Books about Volatility from Amazon.com

Veteran options trader Dan Passarelli explains a new methodology for option trading and valuation based on the "greeks"--the five factors that influence an option's price. Using the greeks can lead to more accurate pricing information that will lead to trading opportunities. The "greeks" (Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega, Rho) are tools for measuring minute changes in an option's price based on corresponding changes in: interest rates, time to expiration, price changes in the underlying security, volatility, and dividends. In straightforward language and making use of charts and examples, Passarelli explains how to use the greeks to be a better options trader. With an introduction to option basics as well as chapters on all types of spreads, put-call parity and synthetic options, trading volatility and studying volatility charts, and advanced option trading, "Trading Option Greeks" holds pertinent new information on how more accurate pricing can drive profit..
Price: $33.85 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In Volatility Trading, Sinclair offers you a quantitative model for measuring volatility in order to gain an edge in your everyday option trading endeavors. With an accessible, straightforward approach. He guides traders through the basics of option pricing, volatility measurement, hedging, money management, and trade evaluation. In addition, Sinclair explains the often-overlooked psychological aspects of trading, revealing both how behavioral psychology can create market conditions traders can take advantage of-and how it can lead them astray. Psychological biases, he asserts, are probably the drivers behind most sources of edge available to a volatility trader.

Your goal, Sinclair explains, must be clearly defined and easily expressed-if you cannot explain it in one sentence, you probably aren't completely clear about what it is. The same applies to your statistical edge. If you do not know exactly what your edge is, you shouldn't trade. He shows how, in addition to the numerical evaluation of a potential trade, you should be able to identify and evaluate the reason why implied volatility is priced where it is, that is, why an edge exists. This means it is also necessary to be on top of recent news stories, sector trends, and behavioral psychology. Finally, Sinclair underscores why trades need to be sized correctly, which means that each trade is evaluated according to its projected return and risk in the overall context of your goals.

As the author concludes, while we also need to pay attention to seemingly mundane things like having good execution software, a comfortable office, and getting enough sleep, it is knowledge that is the ultimate source of edge. So, all else being equal, the trader with the greater knowledge will be the more successful. This book, and its companion CD-ROM, will provide that knowledge. The CD-ROM includes spreadsheets designed to help you forecast volatility and evaluate trades together with simulation engines..
Price: $35.35 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Options Playbook was created to demystify option trading and teach investors different option plays for all market conditions No confusing jargon. No unnecessary mumbo-jumbo. Just clear, easy-to-understand explanations of more than 30 of the most popular option strategies (or plays ) broken down into a play-by-play format including:

Play Name: Long Call, Short Call Spread, Iron Condor, etc.
The Setup: The goals and reasons to run each play
Who Should Run It: Rookies, Veterans or All-Stars, based on degree of difficulty
When To Run It: Describes each play as bullish, bearish or neutral
The Strategy: A detailed Overview of each strategy

The Options Playbook also features a "Rookie's Corner," which addresses common mistakes made by beginning options traders and suggests strategies to on how to "get your feet wet". There are also sections on implied volatility (explaining how it can be predictive of the future price movement of the underlying equity), basic option terms described in easy-to-understand language, a description of how time decay and a change in implied volatility will affect the trade after it s in place, and a basic description of the Greeks and how they measure certain variables that affect options pricing. You ll also find a variety of options trading tips for beginning and experienced traders throughout the guide.

Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. It is possible to lose more money than invested. (Although we like to think you'll be smart.) Before making any investment decisions, please read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options, available at: http://content.tradeking.com/wiki/display/tkservice/Characteristics+and+Risks
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Price: $30.25 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Praise for The Volatility Surface


"I'm thrilled by the appearance of Jim Gatheral's new book The Volatility Surface. The literature on stochastic volatility is vast, but difficult to penetrate and use. Gatheral's book, by contrast, is accessible and practical. It successfully charts a middle ground between specific examples and general models--achieving remarkable clarity without giving up sophistication, depth, or breadth."
--Robert V. Kohn, Professor of Mathematics and Chair, Mathematical Finance Committee, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University

"Concise yet comprehensive, equally attentive to both theory and phenomena, this book provides an unsurpassed account of the peculiarities of the implied volatility surface, its consequences for pricing and hedging, and the theories that struggle to explain it."
--Emanuel Derman, author of My Life as a Quant

"Jim Gatheral is the wiliest practitioner in the business. This very fine book is an outgrowth of the lecture notes prepared for one of the most popular classes at NYU's esteemed Courant Institute. The topics covered are at the forefront of research in mathematical finance and the author's treatment of them is simply the best available in this form."
--Peter Carr, PhD, head of Quantitative Financial Research, Bloomberg LP Director of the Masters Program in Mathematical Finance, New York University

"Jim Gatheral is an acknowledged master of advanced modeling for derivatives. In The Volatility Surface he reveals the secrets of dealing with the most important but most elusive of financial quantities, volatility."
--Paul Wilmott, author and mathematician

"As a teacher in the field of mathematical finance, I welcome Jim Gatheral's book as a significant development. Written by a Wall Street practitioner with extensive market and teaching experience, The Volatility Surface gives students access to a level of knowledge on derivatives which was not previously available. I strongly recommend it."
--Marco Avellaneda, Director, Division of Mathematical Finance Courant Institute, New York University

"Jim Gatheral could not have written a better book."
--Bruno Dupire, winner of the 2006 Wilmott Cutting Edge Research Award Quantitative Research, Bloomberg LP.
Price: $32.76 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Praise for Option Pricing Models & Volatility Using Excel-VBA

"Excel is already a great pedagogical tool for teaching option valuation and risk management. But the VBA routines in this book elevate Excel to an industrial-strength financial engineering toolbox. I have no doubt that it will become hugely successful as a reference for option traders and risk managers."
--Peter Christoffersen, Associate Professor of Finance, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University

"This book is filled with methodology and techniques on how to implement option pricing and volatility models in VBA. The book takes an in-depth look into how to implement the Heston and Heston and Nandi models and includes an entire chapter on parameter estimation, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone interested in derivatives should have this book in their personal library."
--Espen Gaarder Haug, option trader, philosopher, nd author of Derivatives Models on Models

"I am impressed. This is an important book because it is the first book to cover the modern generation of option models, including stochastic volatility and GARCH."
--Steven L. Heston, Assistant Professor of Finance, R.H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.
Price: $55.05 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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..
Price: $29.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Options traders make money any time the market moves, no matter whether it goes up or down. Now, with this primer created from Natenberg's bestselling video course, Mastering Option Trading Volatility Strategies, it has never been easier for traders to gain a powerful understanding of the potential of volatility trading strategies. Since the inception of options only a few decades ago, many have sought to harness the key element of options trading volatility. No one is more synonymous with volatility trading strategies than Sheldon Natenberg. Renowned for his influence on nearly every option trader through his classic work, Option Volatility and Pricing, this legend in trading success is in great demand for his ability to harness market forces through his calculated approach to trading. Now, in a groundbreaking new approach, Natenberg personally guides you through the key elements of option valuation and volatility trading strategies. Written in an amazingly accessible style, Option Volatility Trading Strategies puts this Traders Hall of Fame Award recipient right next to you as he untangles the complexity of pricing models and trading strategies and puts them in your hands. This guide levels the field for anyone trading options or interested in trading options by showing: · An understandable explanation of the Black-Scholes pricing model · Why theoretical pricing is the most important tool for any option trader · How to understand probability and why it is a key element in valuing options · One of the most simplistic explanations of valuation from the most respected source · How to calculate weekly and monthly volatility and why you need it to make money in options · Easy-to-understand definitions of the four types of volatility: future, historical, forecast, and implied. You will feel like you are next to a trading icon who is breaking down some of the most complex concepts of option trading and giving them to you to make money in your everyday trading. You ll finish this book with those new ideas you so urgently need to best position your portfolio. Better yet, you ll be armed against those common pitfalls in option trading that can hold back your trading momentum and narrow those critic.
Price: $15.25 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Market Volatility proposes an innovative theory, backed by substantial statistical evidence, on the causes of price fluctuations in speculative markets. It challenges the standard efficient-markets model for explaining asset prices by emphasizing the significant role that popular opinion or psychology can play in price volatility.

Offering detailed analyses of the stock, the bond, and the real estate markets, Shiller discusses the relations of these speculative prices and extends the analysis of speculative markets to macroeconomic activity in general.

Robert J. Shiller is Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics at the Cowles Foundation, Yale University..
Price: $32.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]