The Market Structure Map
March 20, 2024
I was walking up Steamboat Springs’s Emerald Mountain with my friend Charlie last week and he said, “Trading volatility is like trading air.” Charlie was a hedge-fund guy. He knows. Coincidentally, new VIX volatility options trade today. Since everyone has been selling volatility, don’t be...
March 13, 2024
My wife Karen is reading Peter Attia’s book, Outlive, which is like reading it myself. I get the benefit of Karen as filter for tidbits and takeaways. Now, I realize. Not everybody loves Dr. Attia. And I’m not suggesting he’s got all the answers. But...
March 6, 2024
What the…? Everything was awesome. Monday. Then yesterday, stocks toppled like a thawed corpse in Nederland (inside joke, there). No obvious reason. Some said it was Jay Powell testifying today and tomorrow. Others claimed it was Big Tech coming apart at the seams (great song...
February 28, 2024
Two things exploded in 2023. Trading in options contracts and illegal US immigration. No, I’m not suggesting they’re correlated! I note it bemusedly. But I do have a point. We need clarity. In options, the Futures Industry Association said equity-linked instruments saw volume double globally...
February 21, 2024
Last week, markets were abuzz over the zero that lifted LYFT. For those who were vacationing or living hermetically and missed it, Lyft reported financial results and inadvertently added a zero to adjusted EBITDA margin-expansion, giving machines the notion profit margins improved 5% instead of...
February 14, 2024
I’ve got my Valentine, for which I’m grateful every day. Whether the market finds love after yesterday’s blood remains to be seen. Back when the Romans celebrated Lupercalia, there was blood. Romans knifed a goat to arouse the gods of fertility and then flicked bloody...