"Reduce your risk and maximize your reward. Options trading can be risky and intimidating, even for experienced traders. It can also be an exciting investment option that can pay serious dividends. This helpful guide breaks down the often complicated process of options trading and explains, step-by-step, how to buy and sell according to your investment strategy, weigh option costs and benefits, improve your odds, reduce your risk, and more. In this must-have guide, you'll find: a primer on what options are and how they work ; a review of how options are valued and what factors affect their price ; an introduction to put and call strategies and ways to use them to your benefit ; a look at how options can be used to hedge positions, make complicated speculative bets, and mimic other assets ; a discussion of trade planning, money management, taxes, and common pitfalls"-- Provided by publisher.