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Young investors pondering whether to put some of their money into the markets now could be forgiven for feeling a bit confused. The stock markets are awfully jittery these days, with shares and indices shooting back and forth without any apparent relation to underlying fundamentals.

Volatility, in other words, is high. The term is essentially a measure of how much an asset’s price moves in a given period – a low-volatility bond might not go up or down more than a tenth of a percent in one day, while a high-volatility stock could shoot up or down 10s or even 100s of percentage points.

There are even indexes, like the Volatility S&P 500 (VIX) which allow investors to track and place bets on how jumpy the markets will be.

Volatility matters because it can fundamentally change your investment strategy. When it’s low, some of the traditional strategies work, like steadily putting money into a portfolio over time and riding the market upwards over a long period.

When circumstances are as uncertain as they are now, though, it pays to be more vigilant. Even if you really like the long-term fundamentals of a stock, it could jump around wildly for a few weeks.

Getting in when the markets are feeling despondent – or getting out when irrational exuberance takes hold – can make the difference between a successful portfolio and a failed one.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should start day-trading; rather, it means paying attention to market movements to time your investments to get the best return on your capital.

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