In this revealing episode, Jeff Malec sits down with Grant Jaffarian (@GJaffarian) from Crabel Capital Management to dissect the current state of trend following. They explore the declining performance over the past 6 months, challenges in maintaining positive convexity, and the critical need for innovation. Grant offers candid insights into how trend following has evolved, […]
Category: Trend Following and Systematic Strategies

Patience in Alts: Man Group Shows trend in Trend’s Initial Struggles
We’ve been discussing the challenges facing trend following strategies during April’s market volatility here in our post Paging Mr. Trend Following and in Jeff Malec’s, recent tweet thread. Many investors are understandably frustrated by the performance of trend and other alternatives during this market downturn. Right on cue, managed futures pioneer Man Group has published […]

Paging Mr. Following, Mr….Trend… Following
We can’t blame you if you’ve been looking to put out an APB on trend following so far this year—needing some help from that Alts bucket in what is increasingly looking like an ugly market moment. The S&P 500 is now down 17% from its highs, while the Nasdaq and Russell indices have plunged into […]

Trends, Tall Heads, and Transformations with Transtrend’s Harold de Boer
Dive into the fascinating world of trend following with Jeff Malec and one of the GOATs: Harold de Boer, a pioneering systematic trader who transformed his life path from a Dutch dairy farm into the sophisticated global investment firm Transtrend. In this episode, Harold shares insights into the evolution of trend following, discussing how understanding […]

Unlocking the Equity Risk Premium with Dividend Futures
In this episode, Jeff Malec sits down with Rick Silva, the co-founder of Metaurus Advisors, a boutique asset manager. Rick walks us through Metaurus Advisors’ innovative approach to understanding and trading the equity risk premium using dividend futures markets. Rick Silva provides insights into the firm’s background in derivative markets and their goal of bringing […]

The Art of Asymmetric Investing: When Imbalance Beats Balance
The Paradox of Symmetry While we often celebrate symmetry and balance in life – from balanced diets to symmetrical architecture – in investing, this intuitive preference can be counterproductive. For sophisticated investors, asymmetry in risk/return profiles often yields superior results. This seems logical, who doesn’t want to make more than they risk. But the reality […]

The State of AI, and AI in Alternative Investments with Mohammad Rasouli of AIx2
In this episode, we dive deep into the current state of AI… getting to its transformative impact on the alternative investments landscape. Our guest, Mohammad Rasouli, is a renowned researcher at Stanford University and the founder and CEO of AIx2, a leading AI solutions provider for private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds. Mohammad shares […]

Where do stocks go from here?
As Ferris Bueller famously said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” In that spirit, we thought we’d take a minute and look around at this impressive stock market we’re in. The stock market has been absolutely roaring. The S&P 500 is […]

Retail to Institutional: How David Sun Scaled His ODTE Options Strategies
In this episode, Jeff Malec sits down with David Sun, an entrepreneur, trader, and fund manager with a unique journey into the world of options trading and alternative investments. David shares his unconventional path, starting as a retail trader experimenting with options strategies, particularly selling puts, before transitioning to professional fund management. He discusses the […]

October, CTAs, and the Year of the Whipsaw
Oh, to be an investor, where the markets often seem to do something completely different than what you thought was going to happen. The old buy the rumor, sell the news axiom, perhaps? But whatever you call it, October brought the idea home hard. Here we were expecting some Q4 magic in the CTA space, […]