Foreign Exchange Option Pricing: A Practitioners Guide (The Wiley Finance Series) [Hardcover]

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2011 | Series: The Wiley Finance Series

This book covers foreign exchange options from the point of view of the finance practitioner. It contains everything a quant or trader working in a bank or hedge fund would need to know about the mathematics of foreign exchange—not just the theoretical mathematics covered in other books but also comprehensive coverage of implementation, pricing and calibration.  

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A real practioner's book April 13, 2011

By M. Carreira

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I traded BRLUSD options for 5 years, and Iain's book is the only book that covers all the different aspects of trading and modelling FX options:
Different delta conventions
Market strangles, and how to fit your interpolating function to the traded strikes
Realistic interpolations for volatility surface construction
Local volatility in FX
Local Stochastic Volatility Models
Longdated FX Options
Also covered are the different issues and approaches of implementing the models, like Monte Carlo and PDEs; and a good discussion of barrier bending and exotics.
The focus is on presenting the methods and formulas, not proving theorems; even so, traders should not treat it as only a formula depository, there's real depth behind it.
Highly recommended for anyone trading or modelling FX options.

Trading Options at Expiration: Strategies and Models for Winning the Endgame [Hardcover]

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0135058724 | ISBN-13: 978-0135058725 | Edition: 1

 Equity and index options expire on the third Friday of each month. As that moment approaches, unusual market forces create option price distortions, rarely understood by most investors. These distortions give rise to outstanding trading opportunities with enormous profit potential. In Trading Options at Expiration: Strategies and Models for Winning the Endgame, leading options trader Jeff Augen explores this extraordinary opportunity with never-before published statistical models, minute-by-minute pricing analysis, and optimized trading strategies that regularly deliver returns of 40%-300% per trade.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jeff Augen, currently a private investor and writer, has spent over a decade building a unique intellectual property portfolio of databases, algorithms, and associated software for technical analysis of derivatives prices. His work, which includes more than a million lines of computer code, is particularly focused on the identification of subtle anomalies and price distortions.

Augen has a 25-year history in information technology. As a cofounding executive of IBM’s Life Sciences Computing business, he defined a growth strategy that resulted in $1.2 billion of new revenue and managed a large portfolio of venture capital investments. From 2002 to 2005, Augen was President and CEO of TurboWorx Inc., a technical computing software company founded by the chairman of the Department of Computer Science at Yale University. He is the author of three previous books: The Option Trader’s Workbook (FT Press 2008), The Volatility Edge in Options Trading (FT Press 2008) and Bioinformatics in the Post-Genomic Era(Addison-Wesley 2005).

Much of his current work on option pricing is built around algorithms for predicting molecular structures that he developed many years ago as a graduate student in biochemistry.

Trading Options in Turbulent Markets: Master Uncertainty Through Active Volatility Management (Bloomberg Financial)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2010 | Series: Bloomberg Financial (Book 98)

A thoughtful presentation of options trading and pricing which discusses the impact of volatility in the processTrading Options in Turbulent Markets reveals how volatility in options trading relates to today's stormy marketplace and shows you how to manage risk and take advantage of market volatility when investing in derivatives. In this book, options expert Larry Shover skillfully addresses how to use historical volatility to predict future volatility for a security, or the implied volatility, and offers suggestions for dealing with that odd feature of options trading known as skew.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Investors and traders face an economic landscape marked by uncertainty, crisis, and stress that has generated soaring volatility. But options can actually turn that turbulence to a profit-making advantage. In this book, Shover covers the essential concepts of market volatility and its effects on options. He shows how to shape and optimize trades through practical option strategies that deliver both yield enhancement and downside protection. Light on math, the book instead emphasizes an understanding of the concepts to use options effectively.
Using real-life examples and anecdotes from his experience as a trader and teacher, Shover fully engages readers in learning about options trading.

Currency Strategy: The Practitioner's Guide to Currency Investing, Hedging and Forecasting (The Wiley Finance Series)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0470027592 | ISBN-13: 978-0470027592 | Edition: 2

Currency Strategy, Second Edition develops new techniques and explains classic tools available for predicting, managing, and optimizing fluctuations in the currency markets. Author Callum Henderson shows readers ho to use mathematical models to assist in the prediction of crises and gives practical advice on how to use these and other tools successfully.Given there such huge focus on China at the moment, the timing of this new edition is particularly important. The new edition will feature a thorough update on the key developments in the past 3 years, new chapters on emerging markets, an in-depth review of the markets of China and India and their currencies and much more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Rapid movements in currency markets have been a common feature of recent years, often to the detriment of traders and investors. The ability to predict the collapse of a currency is essential to safe and successful investment in these markets. Ultimately in such a crisis there are no firm rules that can help the practitioner, who needs to rely on quick wits and a masterly command of all the tools at their disposal.

Currency Strategy outlines the key tools available to practitioners in the field, their benefits and limitations, and discusses fundamental analysis, technical analysis, behavioural finance, flows and the authors own modelling techniques for the prediction of a currency crisis. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Following the success of the first edition, this second edition includes important new material: a Preface to the Second Edition, additional sections for Chapters 7, 8 and 9 on the Real World of the Currency Market Practitioner, and a new Chapter 11 – Emerging World: New Growth Markets for Global FX.

The global foreign exchange market continues to go from strength to strength, defying those who predicted its demise after the launch of the Euro. However, within this, new Emerging Markets show the greatest potential for growth. This second edition examines in detail the very latest trends in this field, providing important insights for currency market practitioners on regions such as Asia, which may hold the key to the market’s development in years to come.

John Maynard Keynes’ reference to the ‘animal spirits’, that elemental force which drives financial markets in herd-like fashion, was applied to the stock market. However, he might as well have been referring to the currency market, for the term sums up no other more perfectly. A market that is volatile and unpredictable, a market that epitomizes such a concept as the ‘animal spirits’, surely requires a very specific discipline by which to study it.
This is precisely what Callum Henderson does in this eminently practical and readable book. He provides an analytical framework for currency analysis and forecasting, combining long-term economic valuation models with market-based valuation techniques to produce a more accurate and use-friendly analytical tool for the currency market practitioners themselves.

Foreign Exchange Risk: Models, Instruments and Strategies [Paperback]

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 2002 | ISBN-10: 1899332375 | ISBN-13: 978-1899332373

This title provides all the essential quantitative tools for foreign exchange options in an understandable and logical manner. It covers the financial management of foreign exchange risk together with analysis of different methods for mitigating and controlling cross-currency price differentials. The authors show how both market risk and model risk can be managed by choosing a suitable price model and highlight leading qualitative research concerned primarily with FX derivatives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An asset to the market practitioner who has or intends to have dealings with the foreign exchange derivatives markets." -- Pierre Lequeux, Head of Currency Management, ABN AMRO Asset Management Ltd

"An excellent source for learning modern tools as well as market practices and conventions." -- Salih N. Neftci, Graduate School, CUNY, New York, and Head FAME Certificate, Switzerland

"Refreshingly fluid and accurate... The 27 chapters of this book will contribute toward a finer knowledge of this specialised field." --Pierre Lequeux, Head of Currency Management, ABN AMRO Asset Management Ltd

"This one book, in a nutshell, defines the state of the art." -- Glyn Holton, Contingency Analysis

An excellent source for learning modern tools as well as market practices and conventions. A treasure chest... at the end. -- Salih N. Neftci, Graduate School, CUNY, New York, and Head FAME Certificate, Switzerland

This one book, in a nutshell, defines the state of the art. -- Glyn Holton, Contingency Analysis, April 2002

Exotic Options and Hybrids: A Guide to Structuring, Pricing and Trading (The Wiley Finance Series) [Hardcover]

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2010 | Series: The Wiley Finance Series (Book 471)

The recent financial crisis brought to light many of the misunderstandings and misuses of exotic derivatives. With market participants on both the buy and sell-side having been found guilty of not understanding the products they were dealing with, never before has there been a greater need for clarification and explanation.

Exotic Options and Hybrids is a practical guide to structuring, pricing and hedging complex exotic options and hybrid derivatives that will serve readers through the recent crisis, the road to recovery, the next bull market and beyond. Written by experienced practitioners, it focuses on the three main parts of a derivative’s life: the structuring of a product, its pricing and its hedging.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"An intermediate to advanced comprehensive treatment of derivative products, from the simplest options to the most complex ones. It provides a good theoretical grounding and some practical insights as well as very relevant examples. This book will become a reference for practitioners."
—Stephane Junod, ex-Head of Hybrids Trading and Structuring at Citigroup in London, Head of the Global Hedging Units, Zurich Insurance, Zurich
"Striking an outstanding balance between theory and (good) practice, this comprehensive book is very informative, smart and useful. From vanilla option pricing and hedging to exotic options, complex structured products and sophisticated dynamic strategies, readers will learn and enjoy most of what is required of an option-oriented financial engineer. A valuable addition to an already well stocked pack."
—Professor Patrice Poncet, Sorbonne University and ESSEC Business School

"This is a new and different book about structured products. Readers get detailed coverage of all major types of structured notes across all types of assets. This guide is a practical reference and a great complement to anybodys financial library.
—Mimoun Nadir, Head of Exotic Equity Derivatives, Calyon, Paris

"Exotic Options and Hybrids is a refreshing book about getting the reader familiar with modern structured products and the rational behind their creation. More importantly, the emphasis on revealing the embedded risks will be well appreciated by anyone interested in structuring, pricing or trading these products."
—Abdelkerim Karim, Head of Equity Structured Products, Nomura, London

"Mohamed Bouzoubaa and Adel Osseiran, highly regarded senior structurers, have come up with a thorough study of exotic options and hybrids, covering the subject from all possible structuring, pricing and trading angles, both from theoretical and practical standpoints. An essential and exciting read for financial professionals and students."
—Bruno Pannetier, former Head of Structured Products at CIC, former Senior Managing Director and Co-Global Head of Equity and Hybrid Structuring at Bear Stearns, Division Director and Head of Structuring at Macquarie Bank

Options on Foreign Exchange (Wiley Finance) [Hardcover]

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2011 | Series: Wiley Finance (Book 437)

A comprehensive guide to the world's largest financial market

Foreign exchange is the world's largest financial market and continues to grow at a rapid pace. As economies intertwine and currencies fluctuate there is hardly a corporate entity that doesn't need to use options on foreign exchange to hedge risk or increase returns. Moreover, currency options, both vanilla and exotic, are part of standard toolkit of professional portfolio managers and hedge funds.

Written by a practitioner with real-world experience in this field, the Third Edition of Options on Foreign Exchange opens with a substantive discussion of the spot and forward foreign exchange market and the mechanics of trading currency options. The Black-Scholes-Merton option-pricing model as applied to currency options is also covered, along with an examination of currency futures options. Throughout the book, author David DeRosa addresses the essential elements of this discipline and prepares you for the various challenges you could face.

• Updates new developments in the foreign exchange markets, particularly regarding the volatility surface
• Includes expanded coverage of the currency crises and capital controls, electronic trading, forward contracts, exotic options, and more
• Employs real-world terminology so you can a firm understanding of this dynamic marketplace

The only way to truly succeed in today's foreign exchange market is by becoming more familiar with currency options. The Third Edition of Options on Foreign Exchange will help you achieve this goal and put you in better position to make more profitable decisions in this arena.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The foreign exchange market is the largest of all of the financial markets. By one estimate over $4 trillion changed hands a day in 2010. Parallel to trading in spot and forward foreign exchange is the currency options market—by itself, a colossal market. In addition to standard "vanilla" options, there are exotic options. Most are barrier options but others, such as Asian, compound, basket, and quantos options on currencies also exist. Yet despite all of this, the currency options market remains relatively unknown, professional foreign exchange traders being an exception.

This book details research concerning derivatives on foreign exchange, focusing initially on a breakthrough adaptation of the Black-Scholes formula for standard currrency options. Additionally, models that grew out of Black-Scholes exist for many common exotic options. Currency options, like equity options, experience volatility smiles and skews. This has led to the development of new families of options models, some with jump process features and others with stochastic volatility and local volatility components.

The foreign exchange options market is more than a market for puts and calls on dollars, euros, pounds, and yen (to name a few of the large currencies). The currencies of emerging markets also have options. And these can be markedly different from the cases of the big currencies. Meantime, the market has a mind of its own. Specifically, the period 2007–2008 presented some market experiences that are memorable if not bizarre.

Options on Foreign Exchange, Third Edition brings all of this together in an organized and coherent presentation.

FX Options and Smile Risk (The Wiley Finance Series) [Hardcover]

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0470754192 | ISBN-13: 978-0470754191 | Edition: 1

The FX options market represents one of the most liquid and strongly competitive markets in the world, and features many technical subtleties that can seriously harm the uninformed and unaware trader.
This book is a unique guide to running an FX options book from the market maker perspective. Striking a balance between mathematical rigour and market practice and written by experienced practitioner Antonio Castagna, the book shows readers how to correctly build an entire volatility surface from the market prices of the main structures.

Starting with the basic conventions related to the main FX deals and the basic traded structures of FX options, the book gradually introduces the main tools to cope with the FX volatility risk. It then goes on to review the main concepts of option pricing theory and their application within a Black-Scholes economy and a stochastic volatility environment. The book also introduces models that can be implemented to price and manage FX options before examining the effects of volatility on the profits and losses arising from the hedging activity.

Coverage includes:

• how the Black-Scholes model is used in professional trading activity
• the most suitable stochastic volatility models
• sources of profit and loss from the Delta and volatility hedging activity
• fundamental concepts of smile hedging
• major market approaches and variations of the Vanna-Volga method
• volatility-related Greeks in the Black-Scholes model
• pricing of plain vanilla options, digital options, barrier options and the less well known exotic options
• tools for monitoring the main risks of an FX options’ book

The book is accompanied by a CD Rom featuring models in VBA, demonstrating many of the approaches described in the book.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"The next generation FX Options book has arrived: Antonio Castagna has written up many years of his practical experience at the trading floor of Banca IMI. It is a valuable collection of key ideas concerning the FX smile surface and hedging of first generation exotics. I am very please Antonio took time to share his intuitive insights."
—Uwe Wystup, Managing Director of MathFinance AG
"If you are really interested in hard science and technology of FX options market making, this is probably the best source from which to learn – most of the books content goes far beyond anything to be found in other monographs on the same subject. Strongly recommended."
—Dariusz Gatarek, National Bank of Poland, Advisor to the Board

"Antonio Castagna formalizes the principles and concepts he has used during his trading activity on the FX market, an important asset class that occasionally does not receive the attention it deserves. Attention is given to a wide range of topics, ranging a wide spectrum between theory and practice, from market quoting conventions to volatility surfaces, change of measure techniques, dynamic arbitrage-free models, hedging and risk analysis. Among the several techniques presented to deal with volatility smile consistent pricing, I am glad room has been given to the mixture dynamics, one of the few tractable approaches where the Markovian projection is explicit and realized in the mixture diffusion and the uncertain volatility models, with striking results in the correlation between volatility and underlying in the projected diffusion version. Overall this is an interesting and eclectic book for readers interested in learning or expanding their knowledge of the FX volatility market."
—Damiano Brigo, Managing Director, FitchSolutions, London

The Forex Trading Course: A Self-Study Guide To Becoming a Successful Currency Trader (Wiley Trading) [Paperback]

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2007 | Series: Wiley Trading (Book 318)

A pioneer in currency trading shares his vast knowledgeThe Forex Trading Course is a practical, hands-on guide to mastering currency trading. This book is designed to build an aspiring trader's knowledge base in a step-by-step manner-with each major section followed by a thorough question-and-answer section to ensure mastery of the material. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, The Forex Trading Course outlines a practical way to integrate fundamental and technical analysis to identify high probability patterns and trades; and reveals how to develop a trading plan and appropriate strategies for different size trading accounts; how to control emotions and use emotional intelligence to improve trading performance; and much more. Filled with in-depth insight and practical advice, The Forex Trading Course will prepare readers for the realities of currency trading, and help them evolve and achieve success in this dynamic market.

The Forex Options Course: A Self-Study Guide to Trading Currency Options (Wiley Trading) [Paperback]

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 2008 | Series: Wiley Trading (Book 355)

The Forex Options Course is a practical, hands-on guide to understanding and trading forex options. Designed to build a trader's knowledge base in a step-by-step manner, this reliable resource moves from the straightforward to the more sophisticated with discussions of everything from basic plain vanilla calls and puts to intriguing first-generation exotic binary options. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, The Forex Options Course will help you develop the skills and strategies needed to succeed in today's dynamic forex market.

About the Author

Abe Cofnas has been the forex trading columnist for Futures magazine since 2001. He also formed Learn4x.com—one of the first Web-based interactivetraining sites devoted to forex trading—in 2001, and currently manages aglobal forex trading team and call room at www.fxdimensions.com. He is founder of www.currencygames.com, a global forex currency game company that combines challenges and training. Cofnas is head forex coach at www.secretsofforextraders.com and the author of The Forex Trading Course (Wiley).

Options on Foreign Exchange (Wiley Finance) [Hardcover]

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2011 | Series: Wiley Finance (Book 437)

A comprehensive guide to the world's largest financial marketForeign exchange is the world's largest financial market and continues to grow at a rapid pace. As economies intertwine and currencies fluctuate there is hardly a corporate entity that doesn't need to use options on foreign exchange to hedge risk or increase returns. Moreover, currency options, both vanilla and exotic, are part of standard toolkit of professional portfolio managers and hedge funds.
Written by a practitioner with real-world experience in this field, the Third Edition of Options on Foreign Exchange opens with a substantive discussion of the spot and forward foreign exchange market and the mechanics of trading currency options. The Black-Scholes-Merton option-pricing model as applied to currency options is also covered, along with an examination of currency futures options. Throughout the book, author David DeRosa addresses the essential elements of this discipline and prepares you for the various challenges you could face.

• Updates new developments in the foreign exchange markets, particularly regarding the volatility surface
• Includes expanded coverage of the currency crises and capital controls, electronic trading, forward contracts, exotic options, and more
• Employs real-world terminology so you can a firm understanding of this dynamic marketplace

The only way to truly succeed in today's foreign exchange market is by becoming more familiar with currency options. The Third Edition of Options on Foreign Exchange will help you achieve this goal and put you in better position to make more profitable decisions in this arena.

Most Helpful Customer Review

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Non-technical but intuitive August 18, 2001

By "n-k-k"

Format:Hardcover

This book is a nice introduction to the subject. A trader would benefit from reading the text more than a financial engineer would. It may be a good idea to read the author's "Currency Derivatives," as well. People who have read any text at the level of Hull or higher are advised to move on to "Currency Derivatives" directly.

How to Use Facebook to Increase eBay Sales

Ebay.com is an online shopping site and auction house. It allows people and businesses to sell products to interested consumers. Ebay sellers get better sales figures if they promote to the right demographics, who then increase the number of bids on their items. Facebook and other social media sites are now great ways to advertise products and businesses. In February 2012, there were 845 million users on Facebook. Although the Facebook business accounts are free, Facebook can easily become integral to your marketing plan. You can promote your products to specific users or create targeted ads through Facebook's advertising system. Read more to find out how to use Facebook to increase eBay sales.

Steps

Setting up a Facebook Account

1. Choose if you want to set up a personal Facebook account that also advertises occasional eBay sales, or if you want to set up a business website with the purpose of promoting and marketing your eBay sales. When you set up an account on Facebook.com, they will ask you to choose whether it is personal or if you are setting up an account for a business or organization.
   • You must already have a personal page in order to set up a business Fan page. Fan pages are run by administrators who have personal accounts. When you create a Fan page, you will be added as an administrator, and you can appoint others to be administrators and post to the page as well.
   • If you choose to combine your personal account with your eBay sales, it is a good idea to announce to your friends, family and acquaintances that you will be starting to showcase a few of your eBay sales online. You can ask them to please pass the item on to anyone who they think would like it. It is a good idea to only post sales occasionally, so that people do not get annoyed by constant posting and "unfriend" you.
   • If you create a Facebook Fan page, the term for a business page, then you should create a brand and personality before you start posting eBay sales. Ask a graphic designer to design an attractive profile picture and Timeline cover that boost your image as a professional, reliable business. Also, post professional pictures of yourself and welcoming information in your information and on your wall. In general, social media users do not like a "hard sell," so be ready to mix your eBay sales posts with interesting and fun information.
2. Link your eBay account with your Facebook account. You can do this by clicking on the downward arrow next to your account and changing your account settings. Under the "General" tab, find the "Linked Accounts" section. Click on "OpenID" and add your eBay URL.
3. Add eBay Facebook applications. Start by giving the popular app "eBay Items" access to your account. You should also consider adding eBay classifieds, eBay selling feed and eBay for iPhone.
   • Try out each eBay app and decide what best fits your selling style.
4. Start sharing your page with friends, after you have posted approximately 20 times. They will be able to see what your focus is, and then share your page with people they think will be interested.
5. Post a Facebook Fan page badge on your website and eBay account. Also, include a "Like us on Facebook" link in all your emails to clients. Cross-promotion through regular marketing, social media and eBay is the best way to increase brand awareness and sales.
6. Hold contests and promotions on your Facebook page. Tell people that if they buy certain products they will receive something for free, or that you are giving away a product to the person with the best product tagline. Get people involved with sharing and visiting your page by giving them incentives.
7. Talk with your fans and encourage them to post to your wall. As an administrator, you can remove any inappropriate comments. However, you should consider social media marketing as a conversation, so be friendly, deal positively with customer service problems and say "thank you" whenever possible.

Creating Facebook Ads

1. Under "Insights" in the Fan Page section you can click "Create an Ad" to start a Facebook ad. On a personal account, look on the right hand column of your home page, and next to 1 or 2 ads it will say "Create an Ad." Choose 1 of your most popular items to experiment with Facebook's advertising system.
   • You can create a "Sponsored Story" or a "Facebook Ad." A sponsored story allows you to advertise content that was posted on Facebook, while a Facebook Ad will advertise a particular business or product.
2. Post your item on your Facebook page with an attractive picture and short, but catchy, product title. Try to post your website name in your original post. Even if someone doesn't click on your ad, they may go to your website to find out more about similar products or visit your Facebook Fan page.
3. Continue through the process of creating your ad by choosing the demographic, specific interests and ways that you would like your ad to be displayed. Facebook ads are advantageous because they allow you to target your ideal client. Facebook ads usually have you pay per click, and you can set a time frame to test your ad out.
4. Test out a few different products and demographics with eBay Facebook ads. Study the results after a month or 2 to decide if Facebook ads work well for your products. If not, you have probably created some brand awareness, and you can open up that advertising money to use on other sites.

Things You'll Need

• Personal Facebook Page
• Facebook Fan Page
• eBay Items app
• Facebook ad
• Product photos and other content

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Use Facebook to Increase eBay Sales. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How to Maximize Your Profits on eBay

Selling on eBay can be an extremely lucrative venture, especially since eBay is currently one of largest international marketplaces on the Internet. To maximize your profits on eBay, there are a number of strategies you can practice as a seller to make the most out of your eBay earnings. You must demonstrate quality customer service to your buyers and know how to create listings that will generate sales. Continue reading to learn how you can maximize your profits selling items on eBay.

Steps

1. Use descriptive key words in your listings to generate a higher number of views from potential buyers.
   • This practice generates more views because buyers use different word combinations in their searches.
   • This practice also helps buyers who are looking for very specific items that you may be selling. For example, if you are selling a pair of shoes, describe the brand name, size, color, shoe style, and condition of the shoe, rather than using a basic description such as "Women's Shoes Size 7."
2. Begin and end your listings during the times and days most people will be available online.
   • Set your listings to close on weekends during evening hours. If you want your listing to close on a weekday, consider choosing an afternoon lunch hour or sometime in the evening.
   • EBay uses the Pacific time zone. If you live in the Central time zone and want your listing to end exactly at 7 p.m. your time, you must set it to end at 5 p.m. on eBay's website.
   • Consider ending certain listings at times that will attract the largest number of likely buyers for that item. For example, if you are listing an item that will appeal to elementary school teachers, arrange the listing to end after school hours in the evening.
3. Set your shipping fees at realistic, reasonable prices and offer combined shipping discounts.
   • Some buyers will leave you negative feedback if they purchase an inexpensive item from you with unusually high shipping fees. For example, if you sell an item with a 10 dollar (7 euros) value for 2 dollars (1.4 euros), you may disappoint a customer if the shipping fee is 8 dollars (5.6 euros).
   • Offer a lower shipping rate or combined shipping discounts if people buy more than 1 item from you.
4. Post clear, quality photos that display your items from all angles.
   • Items with attractive photos that accurately portray their condition will be more appealing to potential buyers.
   • Place your items in bright light with a neutral background and use cameras with higher resolutions for increased clarity.
5. Focus on or specialize in selling multiple items from a specific niche.
   • This practice will allow you to become more familiar with every type of product in the niche, teach you how to properly price your niche items, and teach you more about buyers in that niche.
6. Demonstrate quality customer service skills toward every buyer and potential buyer.
   • Satisfied buyers will leave positive feedback for you with eBay, which signifies your reliability as a seller and can improve your reputation in the eBay community.
   • Answer emails on time and immediately respond to inquiries about your item.
   • Send your items to buyers immediately and package the items carefully and neatly to ensure a safe delivery.
   • Provide honest information about your items and be up-front about existing flaws. For example, if a pair of leather shoes you are selling have a small tear in the fabric, disclose this information in your listing.
7. Include your detailed payment, shipping, and return policy information or terms and conditions in every listing.
   • This practice will prevent potential disputes or misunderstandings between you and the buyer.
   • Misunderstandings can result in negative feedback that affects your reputation or results in a refund for the buyer. For example, if you use recycled or used boxes to ship your products, post this information in your listing to prevent buyers from filing a complaint about the packaging you used.
8. Sell items that you purchase from outlet stores or wholesale companies.
   • You may be able to purchase high-end products at low prices and sell them on eBay to make a substantial profit. For example, you may be able to buy a sweater from a prominent name-brand store for 10 dollars (7 euros) that is valued at 140 dollars (99 euros) and sell it for a similar amount.
9. Sell items on eBay for your friends and family members.
   • Ask your friends or family if they have items you can sell on eBay that they no longer want or use, or have the time to sell.
   • Offer your friends a percentage of the earnings if their items sell on eBay.
10. Sell items that are rare or popular.
    • Rare items can be profitable because buyers may not be able to find them elsewhere; whereas popular items will attract a large number of views from potential buyers.
11. Set low prices for your listings if you have set them up as auctions.
    • Lower prices will encourage competitive bidding among your potential buyers and may result in higher ending sale prices than you expected.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Maximize Your Profits on eBay. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How to Pick the Best Day to Start and End Your eBay Auctions

There are several helpful articles available for eBay sellers. Not all days are created equal with eBay auctions. Here is the basic run down:

Steps

1. Learn the best times for ending your sales.
   • Sunday evening is the absolute highest time of bidding activity on eBay. Maximize your auction by planning it to end at about 11 pm eastern standard time on Sunday.
   • Friday and Saturday. Friday before 6pm can be a good day for your younger person and student market. However, weekend days are usually better than weekdays.
   • Monday and Thursday. Monday's are fair because a lot of people surf the net (and especially eBay) during work to help with "after weekend withdrawals". Thursdays are ok times to end your eBay auctions in the spring and summer because many people will cast their bids before they leave for weekend trips.
2. Avoid the low bid days.
   • Wednesday. For whatever reason, Wednesdays are one of the worst days to launch your eBay auction
   • Tuesday. Tuesdays receive the lowest number of bids out of all the days of the week.

Tips

• When setting up an auction you will see that eBay offers five duration choices. There are 1 day, 3 days, 5 days, 7 days, and 10 days.
• For most products, the shorter auctions are best with the 3-day being the ultimate. The theory here is that most people are impulse buyers. They don't like bidding on an auction they are going to have to wait on. The 3-day auction will give you enough time for your item to get exposure, while satisfying those hungry impulse buyers.
• The above selection works well with most products, including things such as jewelry, clothing, leather goods, electrical items, digital cameras, clothing accessories, designer brand name goods, popular collectibles, etc. However, with items that are hard-to-find like rare collectibles, you should definitely opt for the 10-day auctions.
• The reason for this is that your market is smaller, so you want as much exposure as possible. The 10-day auction eBay offers is perfect for this. This is also the case for high price items as well, such as what you'll find in eBay motors -- cars, motorcycles, etc.

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How to Advertise Effectively on eBay

The right ad can either make or break an eBay auction or sale. Follow these steps to learn how to write a successful one.

Steps

1. Put yourself in the buyer's shoes. Ask yourself: What would I want to see in that ad? What would make or break the sale for me, as a customer? Make sure you provide that information, every bit of it.
2. Be honest, be accurate. Don't call a Used item Brand New or Mint.
3. Provide all necessary information, including condition, age, brand names and all relevant info. But keep it tight. Don't go on and on. You are writing an ad, not a novel.
4. Provide photos. You don't have to be a pro, just take decent, clear photos. Photos do sell products. Some bidders will only look at the photos.
5. Consider adding voice and video to your listings. You can develop trust and rapport with a simple webcam and voice -- just keep it personal and real. Highlight what YOU want the prospective buyer to see. Share details about the product that would otherwise go unnoticed in a flat photograph.
6. Do your research. Know what you are selling. Know comparable prices. Start your opening bid with a price you can live with and if you know your price is below other comparable models in similar condition, say so.
7. Never assume the buyer is an expert and will "automatically find" your item. Explain what makes it special. Is it one of a kind? Is it rare? Is it priced below market value? Whatever sets your item apart should be mentioned.
8. Use the right keywords. Be specific. People look for specific items and get frustrated by looking at a ton of unrelated items. Help the right bidder find your item.
9. Look at completed auctions for similar items and see what titles and keywords caught bidders' eyes and got the highest bids. Learn from them. Use the same or similar keywords. Again, help direct the bidders who want your item (or ones like it) to your ad.
10. Group ads for similar items in the same week and stagger the starting times by a day or two. Tell bidders that you have related items on auction. This will encourage them to look at your other items and up your chances of multiple sales this way. Every related ad you have is just one more chance for a bidder to see all your items.

Tips

• Most importantly, think like a bidder and write a clear description and provide enough photos.

Warnings

• Don't rip off someone else's photos or copy their ad word for word. This can get your ad pulled.

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How to Make More Money With eBay's Affiliate Program

Make More Money with eBay's Affiliate Program

Steps

1. If you've been on the web for a while, the chances are that at some time or other you will have taken part in an affiliate program. They generally work by giving you a URL to send people to their site that contains your affiliate number, and then giving you a small amount for each person who comes in using your link and signs up or buys something.
2. eBay's affiliate program follows this basic formula, but with a few twists.
3. It pays a lot. Each user who follows your link to eBay, signs up and then bids on anything within 30 days will earn you $20. Most affiliate programs will only give you something like 10 percent of the user's first purchase. What's more, for each existing eBay user who clicks through from your site and then places a bid or buys something, you'll get 10c.
4. You can be your own affiliate. If you just link to your own auctions with your affiliate link number from your own website, then you're getting money without sending buyers to anyone except yourself. There aren't many affiliate programs that can say that.
5. So Where Do I Sign Up?
6. You can visit eBay's affiliate program at eBay. Once you're there, just click 'Join the Program'. You will then be required to sign up for Commission Junction, which is free.
7. How Can I Get People to Click the Links?
8. eBay suggest a number of 'business models' for their affiliates. Before people can click your affiliate links, they need to be at your website. There are two ways to get them there using a search engine, which eBay refer to as 'natural' and 'paid' search.
9. Natural search: This is when someone finds your website in a search engine's normal results, either because something you wrote is relevant to them or you used SEO (search engine optimisation) techniques. Be careful not to use any dodgy methods to get a high search engine ranking, though, or eBay might come after you and keep your affiliate money.
10. Paid search: This strategy involves paying for traffic to your website or directly to eBay, by buying ads on search engines. If you go for this option, it's actually worth placing ads on the less popular search engines instead of the big ones: they'll have similar click-through rates as a percentage, but the cost typically won't be anywhere near as high.
11. Content: What you can do is just have a normal website, with articles on a variety of subjects and perhaps a community forum. Run the website for pleasure, but place the occasional eBay affiliate link there.
12. Newsletters: Don't ignore the potential of putting your affiliate ID in each time you send out a newsletter. You can get 10c for every bid it generates with no extra work, which could be enough for the email to pay for itself, whether it leads to any sales or not.
13. Sadly, our time together is nearly at an end, but there is one thing that I have left to show you. It's called the featured gallery, and it could help your sales. Look out for the next article!

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How to Structure Your eBay Auctions for Maximum Success

How you structure your eBay auctions has a huge impact on the results you get. One format might get five to ten times the traffic and many more bids than another. This article is going to provide with a clear-cut plan for great looking and great selling auctions

Steps

1. Choose your title carefully. You need to be very clear and specific in the title. People should be able to see at a glance exactly what you’re selling. The title should get your potential customers interest and grab their attention right away. Spend a good deal of time crafting a killer title for your product.
2. Write a very clear description of the product in your eBay auction. Try to emphasize the benefits of your product. Make the description interesting. Use short sentences, short paragraphs and bullet points in your sales copy. This combination makes for very readable and entertaining copy.
3. Upload good pictures of the item you’re selling. You should use a good quality digital camera and a nice, white background. You can use white sheets if you’re on a budget. Be sure to provide multiple angles of the product, as well as close-ups. Try not to use stock picture, take your own!
4. Offer free shipping if possible and build the extra cost into your price point. Many people will actually pay more just to get the free shipping. Use this aspect of human nature to your advantage! If you offer free shipping, be sure to say so in your title or subtitle.

Tips

• The product description combined with the picture do most of the heavy selling work.

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How to Get Your eBay Auctions Noticed

As more and more people turn to eBay for extra income, the need to stand out is becoming increasingly apparent. It’s very easy nowadays for your eBay auction to become lost amongst the hundreds of others and never get the attention it deserves. This is very frustrating to any would be eBay success. Luckily, there are a few easy ways to ensure that your eBay auctions will always stand out from the crowd.

Steps

1. Put a lot of time into crafting the title for the eBay auction. The title is critical for drawing in potential customers. A bad title can easily spell disaster for an auction, even if the rest of the listing is done well. A good title will be very specific and broadcast to people exactly what the product is. Don’t be clever or cute. That’s not the purpose of a title. Let people know what your offering and capture their attention. That’s the goal of the title. Here are some power words that catch people’s attention when used in the title: rare, like new, new, secret, best value, vintage, unique, best-selling, top-selling, love, free, hard-to-find, awesome, sexy, unbelievable, super deal, unusual, best ___ on eBay.
2. Always include a gallery photo of your item. The gallery photo option eBay offers is a great way to get your listing noticed. Many more people are willing to look at a picture than click on an auction. Once they see your picture and are enticed they’ll click through to see more. Having a picture of your product in plain site will greatly increase the number of people clicking on your auction. This spells more bids and higher final prices!
3. Consider adding voice and video to your listings. You can develop trust and rapport with a simple webcam and voice -- just keep it personal and real. Highlight what YOU want the prospective buyer to see. Share details about the product that would otherwise go unnoticed in a flat photograph.
4. Use subtitles under your title. Subtitles are a great way to add extra attention-grabbing benefits. Remember, the key is to get a person’s attention. By adding compelling text in the form of a subtitle, you will greatly increase the attention-grabbing power of any auction. However, be sure that the item your selling is a high enough ticket item to warrant the extra cost. You wouldn’t want to use a bunch of fancy and expensive features if you’re selling a $3 item. But the subtitle option eBay offers is very important for higher priced items.

Tips

• By using the above strategies, you’ll be able to make your auction stand out from amongst the crowd. This will mean the difference between making a small supplemental income or a huge life-changing amount of money. Which do you want? Either can be yours with the help of eBay and a little marketing advice. Try these tactics on your listings as soon as you can and see the difference they make!

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How to Use Binary Option or Digital Option Trading Platforms

You can make a high return of up to 75% on your investment in one hour using binary option, or digital option, platforms. These trading platforms are easy to use and have fixed returns and losses, making them a safe way to earn a high return from trading on the stock market, currencies and commodities trading. While option trading is a well known practice in the forex market, binary option platforms have streamlined the process and opened it up to the public to trade on and make high, fast returns.

Steps

1. Find a high return binary option platform. Since binary option platforms have only been available for the past year, it's easy to review the platforms in the industry and find the best ones. All platforms should be free and provide traders with the option to withdraw their money at any time.
2. Register with the binary option platform of your choice.
3. Pick an option to bid on. You can choose from stocks, commodities and currencies.
4. Predict which direction the option will move by the time of expiration. The time of expiration can range from one hour to one month, depending on the platform.
5. Determine which direction the option will move. If you think that the option price will rise above it's current price by the time of expiration you will need to select "CALL". If you think that the option will fall below it's current price by the time of expiration you will need to select "PUT".
6. Determine how much money you want to bet on your trade. Since binary option platforms have fixed returns and fixed losses, you will always know how much money you can gain and how much you can loose. The amount that you trade is up to you, but the industry average ranges from $500 - 1000.
7. Wait for the expiration. When your option has expired, you will be able to see if you are "in the money" or "out of the money". Traders who are "in the money" can earn up to 75% return on their investment. Traders who are out of the money can loose 85 - 95%.

Tips

• The best way to make a high return is to trade on options that expire within one hour. This way you minimize your risk and have a better chance of forecasting correctly. If you want to make a high return on your investment within one hour, pick an option that will expire within one hour and bid close to the expiration time.
• In order to hone your forecasting skills, read the news daily and keep track of current events. Follow finance news sites like Google News, Yahoo Finance and other notable news sources. Also pick a few niche blogs about binary option trading.

Warnings

• Don't ever pay for a binary option platform. The best binary option platforms are free.

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How to Choose the Right Binary Options Platform

Binary options, fixed return options, spot options, or digital options trading is booming worldwide. It’s no surprise, given the simplicity and stability that this form of trading provides. Because the outcome is always black or white or “all or nothing” with binary options, the trader is protected at all times against indefinite amounts of losses, which are limited to the contract value of the commodity being traded in.
As a result of the new popularity of binary options, many new online trading platforms have recently emerged. Below is a list of features that we recommend you look out for when choosing the binary options platform that is right for you.

Steps

1. Choose a binary options platform such as SpotFN.com that is free and requires no download. We all prefer not to download any extra software to our PCs. The good news is there are binary options platforms that are 100% web based, so you don’t have to download anything to your computer. Most of these digital options platforms allow you to open a binary options account for free, so be wary of any website that asks you to pay a membership fee.
2. Trade binary options only on platforms that offer at least 65 – 70% returns. One of the main benefits of binary options is that payout is determined in advance, when the buyer enters a contract to purchase an underlying asset. A binary options contract will pay you a fixed return, regardless if the underlying asset’s price movement was huge or minute. As long as binary options expire in the money by $0.001, you come out winning. With that said, it is best to choose a platform that offers 65-70% returns minimum. Anything lower than that just isn’t worth it. SpotFN.com offers 65-85% returns.
3. Choose a platform that offers payback for binary options that expire out-of-money. There aren’t many of these around but we can guarantee you that this is an extremely beneficial feature and is worthwhile scouting out. There are some binary options platforms that will pay a return percentage on options that expire out-of-money.
4. Select a platform that supports a multitude of currencies. As online traders, we tend to feel more at ease when we can trade binary options in our own currency. Plus, a binary options platform that supports a variety of currencies shows stability, sophistication and international presence. Try to stick to digital options platforms that support at least the US dollar, Euro and British Pound Sterling. Any other additional currencies are a bonus.
5. Use a platform that employs good security measures In order for any binary options platform to be safe, the most necessary element is encryption. Make sure you choose a fixed returns options platform equipped with 128 bit SSL encryption from a market leading security provider. It’s your only protection against online identity theft as you trade binary options. Also, read their security section and confirm that the platform prohibits unauthorized access to your account, backs up all your information and binary options transactions daily and commits to 24-hour maintenance should anything malfunction.
6. Make sure you can withdraw your money at any time. Check your selected platforms’ policy on withdrawals and make sure that you can deposit and withdraw your money at all times. Stay away from platforms that instill a withdrawal waiting period or conditions on binary options earnings accumulated.
7. Confirm the platform has good customer support. You might be an expert binary options trader or just a beginner. The truth is, it really doesn’t matter. Good Customer Support is a must for any online digital options trader. Confirm that the trading platform you decide to use has support by phone and email. Many binary options sites have local phone numbers for ever country they service.

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How to Choose Binary Options Platform

Taking the markets by a boom, has become a worldwide trading option that succeeds in offering a wider spectrum of people the opportunity to invest in the world’s markets. Simple to grasp and easily accessible online, this investing route is appealing to its customers with its “all or nothing” outcome, giving investors the security of knowing exactly what they are in to lose from the off start. Popular as it has become, there are now many binary options online trading platforms for investors to choose from which we understand can seem quite overwhelming. Take note of our tips below which offer guidance on how to choose the right binary options trading platform best suited to you.

Steps

1. Choose a binary options trading platform that offers at least 65-70% returns - One of the many advantages of binary options trading is that the pay-out is determined in advance so the investor is completely aware of what they would earn, or even lose before the expiration of the option. To reap the benefits of a earning with binary options you only need to be in-the-money by 0.001, whether the underlying asset’s movement was great or small. Given this, you should ensure that the binary options trading platform you choose will give you the biggest pay-out possible so you can maximize your earnings. After all, if you could get more for your money, why wouldn’t you?
2. Trade on a platform that offers a return, even when the outcome is an out-of-the-money result - As frustrating as it is when you are presented with an out-of-the-money result, all may not be lost if you trade with a site that offers investors a payback, even for a disappointing outcome like this. There are binary options trading platforms, few that they are, that do offer as much as a 15% return on all out-of-the-money results which is a great advantage to consider when narrowing down different trading platforms choices to suit you.
3. Choose a trading platform that offers a wide range of assets - With the media being a great tool for investors trading in binary options one can keep up-to-date with news of movements and fluctuations in the main markets. Financial news reports and online figure charts provide a good scope to make backed decisions when making a bet. This said, the wider the options of assets a site has to choose from and the more known that the assets are provide the investor with better ground when all fingers from outside sources are pointing to particular movements. You wouldn’t want to limit yourself to a site that has slim pickings when there are those who can open the doors to a wider and richer choice.
4. Be aware of platforms with excess charges - With money coming in and hopefully not too much going out, the last thing an investor needs from an online binary options platform is additional charges that may be applied for things like depositing money. Look out for sites that charge extra for these things and luckily there are sites that charge no such fees.
5. Select a trading platform that has a promising customer service obligation - Whether you’re just a beginner or old-hat at trading binary options, there may be times when you will need advice or support when trading online. Whether it’s technical queries or some simple guidelines, a good customer services team is an important factor when choosing a binary options trading platform and can be an essential piece of the puzzle in smoothing over some lines, making way for some successful returns. Many sites have local help-line numbers for every country they service.
6. Use a trading platform that resources good security measures - Now this is important stuff. For your binary options trading platform to be completely safe for you to use, the most necessary element to look out for is encryption, being sure that it is equipped with 128 bit SSL encryption from a market leading security provider. This acts as your only protection against online theft.

Tips

• Purchase a Call or Put option. The most straightforward binary options trading strategy is purchasing either a Call or put option. The advantage of this strategy is that it is very simple. For example, if you invest $500 in a Put option of the EUR/USD, end-of-hour, then for example, with anyoption™, if the pair finishes trading lower by the end of the hour, you get $850. Even if the option you purchased finishes trading out-of-the-money, you still receive 15% return of your initial investment.
• Purchasing both a Call and a Put option. Increasingly popular binary options trading strategy nowadays is that when traders are often in the middle of a trade, and they see that their option will finish trading out-of-the-money, they buy an options in the reverse direction. For example, if you invest $100 buy an end-of day Call option of Nasdaq at a strike price of $1,1800, and if after a few hours you feel, the option is going against you, you may think about several binary options trading strategies. One of the most straightforward of these binary options trading strategies is buying a Put option of the same value ($100). By choosing this binary option trading strategy, at least you can minimize your potential losses.
• Doubling your trades. One of the most popular binary options trading strategies for advanced traders is doubling your trades. Let’s say that you purchased a $100 Put option of Dow Jones at 10,033. If the trade is going in your favor and trading below this level, then purchasing another Put option may be an attractive binary option trading strategy to adopt. The benefit of this is that you can make very high profit on your initial investments. Binary options trading strategies such as this are usually only adopted by binary options traders that have advanced knowledge of the financial markets.
• Market pull strategy. One of the most straightforward, but tricky of all the binary options trading strategies is the market pull strategy. The idea of this binary options trading strategy is to invest in either a Call or Put Option on dramatic changes in the financial markets. For example, news was leaked that the dollar will plummet, and then a skilled binary options trader may purchase a Put option of USD/JPY. The basis of this binary option trading strategy is that the pair will decline. Therefore, the trader will receive high profits. Many binary options traders have made huge profits from this binary options trading strategy.
• Minimal experience necessary. The binary options trading strategies that you can employ during your binary options trading experience are countless. The basic binary options trading tip for employing different binary options trading strategies is that you’re the boss. This means that you should do what’s right for you, as you should choose the binary option trading strategy that best suits both you and your trading style. You should also take into account that most successful binary options traders simultaneously adopt different binary options trading strategies. Therefore, the more binary options trading experience that you have – the better.

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How to Get Started With Binary Options and Binary Options Trading

An option is a financial contract which gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a fixed price within a specified time frame. A binary option is a fixed return option because there are only 2 possible outcomes which are fully realized at the onset of the contract.

Steps

1. Understand the terminology of options trading. Binary option trading is when a buyer enters into a contract to purchase an underlying asset at a fixed price at a pre-determined time in the future. The owner does not buy the asset itself, rather the option to buy it. The fixed price at which the owner buys or sells at, is known as the strike price. In binary option trading, the potential gain or loss is known at the onset of the contract and it is determined by the amount invested by the owner. So, there are only two possible outcomes: the option expires in-the-money and the owner receives the value of the successful contract; or the option expires out-of-the-money and the owner receives nothing, taking the loss of the price paid.
2. Investigate the underlying asset. This may or may not be an "asset" in the usual investment sense of the word, but refers to whatever will determine whether or not your contract expires in or out of the money. The contract might look like "Pays $100 if the S&P 500 Index closes 2012 above 2000." Some prediction markets offer contracts based on political, meteorological, or other non-financial topics such as whether or not the Higgs Boson will be observed by the end of 2013. The market value of a binary option is directly related to the probability that it will expire in-the-money, with (usually minor) adjustments to account for other factors, such as the time value of money, taxes, and commissions. The Black-Scholes model for options pricing may apply if its assumptions are valid and the volatility of the underlying asset is known.
3. Decide if the option is overpriced or underpriced enough to act on. If it is underpriced, place an offer to buy; if it is overpriced, sell. The exchange probably won't allow you to make a naked short, but should allow covered shorts, if you have enough cash in your account. In binary options, a covered short is equivalent to buying both an option for "Outcome A" and one for "Not A" whose total value is constant, then selling whichever one you think is overpriced.
4. Monitor your option and the underling asset after purchase. You may choose to hold it until expiry, or sell it to another investor before then.

Warnings

• Beware of trading platforms that blur the line between investing, trading, and gambling. All of these activities are fine, but don't gamble with your investment money just because someone uses the language of an investment banker to describe a gamble.
• There is no investment reason to choose a binary option that offers a partial refund on options that finish out-of-the-money. This is just a marketing gimmick. Anyone willing to sell for $100, an option that will be worth $15 if it loses or $170 if it wins, should also be willing to sell for $85, an option that is worth $155 if it wins and just let you keep the $15 that they'd owe you either way.
• Before choosing a binary options exchange to trade in, consider which agency, if any, regulates them. Some of the investor protections you might expect from an SEC regulated, SIPC insured brokerage may not be present. In particular, pay attention to their rules (or lack thereof) regarding insider trading and their dispute resolution process.

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