Long-term Equity AnticiPation Securities (LEAPS) were first introduced by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in late 1990. Since then, trading in LEAPS has grown substantially, both in terms of contract scope and trading volume. In its first year of trading, LEAPS had a volume of 625,000. By 1999, trading volume had increased 1,920 percent to 12.4 million, with over 19 billion dollars in trading value. In response to this growing phenomenon, Irwin published the classic LEAPS: What They Are and How to Use Them for Profit and Protection by Harrison Roth in 1994. To date, this is the only book on LEAPS and it has quietly sold over 18,000 copies, translating into about 540,000 dollars in revenue. Since 1994, much has changed in the area of LEAPS with the onset of new investment vehicles such as exchange-traded funds. While the Roth book is mostly based on theory, this book, Understanding LEAPS: How to Use the Most Effective Options Strategies for Maximum Advantage takes a much more practical, hands-on approach and is based on years of hard data and trading experience to really see what works now and what doesn't. This book is a comprehensive, up-to-date guide to understanding and using LEAPS. Like a conventional equity option, a LEAP gives the owner the right to buy or sell an individual stock or an underlying basket of stocks at or within a given time at a pre-specified price. In essence, LEAPS are longer-term stock or index options. What this book does is explain what a LEAP is, what the differences between options and LEAPS are, and how to best use LEAPS. It provides investors with the best option strategies for trading and investing LEAPS and shows them when to use those particular strategies for maximum advantage. Understanding LEAPS not only provides essential strategies and techniques, it introduces new material that has never been covered before. With a whole section on index LEAPS, this book provides the most up-to-date strategies for the newest option products, including exchange-traded funds. This valuable guide also provides: A review of the basic concepts of options and LEAPS; Optimal strategies with practical examples for implementation; Additional techniques that are unique only to LEAPS; The underlying theories and principles of how options and LEAPS work; Whether you're an intelligent investor who has never traded options before or a seasoned professionals, with Understanding LEAPS, you will learn how LEAPS can increase capital, limit losses, and protect profits.
