Rating: 
Summary: A great book for beginners in understanding options
Review: Dr. Elias has done a wonderful job of explaining the benefits of options. He does not suggest that you hold your stocks forever. However, he does show how to effectively maximize profits on stocks through the power of options. If you like example after example of how this is done, then this is the book for you. Also, Dr. Elias has his number listed in the back of his book and is available to answer questions. I actually picked up the phone and spoke with him at length about option strategies. Dr. Elias and his book have earned my vote!
Rating: 
Summary: Thanks Dr. Samir
Review: I can not tell how great this book is at giving practical insight on stock trading! A lot of the other books I read left me in a daze about trading, but after reading "Generate Thousands..." I can truly see a stable way of earning consistant monthly income trading stocks. If you have any professionalism and a willingness to take time and study these strategies you will really love this book. Instead of a lot of jargon, this book gives many detailed examples(including charts) that make it clear what the author is wanting to convey. Because of the detailed examples, you learn exactly what to look for to help you decide when to get in and out of trades. The details about "Covered Calls" were a blessing and I can't wait untill the next edition. I can now write Covered Calls (options) with confidence, because this book teaches strategies on how to win or break-even if the stocks moves in a negative direction. If you are you are looking for practical examples combined with down earth language, this book is a "must have" for beginners and the seasoned trader.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks Dr. Samir
Review: I can not tell how great this book is at giving practical insight on stock trading! A lot of the other books I read left me in a daze about trading, but after reading "Generate Thousands..." I can truly see a stable way of earning consistant monthly income trading stocks. If you have any professionalism and a willingness to take time and study these strategies you will really love this book. Instead of a lot of jargon, this book gives many detailed examples(including charts) that make it clear what the author is wanting to convey. Because of the detailed examples, you learn exactly what to look for to help you decide when to get in and out of trades. The details about "Covered Calls" were a blessing and I can't wait untill the next edition. I can now write Covered Calls (options) with confidence, because this book teaches strategies on how to win or break-even if the stocks moves in a negative direction. If you are you are looking for practical examples combined with down earth language, this book is a "must have" for beginners and the seasoned trader.
Rating:
Summary: New Ideas For Greater Profits
Review: I have been making a living exclusively trading stocks and options for several years so I am what you would consider an experienced trader. While it is true that most traders lose money, the ones that are successful make a nice living at it. In my opinion the reason why most fail is that they follow the herd and refuse to change their style.
This is where this book comes in; many of the techniques are innovative and different in addition to the fact that they work. Let me give some examples: Many investors employ stop losses which are a good idea and in fact in the book the author does suggest you do that. The problem is that if you set your stop loss using standard criteria that every one else uses (herd mentality); the market makers and specialists who control most of the trading can trigger a stop loss, which they know where the herd set it at, just to shake weak hands out and then move the stock to new highs. Say you purchased a stock at $50 and set a stop loss at $45 you would have lost $5 +/share if the stop was triggered. However if you followed a strategy in the book using covered calls by selling a $45 strike call you would have gotten $5/share + time premium and you could still have set a stop loss at$45 and exited the position. However in this case you would have made a profit or at least broke even. By using this strategy you could invest the cash you are raising on stocks that may be better picks.
Many inexperienced investors do not realize that for a covered call to be profitable the stock must go down in price at least temporarily. In fact the strength of this strategy lies in being able to cash in on the volatility of the stock. If this was a losing strategy there would not be books dedicated solely to covered calls advocating double-digit returns! A unique and better idea offered by the author is using fading momentum criteria to trigger taking action to start raising cash or selling a stock. This sets your sell trigger apart from the herd and prevents you from being shaken out just to see the stock come back.
Say you bought a stock at $88 and set a stop loss limit at $80, if you get stopped, you lose at least $8. By paying attention to fading momentum criteria explained in the book which alerts you to a pending reversal even as the price is going higher, you can sell an $85 covered call for say $5/share as soon as you recognize fading momentum with the stock at say around $89. When the stock gets to $85 you can buy the call back, cash in most of the $5 as profit and sell a new call at $80, if the stock hits below $80 you get stopped out but you would have cashed an additional $5. The point is if the stock takes 2 months to drop from $88 to $80 using strategies in this book you would have cashed $10/share even before your stop got triggered and you sold the stock. This is cash you can invest to make more money. Using a stop alone you can only reinvest after you sell the stock, but using ideas in this book cash is available even before you sell.
Another example is the use of put selling as an avenue to raise cash on a stock before buying the stock. This again is an approach different from the majority that tends to buy the stock outright. This technique allows you to buy the stock at below market and pocket cash, which you can invest in other moneymaking instruments while buying the stock. Again a novel technique that most people do not employ. I am sure that anyone who lost money on enron, worldcom and other stocks would wish they knew how to use this strategy. Over 50% of this book involves techniques that do not even require owning a stock. A fourth idea which was even new to me as an experienced trader and investor is how to use a contrarian approach employing sentiment and price action to cash in on low priced stocks without buying them or spending any of your own cash. Using a simple twist on this strategy, the author shows you how to recover losses of more than 50%, this alone is a worthwhile reason to read this book. The new techniques in chapter 11 made me a sizable profit on xmsr, amr,ntes,askj, and several others since I bought the book few months ago and I know ,as most people do, how to tell the difference between a profit and a loss!
I can list several more examples on how this book pushes the edges of new ideas but will stop here to keep the review short.
Of course, it is a personal choice whether one keeps doing the same thing and getting the usual results or they open their mind to new concepts and reap their benefits. I chose the latter .
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely unbelievable profits
Review: I have purchased this book and belong to the author's private chat room and was able to achieve consistent double digit monthly returns. This is based on an earnings squeeze strategy that I have been using by applying the principles described in the book using a combination of option and stock positions.
My strategy involves using the idea presented by the author in the book and chat room on betting against the majority but with the trend. I have used this concept to look for stocks showing a high level of negative crowd sentiment as reflected by a high put volume and short interest but positive technical signals. Such indicators will result in a lethal profit combination at earnings time. So every week I identify stocks reporting earnings that show such signals and then take a combination of stock and option positions using strategies in the book.
I would admit that belonging to the authors private internet chat room ,which is kind of expensive in absolute terms but cheap when you consider the returns, was a big help. The good news is that many investors will be soon able to experience similar returns by belonging to the public version at a much lower cost . I decided not to mention the site name to keep the review objective .
The author is also accessible to the subscribers through e mail and phone. He even has his phone number in the book and I was able to discuss a specific recommendation he made on the chat room with him before taking action. With little practice and experience the ideas presented by the author work and I have my bank account to show for it.
Rating:
Summary: Gives a beginner some ideas, but
Review: I have recommended this book to some people I know who have a hard time picturing a couple of different ways to generate income using options. I do think that he does not adequately discuss the risks of naked puts if the market gets hot and then turns down sharply again. And he fails to explain that a covered call is essentially the same thing as a naked put. But for people who are set on buying and holding, there are some good ideas here, especially on selling puts as a means of entering a stock. They are especially good in a market that is just grinding within a range as you can make money even if your stocks are going nowhere. I have used the strategies here over the last two years (was doing them before I read this book) and had good success with them. Until this recent rally there were a lot of stocks that were grinding away at low prices, that had strong cash positions, that were great candidates for these strategies. But you need a broker with very low commissions, such as interactivebrokers because premiums are getting lower and lower these days. Someone new to options can easily make back their money with this one. So four stars for that, not five because the risks are not explored enough. Go slow if you're a beginner, always anticipate the chance that you'll have to pony up money if a put is exercised against you. If you do that you'll be surprised how rewarding some simple strategies can be and how well they will fit into your existing approach.
Rating:
Summary: 12% monthly returns using selling puts and writing calls
Review: The two most important lessons I learned from this book that worked for me allowing me to achieve 12 % monthly returns for the past few months are (1) To be successfull you need to be a flexible investor. Focusing on stocks alone without options increases your risk and vice versa.Paying attention to covered calls alone without selling puts will also severely limit your profits and risk losing your stocks. Combining writing calls with selling puts resulted in superior returns from my experience. (2) When using options to supplement your investments, timing is critical to determine entry and exit points and more important to decide when to reverse your position from call writing to put selling and vice versa.Paying attention to combining these strategies will insure profitability no matter what direction the stock moves in. This book offers different strategies with actual market examples to demonstrate how the above techniques can work to significantly boost returns.
Rating: 
Summary: Good and scarey at the same time.
Review: This book is all about using options to raise cash. It does a pretty decent job of what it sets out to do. On that basis, I would probably give it four stars.
The shortcomings in the book are in the money management and risk control areas. There are many lines in the book on how great a technique work, there is almost nothing about what happenings when things go against you.
Much of the book is devoted to essentially selling naked options (often synthetic positions). There is little devoted to explaining the risks those strategies entail. The reader is led to believe the methods presented almost always work and any failures will be minor. In the long run, I believe this is mostly true. However you could go broke in the short run if you commit too much to a trade.
There is also almost no mention of such practicalities as margin requirements. Your broker will generally let you sell as many covered calls as you would like. However some of the ideas presented require you to go well beyond that and your broker will limit your ability to enter the trades based on your experience and the amount of money in your account. You should look at the money raised by selling options as a loan that may or may not have to be repaid, not as free cash with no strings attached. Learn what you need before you attempt something you will not be allowed to do.
Many of the examples shown involve very high options premiums to come anywhere near the results shown in the book. There are certainly times when the premiums are that high, however most of the time, you will not find premiums anywhere near those levels. So even if your new found cash cow works well, there will likely be dry periods where your income shrinks dramatically.
The author does not totally ignore risk. The usual prescription to salvage a loser is to buy back the loser and sell a longer duration option to recoup your loses. That will often work. However if you are on the wrong side of a big move, you this strategy may well make things much worse in the longrun.
If you have quite a bit of experience in the market, then this might be an excellent book for you. You can use the ideas presented and probably generate some additional ideas that could well make you quite a bit of money. However if your experience level is on the low side, or your disclipine is not what it should be, you will likely learn a painful lession (sooner or later) by blindly following the text.
Rating:
Summary: Pass this book by at your own risk
Review: This review pertains to the second edition published Sept 2003. I have found this book very helpful and profitable In fact after a couple of months of losses I was able to turn things around using the ideas in this book. The author progresses from simple to more advanced ideas with lots of actual market examples. The first 100 or so pages focus mainly on using options to raise cash on stocks. The author dedicates a couple of chapters to covered calls, a couple of others to combining covered calls and puts to increase your cash generation. Two chapters are also dedicated to timing techniques on when to sell the options. One chapter is dedicated to raising cash on stocks below $5 using naked puts. The author shows how you can make cash by increasing premiums using in the money options as well as using low premiums by selling out of the money options.
The last 130 pages of the book focus mainly on trading stocks using new timing techniques. I always assumed I was just unlucky since every time I buy a stock it is down the next day. However the author puts it best when he says " If you follow the herd you get slaughtered with it" . The market makers are aware of common techniques used by individual traders and trade against them , so by using the new techniques in the book , your move is not obvious. The chapters in this section of the book offer a wealth of ideas. Since this is only one of two reviews on the second edition I will go into brief detail: Chapter 12 "squeeze thousands in short term cash by investing against the crowd" Shows how using strength combined with sentiment can result in short term profits. These concepts are then combined with short squeezes and earning squeezes for explosive profits. Chapter 13" Follow smart money to explosive profits" discusses unique combinations of technical indicators, to recognize accumulation by smart money and get in before the price move. Chapter 14"Do this every week and never lose money in the market" This chapter is written for long term holders and shows how using convergence /divergence charts drawn once a week can pin point long term reversals. This chapter was very useful to evaluate my long term holdings. Chapter 15" Using concepts in this book to cash in on special situations" discusses common profitable situations that arise in the market and how to use the concepts in the book to profit from them . This chapter gets your creative thinking flowing to think of even other setups.
The author explains all the indicators used clearly and backs his techniques with many real life examples which made it easy for me as a beginner to be able to implement the concepts within a couple of months
While the author does not dedicate a specific chapter to risk, he does, in the new expanded edition, pay attention to risk in relation to the concepts and techniques he recommends . In many areas of the book ideas are given on how to reduce risk . Just to mention a few :,Quote" even though we are still better off than buying the stock outright, our objective is to control risk as much as possible ...." End Quote . Also Quote " I would recommend that you only bet 2 % of the value of your trading account on any one position such as this..." End Quote. Also the statement , Quote " To reduce risk, one possible option will be to take half a position before and the other after earnings. In this case..." End Quote . and many more.
The author does not discuss margin requirements in detail which I think will be a waste of space since each broker has their own rules , he does say Quote" When selling a put option, the broker requires a certain amount of margin cash in your account to be able to buy the shares if the option is exercised .. Please be advised that different brokers have varied requirements; hence I would recommend you contact your broker to find their specific terms" End Quote
With conflicting reviews on most financial books it is not an easy task do distinguish between useful and no so useful books. I asked myself, what have I done with books that were helpful for a short period of time or not helpful at all? Answer: I sold them as used books on the amazon market place. Bingo.. So I always check whether a financial or educational book has a lot of used copies for sale. If there is , I avoid the book and this criteria has worked well for me. With this book you can rarely find a used copy even of the first sold out edition. Draw your own conclusions!
Rating:
Summary: more than 90 % profitable
Review: This review refers to the Sept 2003 newly published hardcover expanded second edition of the book . In this edition the author goes beyond using options into the art of picking winning stocks. There are quite a few new ideas including : (1) How to use sentiment and price action to pick winning stocks. The author uses two indicators when combined together can signal entry points giving over 100% profitability . I personally back tested and actually traded this approach with over 90% accuracy (2) How to generate quick cash by using a short squeeze and earnings squeeze strategy. This is presented in a stepwise procedure which is easy to follow.(3) How to recognize when smart money is buying or selling .
(4) How to recognize when smart money is buying under the radar without actually affecting price movements. (5) How to avoid being shaken out and selling before a big run up. And more ideas too many to mention. (6) How to quantify fear and combine it with a common technical indicator to spot general market reversals and I could go on and on.
One of the Chapters that I found most useful for long term investors ins Chapter 14 where the author presents a simple system using an easy calculation that you have to do once a week to determine when to sell a stock or buy for the long term. This chapter allows you to recognize pending long term reversals using what the author calls CD chars while a stock is near its high. Real life stock illustrations are given throughout the book. The author adds a special chapter with ideas on how to apply the concepts in the book to specific situations that are frequently encountered and shows how to cash in on such situations.
What impressed me most is that the concepts are innovative and not accessible in other books that I have read. On the other hand they are simple to follow especially with the numerous real market examples given by the author.
| 
