45 books like Option Volatility and Pricing

By Sheldon Natenberg,

Here are 45 books that Option Volatility and Pricing fans have personally recommended if you like Option Volatility and Pricing. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders

Kevin J. Davey Author Of Entry and Exit Confessions of a Champion Trader: 52 Ways A Professional Speculator Gets In And Out Of The Stock, Futures And Forex Markets

From my list on that help to become a champion trader.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been trading for over 30 years now, and I was lucky to be one of the part-time “hobby” traders to be successful enough to trade full time. Along the way, I was a 3-time trophy winner in the world’s premier real time, real money futures trading contest. My passion is trading, both for my personal accounts and in assisting my students with their trading. While I always say “trading is the hardest way to make easy money” this field is my lifelong passion.

Kevin's book list on that help to become a champion trader

Kevin J. Davey Why did Kevin love this book?

There are quite a few titles in the Market Wizards book collection, but my personal favorite is still the first of the series. In the book, Jack interviews different successful traders and investors. You’ll get to learn the basics of what they did (I personally know of one reader who started a successful hedge fund after reading one chapter of this book), but more importantly, you will be able to understand and explore the mindset of winning traders. Reading this book will help you mimic the behavior of some of the great traders of our time.

By Jack D. Schwager,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Market Wizards as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The world's top trader's reveal the secrets of their phenomenal success! How do the world's most successful traders amass tens, hundreds of millions of dollars a year? Are they masters of an occult knowledge, lucky winners in a random market lottery, natural-born virtuosi Mozarts of the markets? In search of an answer, bestselling author Jack D. Schwager interviewed dozens of top traders across most financial markets. While their responses differed in the details, all of them could be boiled down to the same essential formula: solid methodology + proper mental attitude = trading success. In Market Wizards Schwager lets you…


Book cover of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Brad Schaeffer Author Of Life in the Pits: My Time as a Trader on the Rough-and-Tumble Exchange Floors

From my list on what makes commodities traders tick.

Why am I passionate about this?

After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1989 with an LAS degree in communications and a knack for artwork, I had no idea what I wanted to do. That was until my brother pulled me from my low-paid art job in Chicago to work as a clerk on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. I eventually became a trader on that same floor, as well as an oil and gas dealer in New York. Screaming and yelling in the trading pits while money moved back and forth with a shout and a hand signal I learned more about investing, trading, and human nature through osmosis than I ever could in an MBA course.

Brad's book list on what makes commodities traders tick

Brad Schaeffer Why did Brad love this book?

Of all the books about trading written over the decades, perhaps none is still so beloved, revered, and followed as this 1923 classic by journalist Edwin Lefèvre. Although technically a work of fiction, the book really is about the life and trading style of one of the greatest speculators of all time, Jesse Livermore (told under the guise of “Larry Livingston”).

What makes this book such a treasure is not just its fun prose, and interesting glimpse into what the process of investing in old exchanges and “bucket shops” was over a century ago, when ticker-tape and board boys with chalk and ladders were one’s only information about market prices, but also how the mind of one of the world’s greatest traders worked.

This book offers many gems of knowledge about trading—based upon the general principle that, although methods and technologies change, human nature does not and therefore “there is…

By Edwin Lefèvre,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Reminiscences of a Stock Operator as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is a fictionalized story based on the trading career of Jesse Livermore. It follows his journey from the age of 15 when he made his first $1,000 to becoming a Wall Street legend.


Book cover of The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes

Richard L. Weissman Author Of Trade Like a Casino

From my list on for trading like a casino.

Why am I passionate about this?

Richard L. Weissman is one of the world’s foremost authorities and thought leaders in the fields of derivatives, risk management and technical analysis. He is the author of two books: Mechanical Trading Systems: Pairing Trader Psychology with Technical Analysis (Wiley, 2004) and Trade Like a Casino: Find Your Edge, Manage Risk and Win Like the House (Wiley, 2011) which was a finalist for the 2012 Technical Analyst Book of the Year Award. Mr. Weissman has over thirty years experience as a derivatives trader and has provided training and consultation services to traders and risk managers at investment banks, hedge funds, energy, and agricultural companies for over twenty years. 

Richard's book list on for trading like a casino

Richard L. Weissman Why did Richard love this book?

Mark Douglas’ book focuses on practical tools and techniques to counter the gambling mentality that typifies speculative trading. He focuses on a more rational, math-based approach to participation in markets as a speculator. Although I was already a successful trader by the time I’d read Mark’s book, it reinforced that the tools and techniques I had developed to dampen emotionalism in the markets were sound.

By Mark Douglas,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Disciplined Trader as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The classic book that introduced the investment industry to the concept of trading psychology.

With rare insight based on his firsthand commodity trading experience, author Mark Douglas demonstrates how the mental matters that allow us function effectively in society are often psychological barriers in trading. After examining how we develop losing attitudes, this book prepares you for a thorough "mental housecleaning" of deeply rooted thought processes. And then it shows the reader how to develop and apply attitudes and behaviors that transcend psychological obstacles and lead to success.

The Disciplined Trader helps you join the elite few who have learned…


Book cover of Hedge Hogs: The Cowboy Traders Behind Wall Street's Largest Hedge Fund Disaster

Brad Schaeffer Author Of Life in the Pits: My Time as a Trader on the Rough-and-Tumble Exchange Floors

From my list on what makes commodities traders tick.

Why am I passionate about this?

After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1989 with an LAS degree in communications and a knack for artwork, I had no idea what I wanted to do. That was until my brother pulled me from my low-paid art job in Chicago to work as a clerk on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. I eventually became a trader on that same floor, as well as an oil and gas dealer in New York. Screaming and yelling in the trading pits while money moved back and forth with a shout and a hand signal I learned more about investing, trading, and human nature through osmosis than I ever could in an MBA course.

Brad's book list on what makes commodities traders tick

Brad Schaeffer Why did Brad love this book?

A relatively new arrival on the list, Dreyfuss’s diligently crafted book is the most in-depth look at one of Wall Street’s most spectacular, if lesser-known, collapses in 2006.

The book takes us through the rise of two forces in energy trading embarking on a collision course that would be the ruin of one and an immense windfall of the other. Amaranth hedge fund was an up-and-comer and darling of the hedge fund space. Boasting stellar returns on its several billion in capital, it was able to raise massive sums to hand over to its wunderkind energy trading guru, the Canadian Brian Hunter.

Hunter had set out to dethrone John Arnold at Centaurus (the former Enron whiz kid and youngest member of the Forbes 400) as the biggest energy derivatives trader on the Street. Hunter’s ego soon got him into trouble when a series of disastrous and massively overleveraged bets collapsed,…

By Barbara T. Dreyfuss,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Hedge Hogs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For readers of The Smartest Guys in the Room and When Genius Failed, the definitive take on Brian Hunter, John Arnold, Amaranth Advisors, and the largest hedge fund collapse in history

At its peak, hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC had more than $9 billion in assets. A few weeks later, it completely collapsed. The disaster was largely triggered by one man: thirty-two-year-old hotshot trader Brian Hunter. His high-risk bets on natural gas prices bankrupted his firm and destroyed his career, while John Arnold, his rival at competitor fund Centaurus, emerged as the highest-paid trader on Wall Street. Meticulously researched and…


Book cover of The Complete Guide to Option Pricing Formulas

Alain Ruttiens Author Of Mathematics of the Financial Markets: Financial Instruments and Derivatives Modelling, Valuation and Risk Issues

From my list on quantitative finance applied to financial markets.

Why am I passionate about this?

Having a master's degree in chemical engineering, I wasn't destined to work in the area of quantitative finance… the reason why I professionally moved to this discipline aren't worth exposing, but as a matter of fact, I've been quickly fascinated by this science, and encountered some of my favorites, such as maths and statistics, as used in the traditional activity of an engineer. And I had many opportunities of combining the knowledge and practice of financial markets with pragmatism, typically of the engineer’s education, i.e. oriented toward problem solving. In addition, I've always loved teaching, and writing books on financial markets & instruments, hence the importance I'm giving to pedagogy in professional books.

Alain's book list on quantitative finance applied to financial markets

Alain Ruttiens Why did Alain love this book?

The valuation of options has been the subject of numerous studies, papers, and books.

The originality of this one is that it is collecting the resulting formulae to be used in practice, and for each of them, proposing related Excel spreadsheets, and VBA coding (also with a CD included). All types of options are covered, from “vanilla” to “exotics”, on every kind of underlyings (from traditional ones up to commodities and energy).

It also develops calculation methods for the options “greeks” and volatility. But the book is not only such a catalog of formulae, these are assorted by useful comments about the best way to apply them, and their validity limits. Not surprisingly, this book is qualified as the “bible” of options valuation.

By Espen Gaarder Haug,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Complete Guide to Option Pricing Formulas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Long-established as a definitive resource by Wall Street professionals, The Complete Guide to Option Pricing Formulas has been revised and updated to reflect the realities of today's options markets. The Second Edition contains a complete listing of virtually every pricing formula_all presented in an easy-to-use dictionary format, with expert author commentary and ready-to-use programming code.

The Second Edition of this classic guide now includes more than 60 new option models and formulas...extensive tables providing an overview of all formulas...new examples and applications...and an updated CD containing all pricing formulas, with VBA code and ready-to-use Excel spreadsheets.

The volume also features…


Book cover of A Treatise on Money: Two Volumes Complete in One

Omar F. Hamouda Author Of Money, Investment and Consumption: Keynes's Macroeconomics Rethought

From my list on theoretical reads about money, credit, and debt.

Why am I passionate about this?

 I am a reader of primary texts. One can be dismayed by the number of followers’ easy reliance on secondary literature to create interpretations of their leader’s economic ideas about the sources of society’s well-being. Distortive alteration and the recycling of unfounded ideas about conflicting influential economists’ theories is actually counterproductive. Only scrutiny of an author’s work can reveal false assertions. I’m proposing four authors I’ve scrutinised to find out what they really thought about my main teaching interests: money and credit, and their impact on prices, and the manipulation of the volume of either/both to affect purchasing power. It has been astounding to learn what theory applications, distorting their intent, bear their name.

Omar's book list on theoretical reads about money, credit, and debt

Omar F. Hamouda Why did Omar love this book?

Most economists associate volume of money with price-level (inflation/deflation), not Keynes.

For him, a macro price-level does not reveal the unsynchronized dynamics affecting the prices of its components: commodities, labor, capital, raw materials, profits; it must be decomposed.

When FunCorp invests in a rollercoaster, its decision is based on present costs and future returns (ticket sales, performance, stock options, etc.).

Windfall profits will lead to more expansion; losses, to curtailed activity. Both expansion, contingent on easy credit, or recession, on the tightening of credit, depend on bankers’ use of individuals’ savings and their creation of more deposits.

For Keynes, an institutionalised banking system is essential for a modern economy but he advocated, in the public interest, for strict rules on bankers’ abuse of credit, to mitigate the inflation/deflation rollercoaster. 

By John Maynard Keynes,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Treatise on Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

2011 Reprint of 1930 American Edition. Two volumes Complete in One. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Volumes One and Two of Keynes' classic work published in a handy one volume format. Exact facsimile of the original Edition. Keynes had begun a theoretical work to examine the relationship between unemployment, money and prices back in the 1920s. The work, Treatise on Money, was published in 1930 in two volumes. We reproduce this two volume edition in one volume. A central idea of the work was that if the amount of money being saved exceeds…


Book cover of Red Seas Under Red Skies

Misty Massey Author Of Mad Kestrel

From my list on pirates who like a little magic in the mix.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up on the coast of South Carolina, where many of the Golden Age pirates were welcomed as business associates and charming guests by some of the most influential people of the day. They are, to this day, considered local heroes. I read everything I could lay hands on about them, fiction and histories, and I knew my first book would have to be about the pirate I always pretended I could be, if I’d only been born two hundred years ago.

Misty's book list on pirates who like a little magic in the mix

Misty Massey Why did Misty love this book?

If there’s anything I like as much as pirates, it’s heist stories. The excellent follow-up to the amazing Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas rang every one of my bells by taking our favorite thieving bastards Locke and Jean to sea, under the command of a strong, brilliant female captain, Zamira Drakasha. And she’s not just a woman pirate – she’s a middle-aged, Black single mother, running her ship and being the best pirate any denizen of the high seas could aspire to be. Lynch caught a good bit of flack for this character, but I was delighted. You will be, too.

By Scott Lynch,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Red Seas Under Red Skies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Escaping from the attentions of the Bondsmagi Locke Lamora, the estwhile Thorn of Camorr and Jean Tannen have fled their home city. Taking ship they arrive in the city state of Tal Varrar where they are soon planning their most spectacular heist yet; they will take the luxurious gaming house, The Sinspire, for all of its countless riches.

No-one has ever taken even a single coin from the Sinspire that wasn't won on the tables or in the other games of chance on offer there.

But, as ever, the path of true crime rarely runs smooth and Locke and Jean…


Book cover of Croupier

Cara Bertoia Author Of Casino Queen

From my list on true stories set in the casino industry.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up in a strait-laced Southern family, I was always fascinated with casinos. In my twenties on a summer hiatus from teaching in North Carolina, I drove to California and became a dealer at Caesars in Lake Tahoe. My mother highly disapproved of my working in a casino, "a place so bad it has 'sin' in the middle." Eventually, I returned east to take a hi-tech job in Boston. I also began working on my MFA in writing at Emerson. My characters were breathed into life from my years in the gambling industry. You learn a lot about the human personality when you watch thousands of people from behind the felt of a blackjack table.

Cara's book list on true stories set in the casino industry

Cara Bertoia Why did Cara love this book?

This is a book made from a screenplay that tells the story from behind the felt. As a croupier you can always tell if an author knows their stuff. Stepping behind the table as a dealer Jack Manfred a rejected author becomes enmeshed in his new job. He intends to write a novel about this fascinating world of casinos. As a writer myself I can relate to his need to tell his story. London dealers are considered the gold standard in the casino world. Their intense training thins the herd. I know because my husband learned to deal at an upscale London casino just like Jack. Ray also went to The Grecian Grill an all-night Greek restaurant in the West  End after his shift. That touch of authenticity gave Croupier my stamp of approval.

By Paul Mayersberg,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Croupier as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

You have to make a choice in life. Be a gambler or a croupier. Then live with your decision come what may.
It's all numbers, the croupier thought. A spin of the wheel. A turn of a card. The time of your life. The date of your birth. The year of your death. In the Book of Numbers the Lord said: "Thou shalt count thy steps."
A wave of elation came over him. He was hooked again. Watching people lose.
His existence was forming an interesting pattern of betrayals. Sometimes he was unsure whether he was the betrayer or the…


Book cover of Forgotten Man: How Circus Circus's Bill Bennett Brought Middle America to Las Vegas

Mark Bollman Author Of Basic Gambling Mathematics: The Numbers Behind the Neon

From my list on people who challenged Las Vegas.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been playing card games since childhood, and have had a parallel interest in the mathematics behind the games for nearly as long. While I didn’t visit Las Vegas in person until 2000, the stories of how that city was built around the gaming industry quickly came to fascinate me. Digging into the details of the people who have made that city what it is and have come to make their way in the desert has been a fascinating sidelight that has enhanced my recent work writing books on gambling mathematics.

Mark's book list on people who challenged Las Vegas

Mark Bollman Why did Mark love this book?

Forgotten Man is a natural follow-up to Grandissimo, as it tells the story of Bill Bennett, the casino executive who took over Circus Circus from Jay Sarno and built it into a successful resort catering to low-rolling visitors to Nevada. 

Bennett had a rocky start in the business world in Phoenix before moving into the gaming industry at Circus Circus, and his path to a successful career in casino management is told entirely through interviews with those who knew him and worked with him.

By Jack Sheehan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Forgotten Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When listing the top movers and shakersin the history of Las Vegas gaming,Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, and HowardHughes inevitably garner a mention.But such a list is incomplete without BillBennett - the Forgotten Man.While Wynn and other resort operatorscatered to high-rollers, Bennett focusedon middle-class Americans to fillhis hotel rooms and play his slot machines.He transformed Circus Circus from astruggling curiosity into the Strip's mostsuccessful resort.Forgotten Man, told through in-depthinterviews with family members, friends,employees, and others who knew Bennett,tells the story of a man who as much asanyone built modern Las Vegas.Bennett shared the lead with SteveWynn in reinventing the Strip during…


Book cover of Bad Blood

Nancy Brown Author Of Mr. Black: A Black Stone Series - Book 1

From my list on romantic thrillers to escape your busy life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a voracious reader who loves to escape my hectic busy life with a good book when I don’t have the opportunity to do so in person. I’m a sucker for a good love story with a little angst and mystery. I read all genres but sexy romantic thrillers are my absolute favorite. I love them so much I started writing my own sexy stories in this genre. It has become my passion. I currently have three published books, Mr. Black, Mr. Stone, and Mr. Bennett, books one, two, and three of A Black Stone Series. My fourth book, Luke, the first book in my new Cross Security series is scheduled for release later this year.

Nancy's book list on romantic thrillers to escape your busy life

Nancy Brown Why did Nancy love this book?

Bad Blood is edgy, fast-paced, and thoroughly entertaining. Cora Kenborn and Catherine Wiltcher create pure magic together, giving readers two characters whose hate-fueled lust heats up the pages while war and dissent brews around them. It’s a well-balanced storyline that flows perfectly. The romance and mafia elements played really well against each other. There was humor and action and fantastically written dialogue.

By Cora Kenborn, Catherine Wiltcher,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bad Blood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Cora Kenborn and Catherine Wiltcher comes Corrupt Gods, a brand new arranged marriage mafia duet.

A Santiago is a lesson in ruin.
A Carrera bleeds for revenge.

Thalia Santiago is the daughter of my enemy.
A beautiful rebel with a single cause.
Impulsive.
Fearless.
And ripe for her father’s undoing.

I recognized her the moment she stepped into my casino.
I watched her start the fires that burned her pretty fingers, and then I poured gasoline on the flames.
Now she’s in my debt, and her dues are a shiny gold ring and a vow of deception.

I’ll bend…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in casinos, risk management, and Las Vegas?

Casinos 28 books
Risk Management 30 books
Las Vegas 40 books