Blog Posts

If you’re considering whether trading is a good pursuit for yourself, good for others (e.g., hiring), or what makes a good trader more generally, we know that some personality types are more attracted to some professions over others. We also know that trader personality types and traits also follow a common thread. If you think […]

Portfolio strategy has taken a big change from normal. Cash and bonds provide extremely low yields and this is having major impacts on where traders and investors go from here and how they construct their portfolios.  The nominal yields on government debt of reserve currency countries is very low to negative. We also know that […]

Diversification through strategic, rather than tactical, asset allocation is the most important thing you can do to win in the markets over the long-run. It’s more important than focusing on what to invest in and more important than focusing on your targeted absolute level of returns. For individual investors who play the markets, most of […]

Reserve currencies are foreign currencies, precious metals, or other reserve assets that are held by countries’ governments, central banks, or central monetary authorities to hold as part of their foreign exchange reserves. Reserve currencies are used to save in, transact in, stabilize one’s own currency, or use for investments. They are often called safe-haven currencies. […]

Whether you trade stock indexes, pick individual stocks, trade ETFs, or have other equity exposures in your portfolio, you may consider ways to hedge equity risk to reduce potential losses. Stocks are a volatile asset class and common shareholders are the most junior stakeholders in a business. A stock conveys a share of ownership in a […]

Japanification, or Japanization, refers to the idea that other developed markets are at risk of following Japan in its low-growth and low-inflation pattern that has characterized the decades following the popping of the country’s 1989 bubble. Japanification is also often called secular stagnation. Japan has lots of debt, negative population growth, and sagging productivity growth rates. […]

This article was published on March 7, 2021 Given how low cash and bond rates are (and because that’s, generally, how it always is), the nature of monetary and fiscal policy has big effects on currencies (FX) and commodities as well. In this article, we’ll discuss why currency (FX) and commodities trading are likely to […]

After a recession, the central bank has big incentives to get the economy going again. Traders then largely shift to what are called reflation trades, which will benefit from this backdrop. Central banks start by lowering interest rates. This makes cash less attractive to own. This incentivizes the ownership of riskier assets and more spending […]

Business models can take many different shapes depending on the way the products and services are delivered to the market. Asset-lite and asset-heavy businesses can largely be viewed through a “pipes” (pipelines) vs. “platforms” framework. Recognizing the two and their differences is important as it will ultimately help determine the nature of a stock‘s upside […]

Cryptocurrency is an incredible invention. It’s increasingly become a type of currency and store of value that’s been programmed into a computer and sustained to last. At this time of increased money and debt creation as economies try to relieve their economic problems – a process that will go on for some time – there […]