Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book provides a healthy dose of practical wisdom for options traders so that they don't blindly follow their mathematical models into oblivion. The author (Taleb) has a PhD in finance, but also has traded in the pits, he knows both theory and practice and where they diverge.
Taleb focuses on hedging, which is a trader's main task when running a large portfolio of options. Instead of using a flood of equations, Taleb relies on charts, graphs, and tables to make his points. Most of the equations & heavy mathematics are relegated to the appendix, presumably because quants (or software) will price the instruments. He covers the behavior of the Greeks (delta, gamma, vega, theta, etc.) for vanilla options as well as behavior of exotic options, and delves into the practicalities of volatility, hedging at discontinuities, and various other topics.
The book is very popular on trading desks, and although I found it pretty good, I didn't find it to be outstanding. Also, notably, the book does NOT cover credit & interest rate derivatives at all; hopefully this will be corrected in the next edition.
So if you need a book on the practicalities of hedging a portfolio of vanilla/exotic options, then get this book. On the other hand, if you want some basic options theory, or want to focus more in pricing, or need a basic introduction, look elsewhere (perhaps to Hull's or Wilmott's books).
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Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options (Wiley Finance)Dynamic Hedging is the definitive source on derivatives risk. It provides a real-world methodology for managing portfolios containing any nonlinear security. It presents risks from the vantage point of the option market maker and arbitrage operator. The only book about derivatives risk written by an experienced trader with theoretical training, it remolds option theory to fit the practitioner's environment. As a larger share of market exposure cannot be properly captured by mathematical models, noted option arbitrageur Nassim Taleb uniquely covers both on-model and off-model derivatives risks.
The author discusses, in plain English, vital issues, including:
The generalized option, which encompasses all instruments with convex payoff, including a trader's potential bonus.
The techniques for trading exotic options, including binary, barrier, multiasset, and Asian options, as well as methods to take into account the wrinkles of actual, non-bellshaped distributions.
Market dynamics viewed from the practitioner's vantage point, including liquidity holes, portfolio insurance, squeezes, fat tails, volatility surface, GARCH, curve evolution, static option replication, correlation instability, Pareto-Levy, regime shifts, autocorrelation of price changes, and the severe flaws in the value at risk method.
New tools to detect risks, such as higher moment analysis, topography exposure, and nonparametric techniques.
The path dependence of all options hedged dynamically.
Dynamic Hedging is replete with helpful tools, market anecdotes, at-a-glance risk management rules distilling years of market lore, and important definitions. The book contains modules in which the fundamental mathematics of derivatives, such as the Brownian motion, Ito's lemma, the numeraire paradox, the Girsanov change of measure, and the Feynman-Kac solution are presented in intuitive practitioner's language.
Dynamic Hedging is an indispensable and definitive reference for market makers, academics, finance students, risk managers, and regulators.
The definitive book on options trading and risk management
"If pricing is a science and hedging is an art, Taleb is a virtuoso." -Bruno Dupire, Head of Swaps and Options Research, Paribas Capital Markets
"This is not merely the best book on how options trade, it is the only book." -Stan Jonas, Managing Director, FIMAT-Society GARCH
"Dynamic Hedging bridges the gap between what the best traders know and what the best scholars can prove." -William Margrabe, President, The William Margrabe Group, Inc.
"The most comprehensive, insightful, intuitive work on the subject. It is instrumental for both beginning and experienced traders."-
"A tour de force. That rare find, a book of great practical and theoretical value. Taleb successfully bridges the gap between the academic and the real world. Interesting, provocative, well written. Each chapter worth a fortune to any current or prospective derivatives trader."-Victor Niederhoffer, Chairman, Niederhoffer Investments
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