The Market Structure Map
June 11, 2025
In what I believe to be a first, we have a client whose largest shareholder is a proprietary trader. And the position is comprised of put and call options. The firm, Jane Street, is the largest market-maker in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Proprietary traders like...
February 5, 2025
“Really? That’s all the time you spent?” I said,”Yessir. It doesn’t take long to pull weeds.” I think I was twelve. The mailman had suggested to Walker Fry, the richest guy in Huntington, Oregon, population 530, where I grew up that the Quast kid would...
January 22, 2025
A headline at Bloomberg from Jan 13, 2025, reads: I was a Wall Street Analyst. They are Irrelevant. The article by opinion columnist Shuli Ren (subscription required), a former sellsider, describes factors reducing the value of sellside research. It’s one of three in a span...
January 15, 2025
December 11, 2024
Microsoft is in 766 Exchange Traded Funds including a Utilities ETF. It’s in about a third of the nearly 1,800 domestic equity ETFs comprising a US-traded universe of 3,500 ETFs, adding in bond, commodity and international funds. Says the Investment Company Institute. Is that a...
November 20, 2024
Nvidia (NVDA) reports results today after the market closes, like thousands of public companies in the last couple weeks trying to generate alpha. The difference between Nvidia and most of the rest – about 99% – is Nvidia right now generates alpha, a superior return...