Blog Posts

Variance swaps are an OTC financial derivative used to hedge risks and/or speculate on a movement in the price of a certain asset or index, volatility, interest rate, or exchange rate. One leg of the swap pays an amount based on the realized variance of the price changes (as it pertains to the underlying asset, […]

In this article, we cover trading and investing in the metaverse. But first, what is the metaverse? The metaverse is a space where users of a certain platform can interact in a computer-generated virtual-reality environment with other users. The metaverse is making a big push as the next big tech trend. Facebook even went so […]

China’s economy will naturally slow over time. Its population is already older. Its productivity will still rise faster than western developed economies as plays catch-up and its per-capita incomes get more in line. But a lot of growth that was fueled by credit will start to slow. Its slowdown is eliciting familiar warnings that, as […]

The metaverse and virtual reality (VR) space is heating up. As social media and gaming increasingly merge, more companies are building their own AR, VR, AI, and metaverse platforms to take advantage. In this article, we look at the best stocks in the metaverse and virtual reality space. Investing in VR and the metaverse can […]

Turkey’s central bank cut rates by 100bps in November 2021, which was expected by the market and Bloomberg consensus. However, given Turkey’s economics fundamentals, the rates cuts were not necessary, leading the country to another currency crisis.     Why did markets throw a tantrum? They didn’t want the CBRT (Turkey’s central bank) to cut […]

Under current policies, it’s expected that there will be no decline in oil consumption for years. For directional oil traders, it’s important to pay attention to whether government action going forward will meaningfully reduce the demand for oil. This is likely to come through carbon taxes or subsidies to encourage the creation and shift to […]

Carbon emissions trading is a type of policy that enables companies to buy or sell allotments of carbon dioxide (CO2) output permitted by governments with regional or national emissions standards. Carbon emissions trading is based on the idea that individuals or institutions can each own, buy or sell permits to produce greenhouse gas. Carbon emission permit […]

Demand shock refers to an unexpected demand event, which leads to a large and persistent increase in inflation (and potentially interest rates). Demand shocks can be caused by supply-side shocks (e.g., oil supply shocks), monetary policy actions (e.g., central bank rate hike or QE contraction) or people changing their spending habits (e.g., deciding to save […]

Investing in gold is not usually the first allocation priority in most people’s portfolios. It does, however, have an important role to play when it’s allocated in the right amount that can both enhance returns and reduce risk. Gold is treated much closer to a monetary asset or a currency than a commodity subject to […]

With cryptocurrency’s popularity, there’s natural speculation over just how popular it can get. Can cryptocurrency become a type of global currency that could complement or even substitute for sovereign currencies? We believe it’s unlikely for a couple reasons, but first let’s look at the nuts and bolts of cryptocurrency and go from there. Cryptocurrency as […]