This week, we're adding another stamp to our Derivative passport and traveling to Zurich, Switzerland, as we talk to the Head of Systematic Solutions and Portfolio Construction at Sygnum Bank's Asset Management, Artur Sepp @ArturSepp — who specializes in crypto-assets and decentralized finance. Artur has led quantitative research at systematic trend-following hedge fund Quantica Capital, focusing on data-driven investment strategies and asset allocation in global managed futures. In this episode...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 24 min
A little over four years since 2018’s Volmageddon, and 2 years after TVIX got terminated – two new VIX ETF’s were recently launched – the 1x short VIX exposure SVIX and 2x long VIX exposure UVIX by VelocityShares. What’s different about them, how do they protect against another Feb of 2018 event. We’re going straight to the source(s) to answer those questions and more; chatting up three musketeers of VIX expertise: Stuart Barton CIO of VolatilityShares, Jim Carroll of the @Vixologist Twitter han...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Forget about not being emotional in your investment process. Tap into those emotions! According to today's guest Denise Shull, that is the recipe for success. Denise is the Founder of the ReThink Group and leverages her neuroscience and modern psychoanalysis background to solve the mental mysteries of successful investing, trading, competing, and leading teams. In this episode, we talk through Denise's days as a trader, the differences between trading and athletic performance, why systematic tra...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 3 min
What exactly does a chief strategist do? Besides picking fights with Bitcoin HODLers on Twitter… And how exactly does one of the most prominent voices on the dangers of too much passive money trying to fit into a single asset classes on/off ramps, end up at….wait for it….an ETF shop? We aim to find out in this episode with Simplify's Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager - the one and only Mike Green - he of Clue character handles, Princess Bride Avatars, and insightful RealVision interviews an...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 18 min
Who in the right mind would choose to make a living day trading stock index futures? It must be one of the most competitive, most challenging arenas out there with HFT and 10s of billions of dollars in quant strategies chasing alpha. In this week's episode, we're chatting up the founder and CEO of short-term systematic shop Deepfield Capital from Switzerland, who ply their wares on stock index markets from Asia to Europe, the U.S. Bastian also discusses why there is a difference between market m...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 34 min
Interesting times in the world bring interesting guests to the show. And, there's no better time than now to sit down with a global finance correspondent, especially with the U.S. unleashing their USD financial war against Russia. Robin Wigglesworth, a Financial Times journalist, joins us all the way from Oslo, Norway, for a captivating chat about his home country, the current turmoil between Ukraine and Russia and its impacts worldwide, and why there isn’t more of an uproar over the current “te...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 21 min
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The luck of the Irish is on our side as we celebrate today's episode with Dubliner Alan Dunne, CEO and Founder of Archive Capital, a boutique multi-asset and investment research firm focused on global macro and managed futures strategies. Alan has worked in the financial markets and investment management industry for over 25 years at hedge funds and large investment banks as a CIO, hedge fund allocator, macro strategist, and technical analyst. During our exciting chat wi...
Mar 17, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Picture this...Downtown Chicago...December 2019 B.C. (Before COVID)...The RCM crew is venturing out to a small studio ready to record the first episode of The Derivative, with no video or clue what we were doing! Who would have thought we would be crossing the 100th episode mark just two short years later!? And, we couldn't celebrate this special milestone without a one-of-kind guest. Chris Cole, founder and CIO of Artemis Capital Management, is taking it up 100%, as he tells us about his very o...
Mar 10, 2022•1 hr 32 min
Oil prices spiking. Wheat at new highs. A bid in Bitcoin. Russia’s invasion on its neighbor, Ukraine, got the world's attention and moved all sorts of markets. While our human side rallies around the Ukrainian people, our financial minds turn to wondering what is going on and what impact this chaos will bring on? To get a clearer global picture, Luke Gormen, a research pro focused on the macro picture and CEO of Forest for the Trees (FFTT, LLC), joins us for a unique discussion of what he is see...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 6 min
With news of Russia invading Ukraine, it was as scary, market-wise, as it’s been since March of 2020 with global stock indices selling off rapidly overnight to send the Nasdaq into bear market territory, SP into correction, and the Nikkei to 15-month low. As the craziness ensued, VIX spiked up to 34 – so we got VIX expert Brian Stutland to come out of his foxhole to provide a unique overview of what is happening in the volatility world this morning and explain why he is so into providing some ar...
Feb 24, 2022•1 hr 1 min
From his days as a clerk in the S&P pits to becoming Chairman and CEO of EMC Capital, John Krautsack is here to tell us about his journey in the futures industry — and nothing is off limits! From his wild west pit days to working for one of the original turtle traders, the late Liz Cheval, to what it's like implementing a new vision and everything in between. With their Classic program having been around for 40 years, John gives us a glimpse into EMC’s recipe for long-term success. We're tal...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 12 min
There are not a lot of Florida Gator fans in Utah, just like there are few firms that move from high-frequency trading (HFT) into the mutual fund space. That's why Matthew Hanna from Teza Capital Management is here to talk us through what it is like running a systematic macro mutual fund. He reviews Teza's HFT and prop trading roots, how Teza’s algorithms approach the market, all while mixing his love for UF sports into the conversation. We also flip the script and ask the lead PM of the Catalys...
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Timmberrrrr...welcome to the world of lumber! We’re laying the lumber in this episode talking through an exciting world some know as timber; others as fiber or wood, and the futures world as Lumber. Whatever you call it, it is impacting today's market with its wild swings, and in this episode, we're getting down to the nitty-gritty with two wood wizards, Stinson Dean of Deacon Lumber and Kyle Little of Sherwood Lumber — who both have interesting stories behind their names. One for having a chall...
Feb 03, 2022•1 hr 27 min
When in Rome do as the Romans do?...Did they have convexity? They had the word, convexitas, and in this episode, we are joined by not one, but TWO brainiacs in the option and vol space, Devin Anderson and Zed Francis from Convexitas. Devin and Zed making noise in the derivative world by launching the first true discretionary, all separate account implemented, derivative manager into existence. Tune in as Devin and Zed talk us through constructing Convexitas, their long gamma tail liquidity strat...
Jan 27, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Now we’re cooking! We’re turning up the heat and bringing an abundance of flavor in this episode with a special guest who discusses venture capital, working capital, adds in a dash of e-sports and computer games, and sprinkles in being a rocket scientist. Dr. Chris Dark does it all, retiring at the age of 39, he continues to invest his family office across all asset classes, focusing on crypto, long-term out of consensus strategic plays, and allocating to external managers with specialist strate...
Jan 20, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Season 3Ep. 3
We're taking a trip across the pond to London in this episode and diving into the carbon markets and emissions trading with Michael Azlen, CEO and founder of Carbon Cap Fund and Management. Whether you care about making money off trending carbon emission prices, or saving the planet, or both… Mike has become a leading voice for educating and explaining the role carbon emission credits and the emerging carbon futures markets play. In this episode, Mike breaks down the complex carbon concepts and ...
Jan 13, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 3Ep. 2
We're kickstarting the 2022 season of The Derivative with fan-favorite - Cem Karsan. In this episode, the FinTwit star better known as @jamcroissant and his calls on Gary and Gamma and Vol and Vanna, digs into the interesting 2021 Vol moves, what 2022 may look like in the vol space (not good…or good, depending on your positioning), how he actually trades flow and options in his KAI hedge fund, as well as a journey through all the things that make you go 'hmm.' Tune in as Cem also highlights the ...
Jan 06, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Hey everyone, it's hard to find a more interesting cast of characters in the financial world than in alternative investments, where every strategy has a story, every trade has a lesson, and every manager has a unique way of looking at the markets. That's why we started the derivative I'm your host, Jeff Malec. In each episode, I sit down with the people living and breathing futures and options, day in and day out, commodity traders, volatility experts, hedge fund managers. We even get some quant...
Dec 01, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Join us in this, our last episode of the year, where we’re talking Crypto and Bitcoin ETFs with Jason Urban, Global Co-Head of Trading at Galaxy Digital – which is perhaps better known as the folks behind the world’s largest Bitcoin Fund, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and its ownership of 650k+ bitcoin! Today we step into a bit of Jason’s past when he founded and ran the equity index derivative business at a Chicago prop firm DRW and his time at Goldman Sachs where he ran its equity vol business. ...
Nov 20, 2021•1 hr 9 min
In this episode, we shed some light on one of the largest groups you’ve maybe never heard of, whose new “mission” is to seek out incredible trading talent and blend them together in a multi-PM Global Macro approach. We get into just how this all works, and more, in our chat with Markian Zyga, Portfolio Manager of Mission Crest, which is a subsidiary of Lighthouse Investment Partners who oversee about 14 billion in assets across their own hedge funds, solutions and services groups. We begin by di...
Nov 13, 2021•1 hr 25 min
This week is a cage match of a pod, going point/counterpoint on every Alt from private equity to fine art to digital assets with Phil Huber and the knowledge he’s about to drop in his upcoming new book ‘The Allocators Edge: A modern guide to alternative investments and the future of diversification’. Phil is the Chief Investment Officer at Savant Wealth Management. As a Chicago native, we talk with Phil about his start in investments with his interests in the family business from an RIA wealth m...
Nov 04, 2021•1 hr 26 min
In this episode, we sit down again with one of the OGs of VIX futures trading & options, Brett Nelson, CEO of Certeza Asset Management, and discuss their new mutual fund — Convex Core and how it relates to their Macro Vega hedge fund strategy. Join us to hear how the mutual fund aims to participate when the market is up, exploit opportunities when things get bumpy, and then protect heavily when the market is down. Brett explains why Convex Core isn't just an overlay strategy and how utilizin...
Oct 28, 2021•1 hr 12 min
In this week's pod, we're doing something new and digging into the derivative market's Ag roots in our first "Way more than you need to Know" series, starting with the Global Meat Markets. Joining us today discussing all things Meat in the world is Simon Quilty, from Melbourne, Australia, and also RCM's very own Jeff Eizenberg, who handles all things Ag, including hosting the Hedged Edge podcast where they talk grown in the ground commodities once a month. Today we get an overview of the Global ...
Oct 14, 2021•1 hr 19 min
We’re looking into the far reaches of the search for yield in this episode, diving into investors’ interest in so-called Cat Bonds, or catastrophe bonds, and the world of reinsurance and ILS (insurance-linked securities). Yes, even the biggest risk-takers need backing – and we’re talking Reinsurance with Chris McKeown, Chief Executive of Reinsurance, ILS, and Innovation at Vantage Group Holdings. Take a trip with us and daydream about Bermuda as we define reinsurance: the secondary market & ...
Oct 07, 2021•58 min
How do large delta hedging flows of market makers tie in with Central Bank quantitative easing? How do ETF rebalancing’s and structured note issuer movements shift markets? We sit down with options guru Hari Krishnan talk through his new book: Market Tremors - Quantifying Structural Risks in Modern Financial Markets . Hari's first book, The Second Leg Down , talked about what investors can do when they're in trouble and how to structure actual options trades to keep bleed under control and maxim...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 18 min
In this episode, we're stepping away from our ordinary world of futures and options to find out why boring old corporate bonds aren't all that boring after all. Join our conversation with Greg Obenshain, Partner and Director of Credit at Verdad Advisers, as he and Jeff discuss just what running a high yield bond investments portfolio is like. Greg shares the complexities of accessing and organizing the needed data to run a quantitative model on bonds (think no central exchange nor shared order b...
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Jeff is “stacking” two guests in this episode, welcoming 1. Corey Hoffstein, CIO and co-founder of Newfound Research, host of Flirting with Models Podcast, and co-conspirator on the Pirates of Finance YouTube channel; and 2. Rodrigo Gordillo, President and Portfolio Manager of Resolve Asset Management and host of the Resolve Riffs Friday live stream. They’re talking about their new research paper: “Return Stacking: Strategies for Overcoming a Low Return Environment,” which takes a novel approach...
Sep 16, 2021•1 hr 30 min
How is the ETF sausage made? Who creates the filling? The casing? Who buys it at the store? What other meat is it replacing? We dig into all these tasty morsels and more with this episode’s guest – the ETF expert Dave Nadig, who has spent his career analyzing ETFs, their asset managers, and how investors fit them into portfolios. We’re talking with Dave about why nobody in Springfield, MA likes Tom Brady, how ETFs went from nothing to a Trillion to $7 Trillion (with a ‘T’), and why exactly they ...
Sep 09, 2021•1 hr 27 min
We jump back into some VIX and Volatility discussion with this week’s episode but also get to talk about trend following’s rise and fall (and rise again?) over the past decade. We’ve got Scot Billington, the co-founder and managing partner of Covenant Capital Mgmt., talking through his unique journey from futures broker to floor trader of OEX options, to trend following hedge fund manager, to VIX trader and volatility focused funds. We talk with Scot about his indoor, Kentucky basketball themed ...
Sep 02, 2021•1 hr 30 min
Our guest this episode is surely not a stranger to our listeners, with his voice reaching far and wide via StockTwits, the Panic with Friends podcast, his ever-changing Twitter handle ( currently Metaverse Lindzon ) and his eponymous blog where he dishes on everything from stock picks to software to NFTs. Oh, and in his spare time, he’s invested in some big names like Robinhood, eToro, Koyfin, and Rally Road. We sit down with Howard for a quick chat on exactly what he means by ‘trend following’,...
Aug 26, 2021•1 hr 11 min
