Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For May 11, 2023

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US consumer prices rose by 4.9% in the 12 months to April, down from the previous month’s 5%. Wednesday’s figures suggest inflation is moderating and emboldens the case for a pause to interest rate increases.

Graphic: Retrieved from CME Group Inc’s (NASDAQ: CME) FedWatch Tool.

“The Fed will want to see declines in these statistical measures for a few more months before it could feel comfortable about cutting rates,” John Authers writes.

Notwithstanding “sticky price inflation” falling (only “if shelter prices are excluded,” the most challenging “front in the battle on inflation”), applications to purchase and refinance homes rose with yields falling, and that’s exactly what the Fed doesn’t want.

Many maintain the Fed is looking to walk-up long-end yields, and that’s problematic for assets; higher interest rates portend lesser allocations toward risky assets.

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg.

Pimco’s Erin Browne and Emmanuel Sharef add that “12-month returns following the final rate hike could be flat for 10-year U.S. Treasuries, while the S&P 500 could sell off sharply.” 

Graphic: Retrieved from Pimco.

Accordingly, bonds look attractive “for their diversification, capital preservation, and upside opportunities,” while “earnings expectations appear too high, and valuations too rich,” warranting “underweight” equities positioning

Graphic: Retrieved from Pimco.

Compounding the risks are flows “that eventually will constrain lending and nominal growth on a 6- to 12-month horizon,” writes Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS).

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg via The Market Ear. “The bull in money market funds refuses to cool down.”

In other news was worry over a US debt default.

The US government has been using accounting measures to provide cash after reaching a borrowing limit. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed Congress that these measures might be exhausted by June, resulting in payment disruptions; a default would cause an economic disaster and “global downturn,” threatening “US global economic leadership” and “national security,” Yellen says. A solution (e.g., to raise the debt ceiling) could manifest issuance of “a substantial amount of bills in 2H23 … that would drain liquidity,” Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) writes.

Despite the worry, markets are contained in part due to positioning contexts. Decline in realized volatility (RVOL), coupled with implied volatility (IVOL) premium, makes it difficult for the market to resolve directionally.

In fact, Nomura Holdings Inc (NYSE: NMR) said it sees “significant further potential for additional equities re-allocation buying from the vol control space over the next month if this ongoing rVol smash / tight daily ranges phenomenon holds—i.e., +$37.8B of US Equities to buy on theoretical 50bps daily SPX change).”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg.

Options are sold systematically as traders aim to extract the premium; the Ambrus Group’s Kris Sidial says there is a puking off options exposures and short-bias activity (i.e., selling options) used as yield enhancement as traders call bluff on authorities not being there to prevent crises. 

Graphic: Retrieved from Sergei Perfiliev. “This is a 1-month vol – it’s 30 calendar days for implied and I’m using 20 trading days for realized – both of which represent a month.” Note that “juicy VRP = big difference between options’ implied vol (what you pay) and realized vol (what you got). Options are cheap historically, but expensive relative to realized vol.”

Should readers wish to hedge the debt ceiling debacle, June call options on the Cboe Volatility Index appear attractive, some suggest. But, with RVOL as low as it is, owning optionality is not generally warranted. The risk is lower volatility, not higher.


About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For May 10, 2023

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Our levels have been working. For instance, as shown below, yesterday’s Daily Brief levels were key response areas for the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Index (FUTURE: /MES).

Graphic: Retrieved from TradingView.

Some of the levels overlap centers of options activity; falling volatility coincides with increased sensitivity among those options, lending to reversion and responsiveness.

“This continues to suggest that our theoretical framework of ‘options dominance’ is indeed the driver. In 2017 when the XIV (inverted VIX ETF) was king of the hill, that 44bps high-low range would have been the 47%ile,” reports Tier1Alpha. “If you think these markets are boring, try 2017. Our suspicion is that similar forces are at work, just concentrated in 0dte options. The 2017 bear market in vol came to an end with Volmaggedon. The cycle will end this time as well, but the catalyst remains to be seen.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Michael Green of Simplify Asset Management.

Consequently, per SpotGamma, “there is little room for error.”

From an options positioning perspective, for volatility to reprice lower and boost the market, “we need a change in [the] volatility regime,” SpotGamma previously added. The likelihood of that happening is low since many expect the Federal Reserve (Fed) to stick to its message of higher rates for longer, notwithstanding the consumer price index rising by a below-forecast 4.9%, the first sub-5% reading in two years. Overall prices remain hot, and the job market remains robust. Policymakers need more than one month of data to be confident that prices are on a sustained downward path, Bloomberg reports.

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg.

“Inflation is higher than the Fed’s mandate and not on a path to get to that mandate soon. The CPI report is one data point, and most measures show elevated inflation. Areas that had been disinflationary are reverting. And the stickiest parts of inflation remain elevated.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bob Elliott of Unlimited Funds.

So, support for a pause or hold is the more likely scenario.

“When pauses have occurred against the backdrop of tight labor markets, the Fed has rarely eased in the subsequent six months — the most common outcome has been an on-hold Fed,” explained Praveen Korapaty of Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS). “In contrast, periods with material deterioration in the labor market have more reliably resulted in easing. At least during this period, the inflation backdrop at the time of the pause does not appear to have had a material influence on policy actions.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) via Bloomberg. “As this chart from Goldman shows, when the employment is tight (which it plainly is at present), pauses tend to become extended. It’s only when employment is seriously deteriorating (on the right side of the chart) that the Fed pivots swiftly.”

Moreover, heading into price updates this morning, the expectation was for a smaller move in the S&P 500. However, with volatility very low, we’ve maintained that selling options blindly is dangerous. When you least expect significant movement, it often happens; just before the opening, the market has moved over 1.0%.

Graphic: Retrieved from Pat Hennessy of IPS Strategic Captial Management. “Welp, it was fun while it lasted. SPX straddle only pricing 83bps for tomorrow ahead of CPI, lowest on record since dailies were listed in May 2022.”

Check out our detailed trade structuring report for more on how to better manage a portfolio in this enviornment.

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg. “The case for concerted easing rests fundamentally on the yield curve. Long-dated bonds have been paying a lower rate than shorter securities for the best part of a year, and this is a well-known recession indicator,” John Authers says. “It’s also a serious headache for banks, who traditionally borrow at low short rates (via deposits), lend at a higher rate, and make their profit from the difference. Banks, we know, are in trouble. If claims of a ‘crisis’ are a tad overblown, the deposit flight created for them by the inverted curve will contribute to the recessionary environment.” A way for the curve to return to its usual shape is for the Fed to cut rates, but the consensus among pros is that won’t happen for some more time.

About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For May 9, 2023

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Sentiment calmer on the heels of some weaker-than-expected data from China. Generally speaking, markets are holding well, led by technology and innovation. 

Graphic: Retrieved from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) via The Market Ear.

Price doesn’t tell the whole story, however. Breadth is softening while market boosters are slowly being picked off. Tier1Alpha says that “1-month realized volatility rose nearly 13%, [and] … if volatility continues to rise, it will have an outsized effect on the 1-month vol, as the sample is now largely filled by the smaller returns we experienced in April.” Altogether, this “could result in larger [selling] flows being triggered from systematic strategies that use volatility scaling as a means for risk control.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bespoke Investment Group via The Market Ear.

“With that vol premium getting squeezed out, there is little room for error,” SpotGamma adds; uncertainties that may manifest pressure and compound weaknesses under the hood include inflation reports and the debt ceiling issue.

“The next big moment comes Tuesday, when President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders,” Bloomberg explains. “The meeting is high stakes. Republican leaders want promises of future spending cuts before they approve a higher ceiling, while Biden is insisting on a ‘clean’ increase.”

Further, traders expect increased chances of rate cuts. This may not be outlandish; “Looking at the past 17 hiking episodes, the two-year, 10-year Treasury yield curve bottoms out 108 trading days before the first rate cut.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg.

“Using that guide, the 2s10s curve reached negative 111 basis points on March 8 and has since steepened to about negative 41 basis points. Assuming that marked the trough, 108 trading days lands in mid-August — sandwiched between the Fed’s July 26 and September 20 rate decisions.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg. “Look at the gap between the three-month and the 10-year yields, generally regarded as a surefire recession indicator. It’s also a great indicator of imminent rate cuts. An inversion is also a timing signal because it makes little or no sense unless you’re confident that rate cuts will be starting soon. And over the last 30 years, the curve has never been as inverted as it is now.”

For better hedging participation in market upside, check out Physik Invest’s recently published trade structuring report.

Graphic: Retrieved from BNP Paribas (OTC: BNPQY) via Bloomberg. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) strategistsay that “the first quarter will likely be the high point for stocks this year, … adding that equities won’t reach lows until the Fed has pivoted to rate cuts.”

About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For May 2, 2023

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First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) is in the news for its failure. FRC was known for handing out mortgages at rock-bottom rates. When interest rates rose, the bank’s book of mortgages was hurt and left it with not enough to suffice withdrawals. 

“FRC believed its business model of extraordinary customer service and product pricing would result in superior customer loyalty through all cycles,” wrote Timothy Coffey of Janney Montgomery Scott. “Instead, too many FRC customers showed their true loyalties were to their own fears.”

This “marks the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history, behind the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual Inc.,” reports WSJ; after the instability in March, the bank finally succumbed to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) rate increases and depositor worry.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) acquired the bulk of FRC’s operations.

Graphic: Retrieved from JPM. See a nice summary by @brandonjcarl.

Further, research shows money is getting tighter, a headwind for the economy, while inflation is sticky and the Fed’s bond holdings are preventing tightening from being effective; WSJ reports the Fed’s balance sheet loaded with bonds may be insulating stocks from interest rate policies. 

“Quantitative easing locked the Fed into a position that is difficult to unwind,” said Stephen Miran of Amberwave Partners. Quantitative easing, or QE, made stocks less sensitive to interest rates. “It’s made tightening both slower and less effective than it should have been.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg. The Fed’s favorite measure of inflation, the core PCE index, has been consistently stuck around 4-5% since 2022. The employment cost index, which shows wage growth at around 4-5%, is inconsistent with a 2% inflation target.

Not “adjusting balance-sheet policy,” but raising rates to 5.00-5.25% as expected, ‘is akin to “hitting the same nail with a hammer over and over again.’” Therefore, stocks, which are higher alongside surprising economic and earnings data, though risky, can do “ok” for longer, comments Andy Constan of Damped Spring Advisors.

Graphic: Retrieved from CME Group Inc’s (NASDAQ: CME) FedWatch Tool.

The sale of volatility bolsters the stability and emboldens upside bettors, adds JPM’s Marko Kolanovic, who finds “selling of options forces intraday reversion, leaving the market price virtually unchanged many days.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS).

“This, in turn, drives buying of stocks by funds that mechanically increase exposure when volatility declines (e.g., volatility targeting and risk parity funds),” he elaborates. “This market dynamic artificially suppresses perceptions of fundamental macro risks. The low hurdle rate and robust fundamentals bode well for 1Q earnings results, but we advise using any market strength on reporting to reduce exposure.”

At this juncture, yes, stocks can move sideways or higher for a bit longer as a function of “momentum, not value,” Simplify Asset Management’s Michael Green concludes. Traders can position for this and various levels of potential upset later with structures included in a report we published last week.


About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For April 20, 2023

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TD Securities said traders are not pricing in a large enough pivot.

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate future tracks “expectations for the Fed’s policy path.”

“We look for cut pricing to increase even further,” strategists led by Priya Misra said, noting they expect cuts totaling 2.75% from December 2023 to September 2024. 

This opposes Goldman Sachs’ view that investors have priced too much easing and will reverse their position in response to improving data and high inflation readings.

Regardless, a consensus is that rates will fall in the future and the economy will slow. Some traders are betting big on volatility, accordingly. The Ambrus Group’s Kris Sidial appeared on CNBC and elaborated.

Before the last time the Cboe Volatility Index or VIX spiked to 30 from similarly low levels, very large VIX call buying was observed. Recently, a large buyer of June 26 calls at $1.71 on 94,000 contracts, worth about $16 million in premium, was seen.

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg via The Ambrus Group’s Kris Sidial.

“This is a pretty big bet in the VIX complex,” Sidial explained, adding that the VIX is a measure of variance. “When volatility starts to move, it moves at a higher rate than S&P volatility which is something that’s really important for the call option buyers.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg.

Bloomberg’s John Authers adds that the market’s hope of easing in the second half of the year is a reason for the low VIX. However, history suggests that rate cuts tend only to occur when the VIX exceeds its long-run average of 20.

Graphic: Retrieved from DataTrek Research via Bloomberg.

Authers explains that the widening gap between the implied volatility (IVOL) metrics of Treasury and equity markets, which have historically had a high correlation, is also a concern. This is partly what may have inspired the purchase of the VIX protection Sidial elaborated on; such gaps could portend more equity volatility.

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg.

Notwithstanding, with the VIX near its average and trading at some premium to one-month realized volatility (RVOL), we may “see more systematic vol sellers make a comeback amid VIX contango, juicy VRP, and vol underperformance,” says Sergei Perfiliev. In such a case, markets may remain contained and bets on big market movements (e.g., the VIX trade detailed by Sidial) may not work that well.

It may be better for traders to limit their expectations and stay the course: buy call structures on weakness and monetize them into strength to finance put structures. Alternatively, define risk and enhance yield with short volatility bets, skewing them based on directional opinion (e.g., skewed iron condor), or get into risk-free and interest bearing assets (e.g., money market funds or box spreads). We covered this and more much better in a detailed research-type note soon to be released for public viewing. Stay tuned and watch your risk. PS: Sorry for the delay and rushed note!

Graphic: Retrieved from Sergei Perfiliev. “This is a 1-month vol – it’s 30 calendar days for implied and I’m using 20 trading days for realized – both of which represent a month.” Note that “juicy VRP = big difference between options’ implied vol (what you pay) and realized vol (what you got). Options are cheap historically, but expensive relative to realized vol.”

About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For April 18, 2023

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Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) sees allocations to equities versus bonds falling. That’s amid recession fears. Per EPB, “the cyclical economy has just started to shed jobs today, and leading indicators signal the recession is likely underway.”

“To get advanced warning of recessions, you must look at the construction and manufacturing sectors, even though these two sectors are only 13% of the labor market,” EPB adds, noting traditional indicators’ weakening predictability is not so great to ignore the insight. “It’s clear that the composition of traditional leading indicators remains appropriate, and thus, the current resounding recessionary signal should not be ignored.”

BAC strategist Michael Hartnett said, though, that this “consensus lust for recession” must soon be satisfied. Otherwise, the “pain trade” would be even higher yields and stocks; the S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) is enjoying an accelerated rally which Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE: JEF) strategists think portends a period of flatness, now, over the coming weeks …

Graphic: Retrieved from Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE: JEF) via The Market Ear.

… and through options expiration (OpEx), typically a poor performance period for the SPX.

Displaying
Graphic: Retrieved from Tier1Alpha. 

Beyond the uninspiring fundamentals, the positioning contexts are supportive. Recall our letters published earlier this year. If the market consolidated and failed to break substantially, then falling implied volatility (IVOL) and time passing would bolster markets and, potentially, help build a platform for a rally into mid-year. A check of fixed-strike and top-line measures of IVOL like the Cboe Volatility Index or VIX confirms options activities are keeping markets intact.

Graphic: Retrieved from Danny Kirsch of Piper Sandler (NYSE: PIPR). “SPX May $4,150.00 call volatility, the lack of realized volatility weighing on the market. Volatility low, not cheap.”

Beyond the rotation into shorter-dated options, just one of the factors exacerbating the decimation of longer-dated volatility, traders’ consensus is that markets won’t move a lot and/or they don’t need to hedge over longer time horizons; traders want punchier exposure to realized volatility (RVOL), and that they can get through shorter-dated options that have more gamma (i.e., exposure to changes in movement), not vega (i.e., exposure to changes in implied volatility).

Graphic: Retrieved from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) via Bloomberg.

Consequently, counterparties may be less dangerous to accelerating movement in either direction; hence, the growing likelihood of a period of flatness.

Graphic: Retrieved from SpotGamma.

“Despite the collapse in the 1-month realized volatility, we suspect most vol control funds have scaled into using their longer-term realized vols, which by design, lead to less aggressive rebalancing flows,” Tier1Alpha says. “For example, the 3-month rVol, which is currently driving our model, was essentially unchanged yesterday, which means volatility targets were maintained, and very little additional rebalancing had to occur. So even with the decline in the 1-month vol, overall risk exposure remained the same.”

With IVOL at a lower bound, the bullish impacts yielded by its compressing have largely played out. There may be more to be gained by movements higher in IVOL, in addition to the expiry of many call options this OpEx. By owning protection, particularly far from current prices, you are positioned to monetize on the market downside and non-linear repricings of volatility, as this letter has discussed in recent history. The caveat is that volatility can cluster and revert for longer; hence, your structure matters.

“I am concerned that VIX is underpricing the series of events that we know to expect over the coming weeks,” says Interactive Brokers Group Inc’s (NASDAQ: IBKR) Steve Sosnick. “While there is now an 88% implied likelihood of a 25 basis point hike, the likely path of any potential future hikes and assumed cuts should be more clarified at the meeting and in its aftermath.  And oh, has anyone ever heard the expression “sell in May and go away?”

Graphic: Retrieved from Interactive Brokers Group Inc (NASDAQ: IBKR).

With call skews far up meaningfully steep in some products, still-present low- and zero-cost call structures this letter has talked about in the past remain attractive. If the market falls apart, your costs are low, and losses are minimal. If markets move higher into a “more combustible” position, wherein “volatility is sticky into a rally,” you may monetize your call structures and roll some of those profits into bear put spreads (i.e., buy put and sell another at a lower strike). An alternative option is neutral. Own something such as a T-bill or box spread (i.e., buy call and sell put at one strike and sell call and buy put at another higher strike). Some boxes are yielding upwards of 5.4% as of yesterday’s close.

To end, though the short-dated options activity may prompt cascading events in market downturns, the main issue is the reduced use of longer-dated options; a supply and demand imbalance likely resolves itself with an implied volatility repricing of a great size where longer-dated options outperform those that are shorter-dated.

Our locking in of rates or using the profits of call structures to position for a potential IVOL repricing, particularly in the back half of the year when dealer positioning is less clear, buybacks are to fall off of a cliff, rates may fall, and the boost from short-covering has played its course, is an attractive proposition given the context.

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg. “The S&P 500 (white line) is well above its levels from early March, while the yield on the 3m-2y spread remains in a deep inversion, signifying meaningful expectations of cuts in the months ahead.”

About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For April 17, 2023

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Inflation and employment rates remain high. Additionally, consumers show resilience, and earnings are strong. As a consequence, markets are back to pricing higher rates for longer. This is a pressure on bonds and stocks which appear “overvalued relative to coming bad news on both economic growth and corporate earnings.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg via @Marcomadness2. Hedge funds are net short 2Y and SOFR futures.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) says stocks are at risk of a pullback, accordingly.

Graphic: Retrieved from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) via The Market Ear. The indexes have front-run the pause and pivot; Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) data suggests a statistically significant disconnect between the Nasdaq 100 (INDEX: NDX) and yield.

With the percentage of stocks outperforming the S&P 500 the lowest on record, MS added, a slump in technology is the big risk if yields continue to rise; the bear market is not yet over. “If there is one thing that can throw cold water on the large mega-cap rally, it’s higher yields due to a Fed that can’t stop hiking.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) via Bloomberg.

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) expects a “0.25-percentage point increase to the fed funds rate when the FOMC reconvenes in early May.” Following this hike, there is likely to be a pause at a 5.00-5.25% terminal rate for a few months.

Graphic: Retrieved from CME Group Inc’s (NASDAQ: CME) FedWatch Tool.

From a positioning perspective, Kai Volatility’s Cem Karsan stated that in the past 6-9 months, there has been a significant increase in the volume of options with zero days to expiration (0 DTE), which now accounts for 44% of the total volume. This increase in short-dated options volume has been accompanied by a similarly sized decrease in longer-dated options volume.

Further, the majority of trading activity in these short-dated options is split between hedging and directional trading, as well as yield harvesting via out-of-the-money (OTM) options sales. Though the short-dated activity may prompt cascading events in market downturns, the main issue is the reduced use of longer-dated options; a supply and demand imbalance likely resolves itself with an implied volatility repricing of great size where longer-dated options outperform those that are shorter-dated.

Traders can look to position for a potential IVOL repricing, particularly in the back half of the year when dealer positioning is less clear, buybacks are to fall off of a cliff, and the boost from short-covering has played its course.

Traders can continue to play near-term strength via call spread structures and use those profits to reduce the costs of owning longer-dated bets on markets or rates falling and IVOL increasing. If not interested in directional exposure, traders may allocate funds to T-bills and SPX box spreads which allow traders to create a loan structure similar to a T-bill. If savvy, one could find some structures yielding ~5.5%. Traders can also consider blending T-bills and boxes with directional exposure. This way, they can cut portfolio volatility but still have a bit of leverage potential. Please check out our past letters for trade structure specifics. Have a great day!

About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For April 14, 2023

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Consensus is a tightening cycle that climaxes on May 3 with one final 25 basis point hike. Most traders price three cuts after—one in July, November, and December.

Note: After the release of strong bank earnings today, this analysis remains intact.

Graphic: Retrieved from CME Group Inc (NASDAQ: CME).

Though policymakers are successful in walking up traders’ interest rate expectations, the long end of the yield curve hasn’t budged much; despite the response to banking turmoil helping “calm conditions, … and lessen the near-term risks,” many believe the Fed will have to pivot, soon.

The Federal Reserve’s ranks expect a “mild recession,” too, validating people such as Bank of America Corporation’s (NYSE: BAC) Michael Hartnett, who said investors should steer clear of stocks. Hartnett added the expectations of a recession would solidify following the upcoming earnings season, a test of how companies have managed headwinds like the bank crisis and slowing demand.

Graphic: Retrieved from Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC).

Despite billions in redemptions over the past week or so, the market’s strength can continue for longer, though. Here’s why.

Graphic: Retrieved from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) via The Market Ear.

Contextually, positioning overwhelmingly supports the market at this juncture. That’s per the likes of Cem Karsan of Kai Volatility have explained.

Falling volatility has led to billions more in buying flows from volatility-controlled funds rebalancing their risk exposures, Tier1Alpha adds, noting “there is a chance realized volatility [or RVOL] will continue to decrease until the end of next week as long as the SPX returns stay muted. If volatility rises beyond the +/- 2% threshold, net equity sales could exceed $5 billion.”

“This is not expected due to favorable CPI data and dealer positioning,” however.

With markets likely to be contained in the short to medium term, and fundamental weaknesses, such as the Fed hiking long-end yields, likely to cause them to fail in the long run—play near- or medium-term strength via call spread structures, and use the profits to lower the cost of longer-dated bets on markets or rates falling. 

In support of this view, per The Market Ear’s summary of some Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) analyses, “the disconnect between Nasdaq 100 (INDEX: NDX) and bond yields has grown to statistically significant levels.” Thus, “owning downside asymmetry” is starting to look “more attractive.”

Graphic: Retrieved from VIX Central. The compression of implied volatility, or IVOL, is a booster for equities. ​​Investors are mostly bullish with a +1 Put, +100 Stock, -1 Call position, while dealers hold the opposite with a -1 Put, -100 Stock, +1 Call position. As the volatility trends lower (e.g., S&P 500 realized volatility or RVOL is ~10), options lose value, and dealers must buy back their short stock to re-hedge. This supports the market.

About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For April 12, 2023

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Short, low-alpha letter. We are working on an in-depth write-up detailing what trades to take and why they are optimal. Enjoy your day, and keep risk in check.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) warns the S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) could drop upwards of 2% if the consumer price index (CPI) comes in hot.

Graphic: Retrieved from Sergei Perfiliev.

If year-over-year inflation exceeds the previous reading of 6.00%, stocks will likely fall ~2%; Tier1Alpha suggests “we could see between $4 to $7 billion of equities sold off, as … funds will have to de-risk their portfolio.”

If year-over-year inflation meets the consensus of 5.10%, stocks will likely rise; from an options positioning perspective, if fears are assuaged, and traders supply their bets on or hedges against the market direction (i.e., vol falls), this may indirectly add support.

Graphic: Retrieved from SqueezeMetrics. Dealer hedges with the underlying (i.e., stock or future).

CPI and Federal Reserve meeting minutes could clarify how much more policymakers have to go to rein inflation.

Based on the data and policy response, the consensus is that the economy is already entering a recession; GS warns that recession may manifest a spike in volatility during the rest of 2023, Bloomberg reports, noting they prefer hedging equity declines with put spreads (i.e., buy put, sell put below it) and collars (i.e., own stock and sell call to finance put spread). We wonder who has been saying the same thing for weeks.


About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. You can learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view the content calendar at this link.

Categories
Commentary

Daily Brief For April 11, 2023

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The narrative yesterday was bearish

A big deal was made surrounding some data that shows investors increasing their bets on US equities falling; net short positions in the E-mini S&P 500 (FUTURE: /ES) are the highest since 2011, Bloomberg reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) concur as their data shows clients betting on stocks falling or reducing stock exposure quickly.

This is happening in the context of some mixed, albeit still robust-leaning, data; payrolls upped bets that the Federal Reserve or Fed would move its target rate to 5.00-5.25%. GS’ Bobby Molavi adds, “the prevalent view seems to be that more things will break on the back of rapid rise in cost of capital.”

Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg

In light of the rate expectations, the Nasdaq 100 (INDEX: NDX) appears to be handing over the leadership baton to the S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX), though both indexes remain primarily intact and coiling; the fundamental-type pressures are balanced by follow-on support from those actors that base their decisions on such things as the amount a market moves (i.e., realized volatility or RVOL), says Tier1Alpha and SpotGamma.

Graphic: Retrieved from Tier1Alpha.

The two providers of market insights see falling implied (IVOL) and RVOL as catalysts for buying stocks. This, coupled with the hedging of soon-to-expire large options open interest, particularly on the put side, in a lower liquidity environment, supports the indexes while underlying breadth and correlations are underwhelming.

A large concentration of put open interest near current prices is pictured just below. The eventual removal of this put-heavy positioning will reduce some directional risks to options counterparts; as puts disappear or decline in value, their delta or exposure to direction does too. If a counterparty is short a put and has less positive delta to hedge, they may buy back some of their short-delta exposure in the underlying index, a catalyst for higher S&P 500 prices.

Graphic: Retrieved from SpotGamma.

A large open interest concentration set to roll off this April is pictured just below.

Retrieved from SpotGamma.

This has happened before. Newfound Research explains it best in their paper titled “Liquidity Cascades: The Coordinated Risk of Uncoordinated Market Participants.”

In keeping the indexes and their underlying idiosyncratic baskets in line via arbitrage constraints, while there is a build-up of suppressive and supportive dealer hedging at the index level, “then the only reconciliation is a decline in correlation.”

In this context, Tier1Alpha explains, “lower correlations tend to lead to lower volatility … giv[ing] volatility control funds the go-ahead to augment their risk exposure, with an estimated $14 billion in equities purchases … to be spread out in blocks.”

Consequently, in line with our thesis that positioning and technical contexts support near-term strength, it still makes sense to take the profits of very wide, albeit low- or zero-cost, call ratio spread structures discussed in past letters to cut the cost of our bets on the equity market downside and lower rates with more time to expiry. Should the indexes trade higher, SpotGamma agrees with Kai Volatility’s Cem Karsan that volatility could be sticky.

Hence, call structures could keep their value better and enable us to lower the cost of our bets on the market downside. If the fundamental context supporting the rotation of call option profits into puts is no longer valid, then the losses on such trades are limited; the money is made in not losing it.

Graphic: Retrieved from SpotGamma’s Weekend Note.

Not doing as outlined and blindly buying put options to protect long equity exposure is generally a poor-performing strategy, despite the performance claims of some funds specializing in that practice.

Graphic: Retrieved from QVR Advisors via Bloomberg. “Buying puts is a money-losing proposition when considered in isolation. Chart shows the performance of hedges rolled every quarter with delta hedging, as a percentage of notional amount protected.”

About

Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.

Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.