By Wendy Newton

As a share investor, you know all about buying shares - you're careful about what goes into your portfolio. Like most share investors, you know how to buy when the market is rising. However, sharemarkets move in three directions: up, down and sideways. What do you do when themarket is falling? What about when the share price has stalled? There are times when it's smarter to use the market movement, or lack of it, to your advantage.

Equity options are one of the most flexible tools for trading the sharemarket and improving your returns. Options allow you to gain extra income, diversity your portfolio and profit from price moves without even having any share ownership - and all for a fraction of the cost of investing in the shares themselves. Expert Wendy Newton, in Options for Equity Investors, gives a clear, step-by-step introduction to trading which will help you reap the benefits that options can provide.

Wendy Newton is a former commodity futures broker, private trader and lecturer with over 15 years' experience. As a senior manager with the Australian Stock Exchange she was responsible for the national education, marketing, and Accredited Derivatives Adviser programs for nine years, educating over 10,000 private traders and brokers in the use of derivatives. Her high industry profile and derivatives expertise has earned her a place in Who's Who in the World. Wendy now consults to the industry and is a regular lecturer for the Securities Institute of Australia.

Published: 2002