Merging the Market Structure Schematic with the Context Machine
Alphacution's Top 100 Players in US Listed Market Structure schematic (v1.0) was a huge hit last week; breaking almost all content engagement records on our various publishing channels to date. Apparently there is a demand for eye candy. Who knew? While we develop some of the specific underlying modeling that supports that vision, this is a quick teaser for how that schematic fits onto our asset management ecosystem map. It only appears complicated. We are working on some [...]
Available for Download: The Complete Case Study on Spot Trading
In this 32-page, 38-exhibit case study on the proprietary option trading firm, Spot Trading, that closed in late 2017, Alphacution showcases the information and insights that can be harvested from a cache of data that is hiding in plain sight. This report is also intended to educate clients and our broader network about the mechanics and drivers of macro-market structure, as well as to provide a template that will begin to set expectations for the nature of premium [...]
XTX Markets: A New(ish) Player Enters the Fray
"Laughter, tears, and dance moves are all things that should not be kept on the inside." - Denis Morton, Peloton Instructor It is as of the writing of this very short post - mid-afternoon on a lazy Friday - that we've just found that XTX Markets' very first US filing to the SEC database is not yet 24 hours old. We have been scratching our heads about this one for a little while now, wondering if and when [...]
Top 100 Players in US Listed Market Structure
“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” - Leonardo DaVinci How do listed markets actually work? And, how do players discover and capture opportunity from within that market structure? And, what impact - if any - does the proximity of certain players to the centers of market liquidity have to do with the capacity of opportunity that is left over for all others that operate downstream from these players? These are the kinds of [...]
It All Started With Wedbush
If you've ever had the distinct pleasure of driving around downtown LA, particularly heading north on the 110 just past the famed Staples Center where the LA Kings hockey team and a couple little-known basketball teams play, then you can't help but be confronted by the sign at the top of the building just up ahead: Wedbush. Beyond the tony Wilshire Boulevard address, it is here - certainly more metaphorically than physically - that our fascination with the [...]
Millennium Management’s Book: Hiding in Plain Sight (Teaser #1)
"The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have known since long." - Ludwig Wittgenstein Two brief teasers to share on our legendary friend, Izzy Englander and his Millennium Management trading operation. First, we modeled 72 quarterly 13F reports beginning Q4 2000 and ending Q3 2018, and the value of that piece of Izzy's portfolio puts him on the all-time buyside leaderboard in between Citadel and Jane Street: As per usual, we [...]
Going Full Rorschach: Estimating the Short Side of Virtu’s* Book
“Everything you need is already inside.” - Bill Bowerman, Track & Field Coach and Nike Co-Founder Apparently, there is this parallel universe wherein traders and asset managers are able to take each subsequent risk with the benefit of perfect information because there seems to be some implication in our feedback loop that relying on partial or even incomplete fragments of information is not worth the effort. Tsk tsk... Now, those of you who have been paying close attention [...]
Mr. Volatility: What’s the Next Catalyst?
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.” – Steve Jobs (2011) It was the one question we could be sure would be asked. Every. Time. And, it changed my perspective on the whole game... Scene: It was a Spring day, 1990. 730 am. Pre-market open equity option traders meeting. O'Connor & [...]
Case Study: What Happened to Spot Trading?
"Don’t get involved in partial problems, but always take flight to where there is a free view over the whole single great problem, even if this view is not a clear one.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein As we build - and promote - our case to elevate Alphacution's value proposition and research output to a more viable economic support model, we are beginning to focus on the development of deeper and more comprehensive premium content. This plan has been outlined [...]
Alphacution’s Book: Not Hiding, In Plain Sight
"Are you not entertained?! Are you not entertained?!! Is this not why you are here?!!" - Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) Executive Summary The chart that follows represents the content to be covered in this post, and foreshadows a core focus of Alphacution's research calendar for the weeks and months ahead... Furthermore, at the end this post, I am also going to ask you to support this work (in exchange for certain content benefits), like this: (INLINE SUBSCRIPTION FUNCTIONALITY [...]
