Bell Ringings/Events/Photos

Ninety people attended a panel discussion by four financial experts on "Options in 2008—Tools to Navigate More Volatile Markets," on Wednesday, February 13, 2008, at CBOE. The VIX Index and other volatility indexes have risen more than 100% in the past year.

Jason Ungar

Mr. Jason Ungar, Director, at Ansbacher Investment Management in New York City. Jason specializes in the development and implementation of short volatility strategies designed to meet the needs of institutional clients.

Jason made a presentation on the CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Index (PUT)

Click here for a PDF version of Mr. Ungar’s presentation.

Mr. Jon Najarian, cofounder of optionMONSTER in Chicago. “Dr. J” is a noted media analyst and speaker who appears daily on First Business Television, hosts a CBS Radio show, and webcasts twice daily on CBOETV.

Dr. J discussed trading applications used to identify unusual activity in stock, options, and futures markets.

Jon Najarian

John DiBacco

Mr. John DiBaccois Managing Director, Head of US Equity Derivatives Trading at UBS Securities LLC. Mr. DiBacco discussed barrier options and other options strategies that are used by investors in 2008.

Mr. Joe Cusick, Senior Vice President of Education for optionsXpress in Chicago, a firm that services more than 250,000 self-directed investors, and was named Best Online Broker by Barron's in four of the last five years. Mr. Cusick discussed tools that online investors are using in 2008.

Joe Cusick

Trading volume on the U.S. options exchanges rose 41 percent in 2007, and more volatility in early 2008 is leading to new options volume records. Here are some of the questions that were posed to the panelists:

• In light of the fact that implied volatility and the volatility indexes have more than doubled over the past twelve months, how can investors and traders benefit from these big moves?
• Can investors achieve superior risk-adjusted returns with a collateralized put selling strategy as reflected by the CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Index (PUT)?
  http://www.putwrite.com
• How are hedge funds using correlation trades and equity derivatives to add value in today’s markets?
• What types of profits can be achieved with trading applications used to identify unusual activity in stock, options, and futures markets?
• Which options strategies and tools are popular with online self-directed investors in 2008?

The meeting was jointly sponsored by Chicago QWAFAFEW, Chicago PRMIA, and the Structured Products Association (SPA).

Joseph Cusick
Senior Vice President of Education and a Senior Market Analyst
optionsXpress

Joseph Cusick currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Education and a Senior Market Analyst for optionsXpress. He and his team are responsible for increasing brand exposure and enhancing customer loyalty by creating education through in-house initiatives and third party partnerships. Mr. Cusick seeks out common sense and technologically scalable educational pathways for self-directed investors of all experience levels. He is largely responsible for ramping up delivery of online and offline seminars to customers and potential clients worldwide. Prior to serving in his current role, Mr. Cusick immersed himself in the broker side of optionsXpress by managing his own book of business. Prior to joining optionsXpress, Mr. Cusick served as a market marker and portfolio manager at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. Joseph is a graduate of Marquette University and holds his Series 4, 7 and 63 registrations with the NASD.

Jon Najarian
Cofounder
optionMONSTER

Jon 'DRJ' Najarian is a professional investor, noted media analyst and speaker, and cofounder of optionMONSTER™. Following a brief stint as a Chicago Bears linebacker, Jon launched his financial career at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in 1981, trading in the pits for some 25 years. In 1989 he founded Mercury Trading, running the company for 15 years until 2004, when he sold his floor-trading operations to Citadel, one of the world's largest hedge funds. More recently, Jon—often known after his CBOE floor call letters 'DRJ'—has developed and patented trading applications used to identify unusual activity in stock, options, and futures markets, notably the HeatSeeker™ program, which uncovers extraordinary buying patterns from among the 120,000 quotes per second that stream from America's stock, options, and futures exchanges. In addition to optionMONSTER.com, Jon's research and analysis is widely cited by leading financial media including the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, FOX News Channel, CBS Radio, and CNBC. He appears daily on First Business Television, a business news magazine, hosts a CBS Radio show, and webcasts twice daily on CBOETV.

Jason Ungar
Director
Ansbacher Investment Management

Jason Ungar, Director, Ansbacher Investment Management, specializes in the development and implementation of short volatility strategies designed to meet the needs of institutional clients. For three years prior to his joining AIM, he was a Partner at Apogee Capital, LLC, and prior to that, he was a Financial Advisor with RBC Dain Rauscher. Mr. Ungar’s opinions on option strategies have appeared in numerous publications including: Pensions & Investments, Investment News, and Thestreet.com. He is Series 7, 66, and 3 licensed. Mr. Ungar is a graduate of St. John’s College, Annapolis.