Twenty-sixteen is proving to be quite a cyclical year. What started as a free fall for stocks, world stocks, bonds, and commodities in the first two months ended with a quick recovery the months following. At one point the current leaders on the scoreboard were down -7.74% (World Stocks) -7.25% (Commodities) -5.11% (Stocks) and -4.80% […]
Category: Education
01
Dec
2016
30
Nov
2016
Are Alternative Investments Worth It?
We’ve been waiting… and waiting… and waiting… for the markets. to. finally. move. With the election over, we’re now seeing it unravel. The U.S. Dollar Index is at levels not seen since 2003, Copper has roared up 20% in a week, and Gold is getting crushed. And that short list doesn’t include the biggest “market” […]
28
Nov
2016
Remarkable Risk Control
There’s no denying Managed Futures performance has struggled in the recent bout of no volatility with the SG CTA Index down -1.64% thru October and the SG CTA Mutual Fund Index down an even worse -6.45% {Disclaimer: Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results}. But anyone who’s been around the block a couple of […]
15
Nov
2016
The Beginning of Donald Trump Influencing Futures Markets
This morning we got off a call with a talented investment manager with a program that trades almost 95% Copper. Jaguar Investments Limited’s managers mentioned to us that last week’s move in Copper was the biggest weekly move in 30 years – moving up more than 20% in the last couple of days. {Disclaimer: Past […]
20
Oct
2016
The New Asset Class: Investing in (or against) the VIX (Part 2)
Earlier this week, we gave a brief recap of CBOE Director of Education’s Russell Rhoads presentation of VIX Futures, but that was just half the fun. We also had four professional hedge fund managers (technically, commodity trading advisors since these are VIX futures) share how they view volatility as an investment opportunity, not just a […]
07
Oct
2016
Weekend Reads: Corzine Settlement
“Nearly five years after Jon S. Corzine presided over the collapse of the brokerage firm MF Global and became a target of federal investigations, his legal ordeal might be drawing to a close.” 5 Years Later, Jon Corzine May Avoid Trial With $5 Million Settlement – (The New York Times) The Treasury Department (Treasury) […]
06
Oct
2016
Asset Class Scoreboard September
The rest of the market is barely making a move; with four of the eight asset classes we track not moving more than five one-hundredths of a percent!
30
Sep
2016
What Moves Futures Markets
A three market mashup of the CME’s infographics covering grains, meats, and energy markets, highlighting 5 main categories of events that move futures prices this way or that.
27
Sep
2016
8 Markets in Contango and Backwardation
One way to get a look at these ‘guesses’ on where future prices will be is the futures price curve, which shows the prices of different futures contract months on a curve going out in time.
21
Sep
2016
When there’s Blood in the Streets…
To help you make sure you don’t get off on the wrong exit – we’ve highlighted some of these ‘avoid hedge fund’ pieces to help highlight the inaccuracies, potential lapse in detail, or if it is in fact a deserved critique. Enjoy:
