The Volatility Course - Hardcover

Fontanills, George A.; Gentile, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471398160 ISBN 13: 9780471398165

Publisher: Wiley, 2002

Synopsis

It takes a special set of trading skills to thrive in today's intensely volatile markets, where point swings of plus or minus 200 points can occur on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. The Volatility Course arms stock and options traders with those skills. George Fontanills and Tom Gentile provide readers with a deeper understanding of market volatility and the forces that drive it. They develop a comprehensive road map detailing how to identify its ups and downs. And they describe proven strategies and tools for quantifying volatility and confidently developing plans tailored to virtually any given market condition. The companion workbook provides step-by-step exercises to help you master the strategies outlined in The Volatility Course before putting them into action in the markets.

About this title

About the Author

GEORGE A. FONTANILLS heads Pinnacle Investments of America, Inc., a hedge fund and money management company (www.piafunds.com). Pinnacle has recorded amazing returns for its investors with high-profit, low-risk trading strategies. For many years, Fontanills has been teaching the Optionetics seminar-one of the best attended courses in the world of finance-and spearheading the publication and dissemination of his strategies on Optionetics.com, a free Web site. Prior to Pinnacle, he was a principal at the American Stock Exchange. Fontanills has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Red Herring, and appears on Bloomberg, CNNfn, and CNBC. His bestselling books include Trade Options Online, The Options Course, and The Stock Market Course (co-written with Tom Gentile), all published by Wiley.

TOM GENTILE is Chief Options Strategist for Optionetics and is featured in numerous publications including Fortune, Barron's, and The Wall Street Journal. As George Fontanills's trading partner and co-instructor at Optionetics seminars, Gentile's passion for managed risk trading and straightforward style have added to his critical acclaim as one of the best trading instructors in the country.

From the Back Cover

Do you want to learn how to trade successfully in every market environment? If so, you have picked up the right book. The Volatility Course is designed to help you integrate the use of volatility in your trading approach-which will help you to become a more successful trader.

But in order to understand volatility, it is essential to grasp the basics of investing, which is why The Volatility Course first provides a comprehensive review of stock market basics, including equities, indexes, exchange-traded funds, price quotes and charts, and, most importantly, options.

Through expert advice and in-depth examples, this book:

• Explains what market volatility is and how to quantify it
• Focuses specifically on stock and options volatility and their corresponding strategies
• Provides a road map detailing how to identify the ups and downs of market volatility
• Describes the strategies that work best in high and low volatility markets

Filled with tips and techniques from renowned traders George Fontanills and Tom Gentile, The Volatility Course will help you understand the different types of volatility, how to measure and anticipate changes in volatility, and how to adapt your trading strategies to excel in prevailing market conditions. With The Volatility Course as your guide, you no longer have to wait for the right market conditions to trade successfully, because you'll know how to trade under any market condition.

From the Inside Flap

As a trader or investor, you want to make money regardless of market conditions. Unfortunately, most techniques available won't allow you to do this. That is why George Fontanills, one of the world's most respected traders, and his partner Tom Gentile have written The Volatility Course. This unique book will teach you the secrets of market volatility and show you how to use it to attain financial success during periods of extreme market turbulence, when the market appears to be moving nowhere, and anytime in between.

When speaking in terms of trading and investments, volatility is a word few like to hear. But if understood and used properly, volatility is a market tool that can increase your profits and reduce risks. This book focuses on the relationship of volatility within the stock market. The Volatility Course first introduces you to the basics of the stock market-equities, indexes, exchange-traded funds, interpreting price quotes, price charts, and, most importantly, options-and quickly moves on to demystify volatility.

Through expert advice and in-depth examples, this book examines and explains every aspect of volatility and the important role of options within this framework. Topics covered include:

• Historical volatility and implied volatility
• The world of stock options
• VIX and other sentiment indicators
• The volatility of option premiums
• And much more

Once you have mastered the concept of volatility and have learned how to accurately identify current market conditions, The Volatility Course gives you the strategies and guidance to trade under a variety of situations. You'll learn how to use protective puts, debit spreads, ratio backspreads, and straddles in a low-volatility environment as well as how to use tactics such as the covered call and butterfly spreads in a high-volatility environment. You'll also learn how to take advantage of price and time volatility skews by applying options strategies that capture price disparities between different options on the same stock.

The Volatility Course provides you with all the information you need to successfully trade volatility. By identifying some of the daily risks traders face and arming you with an arsenal of trading tools to assure your survival in any market environment, this book will enable you to find terrific trading opportunities.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471398160
• ISBN 13: 9780471398165
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304