While many people have a direct exposure to the stock market, how many have used traded options and futures markets?
It seems to be too complicated to trade options for the most of the traders. But, they can give you uniquie opportunities, allowing to adopt tactics wich are not possible in the stock market. To my mind, it is better to know how to use different market instruments rather than just one. If you have an idea related to stocks, options will give you more ways to apply it.
I agree - many see them as a way to speculate but they can also offer a useful insurance policy and a way to squeeze extra money out of existing holdings.
To answer the OP's question, I trade options... but conservatively. Selling covered calls over the years has provided extra income. I have infrequently sold cash-covered puts to generate a bit of income, so long as I don't mind owning the stock. My thinking on what i do? So long as the annualized rste of return--the XIRR() spreadsheet function--is a decent percentage, I'll make the trade. Books on options trading? I recommend the Wiley book "Getting Started in Options" -- http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470480033.html -- by Michael C Thomsett. (Thomsett has written more than 75 books -- https://www.google.com/search?q=michael+c+thomsett+books -- on investing, finance and real estate.) I'll periodically reread the tome as a refresher; the detailed index facilitates using the book as a reference. There is a For Dummies book -- http://www.dummies.com/store/produc...dition.productCd-1119363705,navId-322436.html2 -- that should be decent too, but I haven't bought or read it. I prefer to shop in the brick-and-mortar bookstore chains so I can browse a table of contents and see if I like the author's writing style. The store prices are less than the publishers' suggested retail prices. I like having a print book in my hands to highlight key points or insert several bookmarks, but ebooks are available for a lesser price.
There is an interesting post on the following Tesla thread regarding covered calls and making money from recent volatility:- https://www.bullmarketboard.com/threads/is-tesla-tsla-in-trouble.17205/page-25#post-69150