Book excerpt: Navigate options markets and bring in the profits Thinking about trading options, but not sure where to start? This new edition of Trading Options For Dummies starts you at the beginning, explaining the common types of options available for trading and helps you choose the right ones for your investing needs. You'll find out how to weigh option costs and benefits, combine options to reduce risk, build a strategy that allows you to gain no matter the market conditions, broaden your retirement portfolio with index, equity, and ETF options, and so much more. Options are contracts giving the purchaser the right to buy or sell a security, such as stocks, at a fixed price within a specific period of time. Because options cost less than stock, they are a versatile trading instrument, while providing a high leverage approach to trading that can limit the overall risk of a trade or provide additional income. If you're an investor with some general knowledge of trading but want a better understanding of risk factors, new techniques, and an overall improved profit outcome, Trading Options For Dummies is for you. Helps you determine and manage your risk, guard your assets using options, protect your rights, and satisfy your contract obligations Provides expert insight on combining options to limit your position risk Offers step-by-step instruction on ways to capitalize on sideways movements Covers what you need to know about options contract specifications and mechanics Trading options can be a great way to manage your risk, and this hands-on, friendly guide gives you the trusted and expert help you need to succeed.