Space time codes have been proposed in the literature as an efficient means for improving the data rates over fading channels with multiple transmit antennas. In particular, the rank and the determinant of code difference matrices have been shown to be important in the design of space time codes for fading channels. In the present work, we investigate the problem of maximizing the coding gain of space-time codes, given by the minimum of the determinants of all the code difference matrices. We rely on equality of the singular values of the code difference matrices as a necessary and sufficient condition for obtaining the optimal coding gain. Finally, we discuss the construction of trellis codes and present simulation results.