In stock trading, beta is the ratio of a stock’s price movement to that of the general market. The stock’s movement relative to the general market is called its volatility, which will vary over time.
Summary Table
| Beta | Omega |
| Measure the volatility of a stock portfolio. | Measure of pricing options of a stock portfolio. |
| Focus on the return rate. | Focus on the pricing flexibility. |
| Relative to the market and time. | Relative to its peers. |
Definitions
In technical analysis, beta is often used to measure how much a stock’s price will move in response to the general market. In other words, it indicates whether the stock has the potential to move up or down in response to market trends.
Omega has become a buzzword in financial trading circles that signifies a concept similar to relative strength, but instead of measuring price movement over time, it measures price movement relative to its peers.
In other words, if one stock is at the high end of its range compared with its peers and if another stock is at the low end of its range compared with its peers, then it would be considered “high-omega” or “low-omega” because those are the extremes relative to their peers.
Difference Between Beta and Omega
Beta measures how volatile a security or a portfolio of securities is versus the market as a whole (which, for example, measures the number of days the market trades for each security). Stocks that have betas that are greater than 1 are considered to be much riskier than the S&P 500.
Omega is a way of measuring the relative volatility of options to their corresponding indices.
It shows how much an option is worth based on the price it is implying, or how much the resulting price will go up or down. It shows how much a given options trade can be influenced by other prices.
If you’re new to trading options and the strategies that you can use, this is a great way to know how your trades are affecting other prices. For example, you may have a portfolio of options that have relatively low option premiums but have high Omegas.
If the underlying stock falls sharply, your options are likely to be affected negatively as well. However, you may also be able to capture some additional profit by shorting the stock with your call options to profit from its downward movement.
This can help offset the losses incurred from your option positions. As a result, the value of an option is influenced by many different factors besides just the price of its underlying security or index (for example, interest rates or economic conditions).
