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Traders and investors everywhere are spooked by volatility whenever it rears its head. We hear about it every time stocks take a tumble, even if that doesn't happen so much these days. So the Investopedia definition I'll show you is probably the last thing they're thinking of.
"Volatility: A statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. Commonly, [emphasis mine] the higher the volatility, the riskier the security."
Now, that doesn't sound so scary, does it?
Volatility is nothing more than a statistical tool that shows how much a stock goes up or down. Yet many see volatility as a bad thing, because they equate it to risk. And risk is bad for us, right?
Well, sometimes risk is bad. But to the smart investor, volatility is a difference maker. Because without it, you might as well just buy a CD. More importantly, you have zero chance of beating the market. And where's the fun in that?
That's right: Without volatility, you don't beat the market.
That's why one of my 10 Trading Commandments is "Volatility is a trader's best friend!"
About the Author
Chris Johnson is a highly regarded equity and options analyst who has spent much of his nearly 30-year market career designing and interpreting complex models to help investment firms transform millions of data points into impressive gains for clients.
At heart Chris is a quant - like the "rocket scientists" of investing - with a specialty in applying advanced mathematics like stochastic calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and statistics to Wall Street's data-rich environment.
He began building his proprietary models in 1998, analyzing about 2,000 records per day. Today, that database, which Chris designed and coded from scratch, analyzes a staggering 700,000 records per day. It's the secret behind his track record.
Chris holds degrees in finance, statistics, and accounting. He worked as a licensed broker for 11 years before taking on the role of Director of Quantitative Analysis at a big-name equity and options research firm for eight years. He recently served as Director of Research of a Cleveland-based investment firm responsible for hundreds of millions in AUM. He is also the Founder/CIO of ETF Advisory Research Partners since 2007, noted for its groundbreaking work in Behavioral Valuation systems. Their research is widely read by leaders in the RIA business.
Chris is ranked in the top 99.3% of financial bloggers and top 98.6% of overall experts by TipRanks, the track record registry of financial analysts dating back to January 2009.
He is a frequent commentator on financial markets for CNBC, Fox, Bloomberg TV, and CBS Radio and has been featured in Barron's, USA Today, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal, and numerous books.
Today, Chris is the editor of Night Trader, Strikepoint Trader and Straight-Up Profits. He also contributes to Money Morning as the Quant Analysis Specialist.
Thanks Chris!
I'm game. Will let you know how it works out!! Curious- what happens if I look at the 100 Day moving average? Is it too stable for 'short term?'
Thanking you for any perspectives on how to read the Markets!
much, Marlin M