The Money Angle

The 80/20 hack for risk-adjusting a return

In the ELI5 vid published this week, I explained how the options market provides a rich understanding of a stock’s distribution…

10 months ago

kids as market-makers

During Cousins Camp this week, I taught the kids a fun trading game. Each kid has a private number that…

10 months ago

using elementary school geometry to explain gamma

In options land, you constantly hear the returns are “non-linear”, “convex”, or maybe even “have curvature”. It comes from the…

11 months ago

the dirties are down the cleans are up

On June 2nd I tweeted: June expiry in USO vol change on the 3% rally... OPEC agreed over the weekend to…

11 months ago

The “most important” gambling topic and a riddle

Non-self weighting strategy We watched Ocean’s Eleven with my older son Friday night (we’ve recently established a Friday night ritual…

11 months ago

the investment industry is a placebo

Giant swaths of the investment industry are doing nothing but selling soothing balms. Placebos. It is the vitamin industry at…

12 months ago

Netting risk, “The Hopeless”, John Arnold and more

Friends, A grab bag of practical finance nerd stuff today. Behind the paywall, subs get an exclusive complimentary pass to…

12 months ago

The variable that balances the buy/rent equation

You’ve solved one equation with one unknown a million times. For example: $20 - 2 * $8.99 = X where:…

12 months ago

two vol trader interview questions

Thursday’s post the dirties are down the cleans are up took the form of an extended interview question. If you are high-volume…

12 months ago

how I sold cotton at an all-time high

In the post If they ban short-selling derivatives become the underlying, I concluded with If futures are trading at full carry…

12 months ago