The Volatility Course Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Master The Volatility Course [Paperback]

George A. Fontanills (Author), Tom Gentile (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wiley Trading | Publication Date: October 11, 2002

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.

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

In The Volatility Course, renowned trader George Fontanills and his partner Tom Gentile provided stock and options traders with all the information they need to trade volatility-by arming them with an arsenal of different tools to use in any market condition. But to become a successful volatility trader, you have to know how to effectively apply this knowledge and when to utilize these tools in real-world trading situations.

In The Volatility Course Workbook, Fontanills and Gentile offer a wealth of practical exercises that will help further your understanding of volatility, as well as test and apply what you've learned before you take one step into the real markets-where time and money is a luxury you cannot afford to lose. This hands-on companion to The Volatility Course includes a complete answer key and covers such essentials as implied and historical volatility, VIX and other sentiment indicators, high- and low-volatility trading strategies, volatility skews, and much more.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471398179
• ISBN-13: 978-0471398172
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #695,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't deliver the goods, December 3, 2003

By 

Adi Gilad (Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Volatility Course (Hardcover)

Readers would buy this book assuming that they will be able to master the concept of volatility, and use it in their options trading, but this is far from being the case.
One would expect a book that deals with an advanced concept such as volatility, to take it as a given that the readers are already familiar with all the basics such as "an option gives the buyer the RIGHT not the OBLIGATION" etc.I estimate that about 2/3 of the book deals with such beginner stuff.
On top of that, the authors don't even try to conceal that their primary purpose in writing the book is to deliver traffic to their premium web service.
I did learn a few things about volatility, but I was left with the feeling that I was tricked

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Basic review, February 27, 2006

By 

Open Book (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Volatility Course Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Master The Volatility Course (Paperback)

The book was too basic and gives novices enough information to hurt themselves in the real market.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, February 14, 2007

By 

Mr. Justin Lake (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Volatility Course (Hardcover)

If you have done the optionetics course or read the Options Course then you will love this book. It only covers a few chapters on Volatility, which I would have liked there to be more, however, there were a number of chapters on practical ways to trade it. I particularly liked some of the indicators to trade volatility such as bollinger bands and ATR. Overall a good read and a clear, understandable approach to help improve you as an options trader. Its probably worth a second read, as its full of a lot of great information.