Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of oil and gas exploration company Hyperdynamics (AMEX: HDY) continued its wild ride by falling as much as 10% earlier in the trading day, but they have since recovered to being down 3%.

So what: Investors love value and traders love volatility, and make no mistake about it, traders are in full control of Hyperdynamics. The company hasn't released any material news today that would explain the move lower, but it's likely the company's stock price was under pressure considering the deeply depressed market open caused by Japan's nuclear crisis.

Now what: This stock has more drama than a midday soap opera. As Fool contributor Tim Beyers reminded us yesterday, Hyperdynamics has a beta of 2.64, which alludes to just how volatile the swings in its stock price can be -- in this case an average of more than two and a half times the overall market. On the one hand, bulls are betting on a potential oilfield find off the coast of West Africa. Then you have bears like me who are quick to point out the lack of any revenue thus far. Unless you're into highly volatile price swings, I'd just avoid this situation altogether.

Interested in more info on Hyperdynamics? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

Fool contributor Sean Williams does not own shares in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.