Well, Higgins is an investor, but Nancy sure loves long dated options. "Not every lawmaker who racked up big gains used options this year. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) – not to be confused with the billionaire King Street Capital founder of the same name – came in as the top performer this year with a 239% return on his portfolio. Higgins doesn’t actively trade; rather his impressive returns were fueled by Nvidia holdings he bought in 2021 – the company’s shares also jumped 239% last year." https://nypost.com/2024/01/04/busin...gains-top-65-boosted-by-stock-options-report/ Nancy Pelosi’s investment portfolio is once again among the top performers on Capitol Hill – and lately she has gotten a major boost from a controversial use of stock options, according to government disclosures. The 83-year-old, former House speaker – who remains a Democratic congresswoman representing San Francisco – racked up a 65% return on her stocks portfolio in 2023 – more than double the S&P 500’s 24% gain, according to a new analysis from stock-trading data site Unusual Whales. Pelosi wasn’t alone, with other options-happy members of Congress among the top-performing investors. Those included Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), who logged a return of more than 122%; and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who was up more than 25%. Options trading on Capitol Hill soared to a record of more than $160 million last year, up from $30 million in 2022. That’s even as the total number of congressional trades slumped to 11,000 last year from 14,000 a year earlier, according to filings. Pelosi’s 2023 returns stand in stark contrast to 2022, when her portfolio dropped 19.8% — worse than the 18.2% decline in the ETF that tracks the S&P 500, according to the 100-page report by Unusual Whales. An X account known as Congresstrading published a screenshot of a disclosure form that showed that Pelosi bought 50 call options with a strike price of $120 and an expiration date of Dec. 20, 2024. The transaction, made last month, was for $2 million, according to Unusual Whales. The disclosure form showed the amount as between $1 million and $5 million. Last year, the average Democrat nabbed returns of 31% – well ahead of the average Republican’s 18%. Unusual Whales notes Democrats are more invested in tech stocks – which surged in 2023 – while Republicans are more exposed to the banking and oil sectors. In 2022, around two dozen members of Congress beat the stock market despite Wall Street suffering its worst year since 2008. Those returns were smaller in terms of the percentage – the best performer Rep. Patrick Fallon (R-Texas) who made 51.6% on his investments in 2022.
And how many times did grandma Nancy ended up with $0.0001 in her options portfolio? Anyway, here is a starter for ES Mini &P Futures players: Take a WILD GUESS where you should have purchased SPY/ES call options.... In the investment fund world there is something we call "long bias investing" - it describes the MANIC behavior of portfolio managers to go long US equities. Several reasons: 1) Long only investment funds by FAR outnumbering short sellers. 2) More than 80% of portfolio managers do not understand and have NOT a firm understanding of how the heck short selling works technically and operationally. 3) Media stories about hedge funds short covering ending up in bloodbaths for investors. 4) Disdain for portfolio managers who "morally" destroy US companies by short selling. In summary: BDFD = buy the ph...king DIP!
I do not think they are managing their own positions. They should have no time to do so. So who is their broker or advisor ? They must have good relationships here. I cannot imagine their are sitting all day behind their screens judging about the markets and what to do next with their portfolio.
Of course not. Higgins was in NVDA the whole year. Nancy does options a year out. You can know their positions with a month delay. Even if you copied them with the delay, you still made good money, better than the HFs.
Paul does just one strategy, deep in the money leap call with no hedge. His stocks are typical large tech, nothing unusual just his position sizing is beyond the average americans. I saw a screen grab from a billionaire "retail" trader yesterday, 999 put on AAPL 180 expiring Jan 17, pocketed 1.36m from the premium, that is a minimum $17m unlevered account with Charles Schwab. I am sure he has more position that this amount, he simply trades covered calls and cash puts most of the time, nothing fancy.
Reminds me of when Hillary C. made something like $100k "trading" cattle futures. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/stories/wwtr940527.htm
Or how about Rick Scott owning 2 hospitals in Texas and in less decade later being a Billionaire. All from .... hard work. Yuuuup. Then becoming a Senator from my state because he "altruistically" wants to do good.