Blog Posts

Negative carry refers to the cost of holding an options position, usually from: Time decay (theta) on long options Premium paid for protection or leverage Bid-ask spread losses or margin costs Since options are often used for convexity (leveraged exposure or downside protection), the cost is embedded in the premium. The goal is to offset […]

Trading is fundamentally a game of information edge. So where do you get this information? Here’s a curated list of the best information sources for traders, grouped by category and chosen based on signal-to-noise ratio, timeliness, and actionable insights. These are especially valuable for individual traders looking to “shrink the gap” and adopt institutional-quality workflows […]

This article is a practical reference guide to the most useful mental models for traders.  These models help you make better decisions, avoid common cognitive traps, and build more resilient strategies.  Instead of chasing predictions, they help you think clearly about risk, uncertainty, and probability in real-world trading environments. They can also carry over into […]

The hedge fund industry is often defined by secrecy and star managers with iron-fist control. Marshall Wace stands out not just for its eye-popping returns or its $70 billion in AUM – but for the odd couple at its helm and the ingenious strategy driving its success.  Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, mismatched in personality, […]

Investors increasingly seek strategies with little or no correlation to traditional assets (e.g., stocks, bonds, gold, broad commodities) to diversify portfolios.  Below we compile a list of global investment and trading strategies – both liquid and illiquid – that historically exhibit low or negative correlation to mainstream markets. Each strategy is described along with its […]

Day trading is a bit of a different job. It can be fast, unpredictable, unforgiving. Every click, every hesitation, every impulse is tied to something deeper: motivation. Unlike other fields, where long-term rewards or passive effort might suffice, day trading demands moment-to-moment commitment. This makes motivation not just a starting point but an ongoing necessity. […]

Capital efficiency is important for a lot of traders. For example, if you a $100,000 account, you don’t necessarily have to think of things in terms of $40,000 here… $20,000 here… and so on. You can design overlays to effectively add leverage to a portfolio. This isn’t about stacking risk, but about doing things in […]

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a branch of machine learning where an agent learns to make decisions by interacting with an environment through trial and error, receiving feedback in the form of rewards. In a trading context, the environment is the financial market, the agent’s actions might be buying, selling, or holding assets, and the reward […]

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is an important indicator that fundamentals-based traders closely watch. Traders rely on GDP to understand the health and direction of the economy. But how exactly do traders interpret this economic measure, and what role does GDP play in their strategies?   Key Takeaways – How Traders View GDP GDP reveals economic […]

First things first: this article is designed for individuals who incorporate longer-term holds as part of their wealth strategy and are looking for clarity amidst shorter-term market noise.  It’s not intended for those who exclusively trade on shorter time horizons and really know what they’re doing to have consistent success at that. (These traders do […]