Retail Options Trading Book, by Andrew Mack & Euan Sinclair

My Review & Short Summary

I usually don’t write negative reviews here on my site. If I read a book that I didn’t think was worth talking about, I normally just move on to the next book, that’s why most of my reviews here are positive or at least not too negative. But this book was a bit of a let down for me.

Retail Options Trading was written by Andrew Mack, a professional sports bettor and quantitative trader. Euan Sinclair is also listed as an author, but it's hard to say who did much of the writing, I’m not too sure. Euan Sinclair has 2 other books that are, in my opinion, some of the best options trading books available. So I was surprised that this book wasn’t really that good.

See: Positional Options Trading, by Euan Sinclair

I’m a fan of Euan Sinclair, anytime I see that he’s on a podcast or interview that I haven’t seen before, I make sure to watch it. But this book just didn’t do it for me. 

The book seems more geared for beginner options traders, but includes so many formulas that I don’t think a beginner option trader will even try to understand them.

Retail Options Trading is a strong mix of beginner options information and very complex calculations. Half way through the book it’s still hard to tell if the book was meant for newer readers or advanced options traders. After explaining how to calculate the rolling 10-day Z-score of the VIX, the book spends the next few pages explaining what a long call and a short call are. If you're an intermediate options trader you will skim through most of the book. 

I picked up a couple good quotes from the book and few little tidbits of information, but not really anything new or interesting. This book reads more like if I went to ChatGPT and typed in “hey ChatGPT, write me a book about Options, include many unnecessary formulas and side stories. Do not have any flow or goal to the book”.

If you’re looking for a good retail options trader book, I’d recommend any of these books: