Okay, you can’t really call it a lull when you get a 192-point drop two days after Christmas. But anyway, we’re taking it easy on the blogging through the holidays, though we did publish a new trade today for our members. Some items of note: Be a little careful on Monday, it’s the end of the year and you never know what those crazy pension and mutual fund managers are likely to do. Listening to Tom Sosnoff of thinkorswim…
Friday, December 21, 2007
The Sad State of Western Civilization no comment necessary Where to Put Your Cash in 2008 Zero Beta: More On Counterparty Risk VIX and More: The Incredible Shrinking VIX
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Bloomberg.com: Special Report “Interesting presentation,” Bass says the firm’s chief risk officer said into his ear, his arm draped across Bass’s shoulders. “God, I hope you’re wrong.” ‘Deal With Devil’ Funded Carrera Crash Before Bust – Bloomberg One week in 2002, Daniel Sadek was $6,000 short of covering the payroll for his new subprime mortgage company, Quick Loan Funding Corp. So he flew to Las Vegas and put a $5,000 chip…
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tom Preston makes an interesting observation: After a month of so-so rate cuts, subprime losses, and various and sundry news items that gave the market some mighty big moves up and down, the SPX is right where it was when we put on the experimental Dec 1335/1340/1560/1565 iron condor. As I write this, it’s not just close. It’s 1450, which is what it was on the Monday morning after last expiration. Is that market neutral enough for you? [link]…
Thursday, December 20, 2007
This is a historical occasion: namely, it is the first time we’ve posted a separate followup to one of our bonus trades. Back on November 11, 2007, we posted the following position, which we dubbed the “Fearful Santa Iron Condor“: +1 Dec SPY 133 put -1 Dec SPY 135 put -1 Dec SPY 150 call +1 Dec SPY 152 call for an $0.86 credit. If you got in on that trade and if you were tough enough to…
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
World Beta – Engineering Targeted Returns and Risk: AlphaLetters Quant Paper Reviews (tags: quant hedge alpha) VIX and More: No Fear? As shown below, my proxy for the fear premium component of the VIX is now showing a reading that is substantially below the 10 and 100 day simple moving averages. Is this merely a case of desensitization or is something else going on? (tags: volatility…
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Ok, this one’s kind of out of left field, if you’ll pardon the pun. The thesis: Picking up on a comment from Obsidian Wings, we’re looking at the prospect of a much better than expected showing by John Edwards in Iowa. People have gotten so wrapped up in the Clinton/Obama story that Edwards never gets as much attention in the mainstream media as he does from regular people. He’s got a grassroots, populist message, and just as importantly he’s…
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Best Broker Ratings From Barron’s 2007 (tags: brokers) Maoxian » Where Hedge Fund Guys Get Their Best Investment Ideas Click over for the title, but stay for the Big Lebowski scene! (tags: lebowski hedge mortgage subprime) The Big Picture | Real Money Attempts Subscription Suicide (tags: cramer tscm) Bespoke Investment Group: Goldman Sachs’ Declining Share Count…
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Lots of interest this weekend in the Striking Price article from Barron’s. You’ve got to like any article that begins with some colloquial German: After so much sturm und drang in the global markets in 2007, investors increasingly will view volatility as an asset that can be traded, just like stocks and bonds. The gist of the article is that when you’re making asset allocation choices, it isn’t enough to look just at the usual suspects of bonds, US…
Monday, December 17, 2007
A Buyer’s Christmas: Financial Page: The New Yorker And one obvious example of consumer irrationality continues to work in stores’ favor; namely, the Christmas shopping season itself. (tags: retail shopping holiday consumers) CXOAG Investing Notes – The Black Swan A great chapter-by-chapter review of Nassim Taleb’s book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (tags: taleb blackswan volatility risk)…
© 2012 Condor Options. Powered by Wordpress.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
0 Comments