Download PDF What are 0DTEs? Zero Days to Expiry (0DTE) options are options that expire on the same day they are purchased; this gives them an unusually high amount of leverage that is hard to find anywhere else. Due to theta, the extrinsic value of an option declines exponentially as Read more…
Download PDF Context Markets witnessed the second largest bank collapse in US history since the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008, as SVB was taken over by regulators on the 10th of March. Since March 2022, the FED has frenetically increased its target fund rate in an effort to tame Read more…
Download PDF Introduction When managing a portfolio, the fundamental problem is to find investments with excess risk-adjusted expected rates of return. Once the manager has identified some favourable opportunities and is ready to assemble the portfolio, they still need to decide how much capital, as a fraction of the value Read more…
Download PDF Introduction on recent market developments After a subdued performance of equities in 2022 (-18.01% dividends adjusted), January has seen a significant turning point for US equities, given the recent strong rally. This article will briefly summarize what happened in markets this last month, outlining the causes of the Read more…
Download PDF Introduction The following article will investigate the peculiar phenomenon of excess market returns that seem to accumulate before FOMC announcements and that can hold, depending on the announcement itself, for several days after the decision. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is the organ of the US Federal Read more…
Download PDF US Every major index in the US had a positive week after starting slow and rebounding in Thursday’s and Friday’s sessions. The NASDAQ Composite led the pack with a weekly growth of 2.58%, followed closely by the Russell 3000 Growth Index which enjoyed a WoW climb of 2.46%. Read more…
Download PDF Introduction The reopening of China’s economy in 2023 has been welcomed with optimism and anticipation as it offers a potential return to pre-pandemic growth. The Chinese government’s decision to reopen has led to an increase in the prices of many assets related to the country and has spurred Read more…
Download PDF US The main driver of US market returns this week was the U.S. core personal consumption expenditures price index that surged to 0.6% MoM in January far higher than the 0.4% expected and double the previous months. The year-on-year increase was revised higher to 4.7% compared to the Read more…
Download PDF Introduction While interest rates were still stuck at historic lows in Europe, news broke in June 2022 that Credit Suisse was about to issue a contingent convertible bond at a yield level of close to 10%. The peculiarity with this type of security is that it is converted Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Recently, the governments of Argentina and Brazil announced that they are considering the launch of a common currency and are aiming for stronger monetary and economic integration in South America. Furthermore, some of the biggest events in Europe in the last decade included the Euro Crisis and the Read more…
Download PDF US Equities started off the week strong, with most major indexes surging, in anticipation of Tuesday’s CPI report, where inflation slowed ever so slightly to 6.4% from 6.5% in December, less than market forecasts of 6.2%. The inflation reading was the first to be calculated by the Bureau Read more…
Download PDF Introduction In this article, we discuss an equity Pairs Trading strategy using the S&P 500 index components. Pairs Trading is a statistical arbitrage strategy that involves simultaneously taking long and short positions in two financial assets, expecting their spread to converge to the mean. However, the process of Read more…
Download PDF In the past few years, cryptocurrencies have made the headlines on many different occasions and many think that they are here to stay, for better or worse. Regardless of their social impact, we believe that they have introduced interesting contrasts to traditional finance in their market microstructures. In Read more…
Download PDF Introduction A yield curve depicts the returns of fixed income securities against their term, or time to maturity. In this article, we explain the role that the discount function and forward rates have in the creation of a yield curve and compare different methodologies to fit the yield Read more…
Download PDF US The week started off with a substantial drop in the DOW Jones Index during the last hour of trading on Monday amid worries around commentary by Fed officials and reports of protests spreading in China. These worries were the main drivers of Tuesday’s markets as well with Read more…