Blog Posts

Economic cycles and how they operate, which are the main drivers of asset prices, are heavily a function of productivity and indebtedness. Productivity rises over time as people learn, invent, and create. Productivity is not a purely linear thing, but is relatively stable over time. It much less volatile than the cycles involved in credit […]

The US dollar is currently the world’s reserve currency. But throughout time, this changes. Various people have different opinions. Will it be the US dollar (USD) for a long time yet (i.e., the rest of this century)? Will sovereign governments become so over-extended that it inevitably reverts back to a hard backing as it’s done […]

Bitcoin first came to prominence in the mainstream in 2017 during its speculative bubble. It rose to around $20,000 before retracing more than 80 percent. Since the top it’s mostly held under 50 percent of its former high. (Source: Trading View)   Digital currencies are still largely misunderstood because of their decentralized nature, technological complexity, […]

Private placement investing, also known as private investments in public equity (PIPEs), is an additional channel for public companies to raise capital outside of the traditional ways of IPOs and secondary offerings. In a recent article, we covered SPACs, or “blank check” companies, as a means of raising capital (for companies) and an alternative means […]

‘Bond vigilantes’ are supposedly the traders who regulate interest rates based on the notional intrinsic value of bonds. Governments all over the world are stimulating economies in a big way and showering money all over the place to offset the drop in demand. In an bygone era with less government intervention in the bond market, […]

A demo account is inherently a different type of trading environment relative to trading the markets in real-time. Because real money is not committed to demo accounts, the results achieved from trading in a simulated, controlled setting can differ materially from the those achieved when trading the markets with real capital. The primary reason is […]

What’s the difference between a recession and a depression? Most think of a depression as simply a really bad recession, but they are two distinct but naturally occurring events. The ineffectiveness of monetary policy is causing financial assets to fall faster than they did during the Great Depression, 1987 (stocks fell hard and fast in […]

Dividend arbitrage is a trading strategy where an investor is long a stock with an upcoming dividend payment and short the equivalent amount of stock through put options. It is designed to hedge against the drop in share prices once dividends are distributed. The basis behind dividend arbitrage When a company issues a dividend, the […]

So, you’ve made one million dollars – or an amount that, when you put it to work in a prudent way, can generate you a solid passive to semi-passive income stream in perpetuity. How to invest 1 million dollars In a previous article, we went through the importance of having a balanced portfolio. Namely, how do […]

The concept of the cash-secured put, or selling put options for income, is one method traders of all stripes (individual, institutional) will use to generate income and/or buy securities cheaper than the current market price. The buyer of a put option pays a premium to the seller for the right to sell shares at an […]