Trading Process
Posts about decision frameworks, mindset, education, and what makes a good trader vs a good trade.
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Every market maker's recurring fear
Every market maker I know has the same recurring fear
The 30-second symmetry check
Here's a check I run on any structure someone shows me. It takes about thirty seconds.
The call ratio trap: bullish view, short-vol trade
Here's a trap that catches people all the time.
The volatility skew as a conditional statement
The volatility skew is a conditional statement. Every point on it is the market's expected vol if the underlying actually gets to that strike.
The two-timeframes problem options solve
The best argument for using options in a portfolio is that they let you hold two views at the same time
This earnings season was different
Why real money buys 0DTE
Big real-money asset managers buy 0DTE options
The multidimensional trap in options
Options are multidimensional. That's the part that trips most people up.
On the shopping list: October vol
My base case for the next few weeks is boring. Markets drift up into mid-August. The low-vol regime just carries on.
Why I ignore GEX-by-strike numbers
The metric I actually use for reading dealer gamma at each strike is net position size in contracts
Positioning size without liquidity context is noise
A flow is only as powerful as the liquidity that has to absorb it. People forget that when they read positioning data.
The best portfolio construction idea I ever borrowed
The best idea I ever borrowed on portfolio construction: you don't have to choose between being fully invested and being protected.
How I teach options
Quick note on how I teach options.
Google is the tell for the rest of Mag7
The semis just handed us a warning about tech earnings. Google is the next name to watch to see if it confirms.
The vol supply that never went away
A story from my market-making days that shapes how I still read index vol today.
Why Friday-Monday calendars are a trap
Something I've stopped doing recently: Friday-Monday calendar spreads.
AAPL is at the highs but the surface says capped
AAPL is a clean example of a stock that looks strong on the chart but is quietly capped underneath.
Your total Vega number is probably lying to you
If you run a multi-expiry options book and you're looking at one total Vega number, that number is probably lying to you.
Trading options for a living looks different from what people picture
My actual day is much closer to a series of check-ins spaced an hour or two apart.
Alpha book up 5.22% on a strong theta week
Weekly update on the Alpha Gen book. Strong week. Alpha Gen up 5.22%, driven almost entirely by the Theta sleeve.