The Market Taker's Edge: Insider Strategies from the Options Trading Floor Hardcover – August 17, 2011

So glad I bought this book and read it!!! I learned an incredible account about Market Makers and why the markets move as they do. Helped my trading quite a bit. Highly recommend!

Most books about market making and options theory could be boring at times. As a portfolio manager who runs a family office and trade "liquid alpha strategies" in Asia, I find this book written by Dan Passarelli an enjoyable read. I like Dan's story telling style, which makes this book even more interesting. Honestly, I am not looking to find any trading ideas from this book (most professional traders will have their own game plan), but more from his market experience about his earlier days as a veteran trader/ educator. Dan achieves this purpose. I recommend Dan's book with enthusiasm. Edward Chin, Hedge Fund Manager based in Asia.

Reasonably well written, relatively clear discussion of stock options for a beginner. This topic is much more involved than it may seem at first glance and Passarelli's first priority is to pass his considerable knowledge to his students and readers. I have read his other book, Trading Option Greeks, as well.

I was quite disappointed in this book. I expected much more from Passarelli, and much more from this book. But I found myself flipping through the pages looking for anything that an experienced trader might find insightful or useful. I found nothing. If you know absolutely nothing about options trading, or have never traded, then this book might be helpful. If you like to listen to old traders tell you war stories and relive their glory days, then you might be entertained. If you are looking for a book that will give you trading ideas, you will find nothing in this book. Frankly, any information in this book that is of any value you can easily find for free all over the internet. Money down the drain.

I had checked the book out from my local library before I purchased. Well worth the money and has already paid back the cost of the bookHaving insight and knowledge into how the guy on the other side of your trade, the Market Maker, thinks and acts greatly has increased the profitability of my trades. Thanks Dan

This book is good if you're interested in learning how the market is viewed from a market maker perspective. The book also gets into some detail regarding option greeks and option strategies. Recommend reading if you're interested in getting a feel for what the author's pit trading days were like and to understand some of the basic definitions of greeks and some strategy overview.

I was given this book as a gift. I was glad to get it as I had read his other book "Trading the Greeks". I wish I had read this book before getting into options. First before other books I have read on options. Dan Passarelli presents the other side. In the book he presents the other side that of the Market Maker, the person on the other side of the retail trader. In one of my classes while getting a degree in finance one of my professors had discussed the role of the "specialists" on the floor of the NY Stock Exchange. The market makers provide the liquidity that we retail traders need to invest/trade. He discusses some of the interesting phenomemona such as the pinning of stock on expiration Friday at the strike price by explaining the need of market makers to go home that Friday evening with their books flat (no position in the stock or its options) because of the possibility of binary event over the weekend which would leave them with a large profit or loss. Rather they want to make money from the bid ask spread. Once a retail trader (you and I) know how they think then we can fashion a trade profitable to us but one they are likely to pick up rather than leave on the table. They wish to trade delta neutral; they like positions that are profitable to them no matter which way the stock goes. But most retail traders have a definite forecast and that forecast makes them delta positive or negative. But a retail trader can use some of their ideas. A stock can go up a lot, a little, side ways,down a little or down a lot. A Market Taker (you and I) can learn from them how to profit on 4 of the 5 possibilities. Mr. Passareilli presents a story of a trader (probably not him) who made his firm $275,000 on a single trade in a single day, based on a carefully crafted trade based on technical analysis. You and I would be quite pleased, but not his bosses because his trade was not delta neutral. Rather than being pleased, his boss was livid.For me investing and options are not a zero sum game. very good traders/investors come to the market with different needs and therefore different strategies. The manager of a large pension plan might use options as an insurance policy, he is trying to reduce his risk to a binary event, a black swan that is going to crap over everything. But another believes the company has good prospects and has a different strategy. One sells and the other buys. Think of it as a chess game with two very good players, each looks at the board and each comes up with a different strategy.Once you read this book you will want to go on and read more books. read the ones that get good reviews. Some will teach the academic side of the the market, other will teach you how to find a company to study and maybe invest in. Others will teach you how to calculate the fair value of a company by discounted cash flow.Still others will teach how to spot phony earning reports. Still others will help to fashion a strategy to meet your forecast. Investing your's and other's hard earned cash is a serious business. We as investors have a responsibility to ourselves and to the economy to invest wisely. Capital is stored up labor. So if you are just starting out read this book or if an intermediate do the same. Read other books. Avoid the ones that tell you the short cut to the promised land. Paper trade; paper trade some more. Then read this book once again. Then you might be ready to take on the market.

This is a good book. Something can be learned by everyone from an experienced market maker. A few gems here and there and reinforcement of things you already knew.

Different to most finance and trading books with no arcane theory but lots of explanations of experiences as a market maker. Great insights into the otherside of those trades. The discussion of volatility and all the Greeks particularly helpful.