Just throwing something into a portfolio labeled an Alternative Investment is likely going to be a mess. But a lot of times, that’s what happens. A client listens to the words Alternative Investments, but hears the words diversification and stabilization and all the rest. Before you know it, some random Alts strategy is in a […]
Category: Investing Insight
11
Jul
2019
The ‘right twice a day clock’ that is gold.
We have long been in the Warren Buffet camp in relation to Gold: “Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their […]
02
Jul
2019
Asset Class Scoreboard: June 2019
It’s like someone put a mirror between asset classes in May and June – with most asset classes performing nearly the exact opposite side of their percentage from the month before. Low volatility continues to persist (as we had suggested at the beginning of the year) bringing in big positives across the board after the […]
20
Jun
2019
Why use automated execution algorithms? Here’s why.
We’ve been talking a lot about quants and algos recently – like this whitepaper, this blog, and this blog – which only strengthens the thought that, though necessary, quants and algos can be confusing. Even for us, who happen to share coffee and donuts with a whole in-house team of quants dedicated to working on […]
17
Jun
2019
The new AI –> AT, Artificial Trading
One of the best follows on non-financial Twitter is Salesforce.com’s Chief Digital Evangelist: Vala Ashsfar. He comes up with inspiring lists highlighting what it means to be a good mentor, what money can’t buy (happy home, manners, etc.), and companies founded by immigrants (Apple, Google, Amazon to name a few). Not to mention his mesmerizing […]
13
Jun
2019
Remember Bitcoin?
We’ll forgive you if you’ve deleted those files from your brain, but Bitcoin is slowly creeping back into the collective investing consciousness of late. Why? Well, more than doubling from $3,500 to $7,000 in starts to put you back in the conversation. 2019 Returns… Bitcoin $BTC: +111% REITs $VNQ: +20% Nasdaq 100 $QQQ: +18% Oil […]
10
Jun
2019
What’s wrong with AQR (part III)
We’ve covered AQR’s eponymous managed futures product before, asking in April of 2017: What’s Wrong with AQR and again in March of 2019: What’s Wrong with AQR (Part II), because when you’re the elephant in the room, well – people want to know what if you’re playing nicely or shattering the dinnerware. And, well, when […]
03
Jun
2019
Asset Class Scoreboard: May
And there we have it folks, the reversal we’ve all been waiting for. After 4 straight months of positive returns, every class aside from Bonds and Cash took some big hits. Managed futures came in in the middle of the pack seeing a -2.33% and Commodities are down almost 9% (no surprise there since we’ve […]
23
May
2019
The equation of an algo
Trade idea testing + trade order execution + trade size generation = algo??? That’s one way to look at it, and indeed we have a whole in-house team dedicated to building algos to do some of these pieces every day with our RCM-X team. While the difference between an alpha generating algo and an execution […]
02
May
2019
Micro E-mini S&P 500: The next big little thing in futures trading
CME’s Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures contract (ticker: MES) is set to hit the market in exactly 3 days providing traders with the same benefits of an E-mini futures contract, just…smaller – 1/10th the size of an E-mini contract to be exact. We’ve broken down the micro E-mini vs the E-mini vs the full-size S&P […]
