Index funds are among the highest performing and most reliable investments available in the marketplace. Over the past several years, literally hundreds of index-related products have been introduced to the marketplace, most designed to provide investors with the capability to mix and match...

"Option Strategies for Directionless Markets provides a hands-on approach to understanding technical analysis tools and strategies for trading in sideways markets. Saliba provides readers with in-depth coverage of butterflies, iron butterflies, and condors, plus detailed discussions of when and...

Using detailed holdings of exchange-traded options, we examine how mutual funds use options and how options affect portfolio performance and risk. Options users underperform nonusers by two to three percent per year. The underperformance is especially pronounced for funds that are heavy users of...

We develop statistical methods to detect informed trading in options markets. We apply these methods to 31 companies from various sectors over 14 years analyzing approximately 9.6 million option prices. We find that option informed trading tends to cluster prior to certain events, takes place...

This appendix extends the empirical results in Chesney, Crameri, and Mancini (2011). Informed trading activities on put and call options are analyzed for 19 companies in the banking and insurance sectors from January 1996 to September 2009. Our empirical findings suggest that certain events such...