Newswise — In today’s brave, new world, trades are made by lightning-fast machines, and global news goes viral in a matter of seconds, making the world of trading ever more dangerous and potentially more lucrative. Shock Markets, Trading Lessons for Volatile Times, a new book by UVA McIntire School of Commerce Professor Robert Webb, with co-author Alexander Webb, argues that seemingly unrelated factors can hugely and quickly impact prices in our deeply interconnected, high-speed financial markets.

As the book cover states, we live in the age of shock markets, where sudden sharp changes are common, crashes are unavoidable, volatility is off the charts, and anything can happen. This presents great risk and great potential reward. Through detailed analysis, the authors counter conventional wisdom about trading and investing—revealing surprising and little-known trading relationships:

• Why gold lost money in the 20th century’s largest crises• Which political actions trump economic fundamentals• How videogame reviews create predictable, tradable shocks• When a shock is just a shock—and when it’s the beginning of a trend• Why humans can still win at trading University

Robert Webb has traded fixed income securities for the World Bank and futures on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He designed new financial futures and futures option contracts for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he served as Senior Financial Economist. He has also served as Senior Financial Economist for both the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He earned his Ph.D. in finance at the University of Chicago. Webb edits The Journal of Futures Markets and is author of Trading Catalysts and Macroeconomic Information and Financial Trading.

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