modern finance and investing, from the formative days of Wall Street through the Great Depression and into the financial calamity of today. It's a tale that features professors who made and lost fortunes, battled fiercely over ideas, beat the house in blackjack, wrote bestselling books, and played major roles on the world stage. It's also a tale of Wall Street's evolution, the power of the market to generate wealth and wreak havoc, and free market capitalism's war with itself.The efficient market hypothesis--long part of academic folklore but codified in the 1960s at the University of Chicago--has evolved into a powerful myth. It has been the maker and loser of fortunes, the driver of trillions of dollars, the inspiration for index funds and vast new derivatives markets, and the guidepost for thousands of careers. The theory holds that the market is always right, and that the decisions of millions of rational investors, all acting on information to outsmart one another, always provide the best judge of a stock's value. That myth is crumbling.Celebrated journalist and columnist Fox introduces a new wave of economists and scholars who no longer teach that investors are rational or that the markets are always right. Many of them now agree with Yale professor Robert Shiller that the efficient markets theory "represents one of the most remarkable errors in the history of economic thought." Today the theory has given way to counterintuitive hypotheses about human behavior, psychological models of decision making, and the irrationality of the markets. Investors overreact, underreact, and make irrational decisions based on imperfect data. In his landmark treatment of the history of the world's markets, Fox uncovers the new ideas that may come to drive the market in the century ahead.