The Market Structure Map
April 3, 2024
Is impending volatility predictable? Sherlock Holmes would not tell Watson it’s elementary, that’s for sure. But there is a tale behind the tape. Permit me to tell it. I wrote this last week: Some volatility you can’t control. The market is fragile and fast-moving and...
March 27, 2024
Vanguard founder Jack Bogle said to own the averages. Index funds. That seed germinated into a tree that filled the investment world. Look at Blackrock. More on Larry Fink in a moment. Most of the top 25 owners of US stocks follow models. The constituency...
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...