To give perspective to just how high the volatility index climbed, think back to the chaos that followed September 11, 2001. That point, volatility “spiked” to 33. These days, as the index reports a number in the 30 range, the markets seems subdued. This is definitely not the case, which means investors can continue to profit from volatility.

When taking a run at profiting from the markets, individual investors will only succeed when they are able to distance themselves from the emotion of investing. This is extremely difficult to do, however, and is why so many investors are gun shy and keeping their money invested in safer instruments. It’s not difficult to understand; we all work hard for our money and to see it erode in a market where we receive no tangible benefits is terribly difficult. Trading software that tells us when to buy and sell can eliminate this emotion as the software, like an investment manager, does not care that we invested blood and tears into our investments.

Secondly, the investor should have a good understanding of volatility. Reviewing the charts at Yahoo! Finance by typing “^VIX” in the quote box is a good start. Another essential is to understand the definition of volatility, which is simply “rate of change of the deviation from the mean.” The higher the volatility, the more quickly will stray from its mean.

The last thing an investor needs to do is tame the beast known as greed. This is a difficult thing to do since short term returns give us a taste of just how much we might make if we stay invested just a little longer for just a little more money. By using trading software, investors are better able to remove the emotion since the software will study concrete factors like volatility, moving averages, momentum, and so on whereas investors study the profit and potential for more.

While trading systems allow investors to remove the emotional side of investing, they are not absolutely required provided that the investors can control their greed. By eliminating emotion, investors can take advantage of the profit opportunities that volatility offers.

Chris has more than 16 years of financial services experience. He was instrumental in providing the Top Fund Pick of 2010 for the MutualFundSite.org, which was a High Yield Investment. He is bullish on some Bond Funds and cautious on others.

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