Global Macro Trading Journal

Discussion in 'Journals' started by Daal, Feb 25, 2011.

  1. In which case it all depends how big that bet is compared to the main fund. If he has 5% of assets in this side-fund, and is down 60% on it, then there is no story at all - it's a 3% loss over 6 months. If he has 30% of assets then yeah, that's a biggie. But posting or commenting on the 'story' without assessing how much of total assets he lost is just misleading.
     
    #4681     Aug 24, 2012
  2. In Hedge Fund Market Wizards, there is a guy running 50 million who was making >20% per annum with moderate drawdowns, during the exact same period as Hussman was running his fund. Hussman has 5 billion, this guy has 1% of that, despite being about 100 times better on performance. The only conclusion is that many investors are idiots. Then again, if many investors weren't idiots, markets wouldn't be beatable.

    Another conclusion is that the accredited investor rules basically fleece smaller investors and help the rich get richer. Average stiffs get stuck with the Hussmans of this world, while rich people can pick those with skills and the track record to back it up.
     
    #4682     Aug 24, 2012
  3. You're mistaken, GoC... Kyle Bass himself (in his investor letters, regulatory filings, as well as media appearances) has stated that "short Japan" is a standalone high-conviction thematic trade for him. He has created and marketed a dedicated fund (Japan Macro Opportunities Master Fund or JMOMF) that would allow investors to capitalize on this specific "opportunity". So if you're an investor in JMOMF, you're by no means necessarily going to be an investor in the main fund. It is pretty painful if you have money in JMOMF. My comment was specifically about the Japan trade, rather than Kyle Bass's skill more generally.

    BTW, from what I can see, JMOMF was quite small (in early 2011 only arnd $101mio).
     
    #4683     Aug 24, 2012
  4. zkf

    zkf

    hi,

    nowadays, which markets (or instruments) are the main arena of these macro funds? forex, bonds or commodities? and what kind of strategy do they employ, for a non-quantitative fund?

    Thanks
     
    #4684     Aug 26, 2012
  5. Daal

    Daal

    I's say equities and forex. They make predictions based on macroeconomic analysis
     
    #4685     Aug 27, 2012
  6. zkf

    zkf

    Thank you Daal,

    Alan Howard seems focus into forex and bonds trading, there was an article profiling how Alan trading everyday, From my understandings, Alan is a discretional and put huge emphasis on risk management, but that article lacks detail what instruments do he employ and the strategy, only saying he may hold positions for several months or just a few minutes.
     
    #4686     Aug 27, 2012
  7. Gonna sell my Verizon today. It's been a nice run, but (I've said this before) it makes zero logical sense for a company barely growing earnings to be trading at a steep premium to the market multiple while GOOG and AAPL trade at or even at discounts to the market multiple.

    I'm not saying GOOG and APPL (both of which I own) are headed higher, just that I can't justify owning VZ anymore.
     
    #4687     Aug 27, 2012
  8. Aussie headed back below parity with the greenback. Will wait for Beijing to cut rates or something, and then short the Pavlovian bounce.
     
    #4688     Aug 27, 2012
  9. Alan Howard is predominantly involved in rates, with front end being the main focus. The instruments are various interest rate derivatives and the strategy is discretionary macro. Obviously, Brevan has a whole lot of PMs doing all sorts of other things, but Alan takes the main risks (esp now that Rokos is gone).
     
    #4689     Aug 27, 2012
  10. zkf

    zkf

    wow, that's informational. Thank you Martinghoul.

    The rate derivatives you mentioned is like rate spread? e.g German-Spain 10y yield spread. or curve spread? As you said his main focus is front end, what's that mean? I am quite strange to these thing, (I do read lots of your comments, but most of them esp technical ones are quite Greek to me). Do you have some book recommendations list?

    Regards,

    Mike
     
    #4690     Aug 27, 2012