<t>You are correct that a PHD in particle physics is a bit of overkill for options market making. The truth is that options market making is still a relatively insular community. When I got into this business well over a decade ago, the ONLY place to learn the ropes and become an options market make...

At the end of the day, I still think Natenberg is the best. His books aren't exactly exciting reads, but they get the job done. Just about everyone in the options biz these days cut their teeth on "Options Volatility and Pricing" by Natenberg. It's the bible. A very dry, boring bible...

<r>If you've only got $2000 bucks to "fool around with", then you might want to stay clear of the forex market. Unless you have a strong understanding of currencies, and the elaborate system of crosses and triple crosses that makes up the forex world, then this is not the best starting point for ret...

<t>Risk management is possible, but it faces significant challenges in the OTC marketplace. The primary obstacle is the fact that there is no listed, liquid market that you can access for many of the products. If you need to liquidate a position, you are forced to rely on the small cabal of firms th...

<t>If you surf at work, you have to assume that IT is watching. If you always operate that way, you will be safe. Save the shopping, "objectionable" surfing & bizarre personal emails for home. Many IT departments also watch IM messages these days, so it's best to assume that there are no safe ou...

<r>There are quite a few places to find free online paper trading with options:<URL url="http://www.optionseducation.org">www.optionseducation.org</URL> - their paper trading should be up soon if it isn't up alreadyMost online brokerages also offer paper trading, although they usually require you to...

Well, if you want basic, the try Natenberg's Options Volatility & Pricing. That's the book that most pros started out reading before moving on to other, more advanced texts. It has been some time since I've read it, but I don't remember the book being very formula heavy. Hope that helps.

Options House just added mock trading functionality to their system. I believe they even let you participate in the mock trading without having to fund an account first. If you want to try your hands at options without having to commit money to an account, then this is probably the way to go.

That's an interesting question. I'll post it to the members on our site and see if they have any answers for you.

Stay out of the Tribecca area. You are competing with foreign money that is taking advantage of the weak dollar to leverage their buying power. Stick with Queens, Brooklyn or even across the river in Jersey.

<r>I just ran into someone at a conference who worked for a company that claims to have solved this issue. Let me dig through my stack of business cards here and see if I can find them for you....one sec....talk amongst yourselves....hmmmm...I think this is it:Logical Information Machines - <URL url...

Wasn't there a great deal of noise a few months ago that a Mexicon telecom billionaire had usurped Gates at the top of the list? Now the official list is out and I don't even see his name in the top 20. Strange indeed.....

<t>I concur with DaveAngel on this one. Regardless of the type of option in question, most pricing models break down as expiration approaches. With one day to go, most models will be practically useless unless you are only looking for ballpark estimates. I can't tell you how much time I've spent str...

<t>In terms of the availability raw data, I've always preferred Bloomberg. I've never had a problem finding what I need rapidly on Bloomberg, while I have had that problem with Reuters. Perhaps that's just because I find the Bloomberg interface far more useful and intuitive. However, Avatar raises a...

Buffet is an interesting character. He constantly refers to derivatives as "weapons of financial mass destruction." However, he is more than willing to use them to leverage his equity portfolio or, in this case, to profit from the damage left in their wake.