Quote from LeonPhelps:
References or links would help. Risk must have learned this stuff somewhere. Or did it appear on golden plates in the backyard?
Which bits in particular:
There are some abbreviations:
- Vol or Vols = Volatility/Implied Volatility
- Corr = Correlation
- Vol-swap = Volatility swap
There are some common financial/quant/trading terms:
Some other random jargon:
Then there are some adjectives:
To summarize/clarify for my benefit:
To realize a position with both long THETA and long GAMMA you require an implied volatility term structure where the slope between two expirations is steep. In simple terms, implied volatilities for different months differing by a large amount. It is the cross-section of the volatility surface.
Two cases where this steep term structure is found in the wild are:
1) On an instrument with an event e.g. earnings, FDA decision etc. The implied volatility in the event month will normally be higher than that in other months.
2) In intermarket term structures where the instruments have different implied volatilities e.g. given by Riskarb - RUT/NDX
With the instruments in the first category, you are exposed to the event risk i.e. the cause of the steep term structure but presumably you wouldn't trade through the event.
With those in the second category, you are exposed to correlation risk, because they are different instruments.
It seems hard to justify taking on the correlation risk in order to be long THETA and long GAMMA unless you were playing the correlation in it's own right?
2 cents.
General reference sites:
http://www.riskglossary.com/
http://www.investopedia.com/
You should visit the Wilmott forums some time. Riskarb is downright intelligible compared to some of the folks there. In fact, I believe Riskarb was booted from those forums for not obfuscating the content of his posts enough:
http://www.wilmott.com/index.cfm?NoCookies=Yes&forumid=1
Oh, and
this little know tool is your friend
MoMoney.
than drawing it myself. The chartist I follow will often say "gee I wonder why no one has see or commented on this blah blah H & S or other pattern. " To me it seems like picking out quotes from the Bible or Quran to support your belief. Very subjective. Of course all analysis is subjective as we will emphasize what substantiates our point and de-emphasize points that contradict our opinion. 
ah human behavior...