Profiting with Iron Condor Options: Strategies from the Frontline for Trading in Up or Down Markets

by Michael Benklifa

In a straightforward approach, Hanania Benklifa provides readers the practical knowledge needed to trade options conservatively in "Profiting with Iron Condor Options: Strategies from the Frontline for Trading in Up or Down Markets." The objectives are simple: make 2%-4% a month staying in the market as little as possible. Market experts use option condors to consistently earn monthly returns while trading conservatively and staying in the market as little as possible. Benklifa--who manages $10+ million in condor trades each month--shows you exactly how to run these trades and earn these returns, delivering all the details you need to master every nuance of this remarkable strategy. Benklifa shares option condors examples using market realities, not oversimplified abstractions. You ll learn how to handle real-life market dynamics that can dramatically impact results, including rising and falling volatility, changing bid-ask spreads, and distorted call parity. You ll learn how to profit in the sideways markets where condor options are most widely used--and "also" in extreme-trending markets that offer their own surprising opportunities. Traders who focus on a specific type of trade have a history of outperforming stock pickers and directional investors. This book will give you that deep and usable level of knowledge about one of today s most well-proven strategies: "option condors." "

Genres: Economics

179 pages, Hardcover

First published January 18, 2011

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good book for everyone who is interested in trading options, specifically Iron Condors and generate money every month. The book is fairly detailed in setting up a trade and its management. However, it also expects you already have a fair basic knowledge about options. If you don't you may be confused.

[Rainer Huebl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technically a very correct and in-depth book on selling Iron Condors (especially on SPX). There are enough mistakes in this book to lose at least one star. Also, the book is now very outdated. You need to be a fairly high level options trader to even start to read this book; newbies and novices best steer clear of this book due to it's advanced technical language. As I said, it is outdated and the errors in the book are frustrating, but the theory is sound and timeless. Purchase this book for the theory; ignore the charts and examples.

[Y T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great explanation on what iron condors are, the selection process, and dangers to watch out for.

Through this book, I’ve learnt to select iron condors with 10 delta, up to 2 months out. How the trade turns out depends on your management of it along the way.

Unfortunately for us being not in the same time zone, it makes it a little hard to actively manage such trades through the day.

Nevertheless, still a highly recommended read for anyone interested to learn about iron condors and how to trade them.

[Eduardo Guimaraes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information

This book gives you a good set of rules in order to increase your chances to be a profitable trader using this strategy. It is worth reading but do not give you any magic formula. Trading is always risky and you have to be aware of that.

[Steven Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Without parallel as the best guide to trading my favourite Big Bird.
An update would be nice with the Authors latest opinions.

[Jose Batista · Rating 4 out of 5]

To the point

A good and era readable book that actually describes a trading approach without the unnecessary fluff that usually is employed to reach the target word count.

[Venkata Sarige · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

Detailed description of iron condor and risk vs reward . Worth reading. Great job. You need to have some basics of options .

[Iami Menotu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers the basics

[Vendy Adi Saputra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically, this book teaches 2 strategies on how to make profits in the American options market. The first way is to trade iron condor options that are at least 50 days old. Where there are certain conditions that must be met before entering a position into the market (delta must be below 12, VIX slightly increased, etc.). The author claimed that this strategy can generate income up to 60% a year. The result is quite big, because it is equivalent to Jim Simmons' income every year. The second method is to place an iron condor exactly 1 day before or after the company's earnings announcement day.

What i like from this book is that the author explains some study cases based on his experience in the past about how he managed to trade during certain situations. Some of the example he brings such as 2008 market crash and 2009 strong bull market that usually will be a huge challenge for iron condor options strategy.

[Phil Toop · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book with a good background on options pricing and volatility, and a number of examples of trades to show what can happen in all situations (when the trade goes right and when it goes wrong).
I enjoyed some points he made regarding trading what is in front of you and not pretending that you or anyone can predict short term market movements.
It was a little disappointing to find a few errors that were not picked up in editing (I have found this with a number of books covering option strategies).

[Michael Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

While most options books only discuss the basics of each strategy, this one digs in and provides some new ideas, principally the idea of selling an iron condor a month earlier than usual, and instead of letting it expire, earn only about half of the premium and buy it back before expiration. Plenty of examples.

[Kristiyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books offers basic examples on how the author made money on the iron condor trades, but that was relevant a few years ago. Its is much harder to find such opportunity now.

[John Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

loaded with useful strategies.