Unlike most books on derivative products, Options Explained 2 is a practical guide, covering theoretical concepts only where they are essential to applying options on a wide variety of assets. Written with the emphasis on a practical, straightforward approach, Options Explained succeeds in demystifying what has traditionally been treated as a highly complex product. The second edition also includes over 100 pages of new material, with sections on exotic options, worldwide accounting practices and issues in volatility estimation.

"The conference was organized by the three editors of this book and took place on August 15-16, 2012 in Seattle."--Preface.

This easy-to-understand guide will serve as a reference manual for option traders in today's commodity markets. Whether you're an experienced investor looking for a new opportunity or just a beginner looking to increase knowledge, the Option Trader's Playbook is a must have. Why are options markets becoming so popular with investors? There are two reasons for option popularity: the potential for unlimited profits with limited risk. In fact, the risk in a long option is limited to the amount of the original investment plus commissions. In other words, you can't lose more than the amount you paid for the option. The downside to the rise in option trading is the flood of so-called option strategy books. Most of these books include strategies that are so complicated, even some brokers can't understand them. Though it is true that education in investment strategies is essential in order to reduce risk and increase profit, our philosophy is the simpler the better.

Commodities have become an important component of many investors' portfolios and the focus of much political controversy over the past decade. This book utilizes structural models to provide a better understanding of how commodities' prices behave and what drives them. It exploits differences across commodities and examines a variety of predictions of the models to identify where they work and where they fail. The findings of the analysis are useful to scholars, traders and policy makers who want to better understand often puzzling - and extreme - movements in the prices of commodities from aluminium to oil to soybeans to zinc.