Historical FX options data gives you the whole story for more informed strategy

FX Options Performance is a practical handbook for successfully navigating the FX options market. Beginning with a quick overview of the market, its participants, and its products, the book then travels back in time to examine the historical payoffs to the most popular and liquidly traded option types. You'll learn which options have been consistently overvalued or undervalued, and which commonly used structures are not necessarily good value at all. The discussion also covers emerging markets and reveals truly surprising facts you won't find anywhere else -- including corporate hedging strategies that reveal, in many cases, significant potential savings. Historically, some option selling strategies have been profitable, though high risk, but this book delves into the historical data to show which strategies have actually worked in the past, why they worked, and how you can mitigate risks. The companion website provides all of the detailed data in the book -- over 100 tables -- as easily downloadable data sets, so you can quickly start replicating these calculations and see for yourself how some simple estimates reveal historical anomalies.

FX options are enormously popular, but there are many fundamental facts about the market that are generally unknown. This book brings everything out into the light, and provides the hard data you've been looking for.

• Learn why supposedly cheap out of the money options aren't always worth it
• Understand why more sophisticated doesn't necessarily mean better
• Reduce FX risk in the most efficient way - and it is not always a forward contract
• Understand historical options trading strategies that have actually worked, and use them to design strategies for the future

The FX options market offers tremendous opportunity, but requires complete, in-depth understanding. Written by experienced quants and traders, FX Options Performance goes beyond theory to give you the numbers that show how much these contracts have really made or lost.
About the Author:

Jessica James, PhD, is a Managing Director and Head of FX Quantitative Solutions at Commerzbank AG in London. She has previously held positions in foreign exchange at Citigroup and Bank One. Before her career in finance, James lectured in physics at Trinity College, Oxford. Her significant publications include the Handbook of Foreign Exchange, Interest Rate Modelling and Currency Management. She is also Managing Editor for the Journal of Quantitative Finance, and is a Visiting Professor both at UCL and at Cass Business School. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and has been a member of their governing body and of their
Industry and Business Board.

Jonathan Fullwood began his career in finance in 2002 and has since held positions in research, sales and trading at Commerzbank AG in London. He was awarded a CFA charter in 2007 and remains a member of the CFA Institute. Before his career in finance he graduated with first class honours in physics from the University of Manchester, where he also worked as a mathematics tutor. Jonathan completed his particle physics doctoral thesis in 2001, on work carried out at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre.

Peter Billington is Global Head of FX Exotic Options at UniCredit in London. Since 1993 he has worked in FX option trading roles for Standard Chartered Bank and BNP Paribas and has traded metals for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. He has also worked at Commerzbank AG in several positions, including that of Global Head of FX Trading. Prior to his career in finance, Peter read mathematics and then mathematical modelling and numerical analysis at the University of Oxford.