The Derivative

Despite the market being down substantially this year, bouncing around inside of bear market territory, it's been a bit of a challenging year for …

This week on the Derivative we're doing it a little differently sharing our platforms with RCM's Agriculture podcast, The Hedged Edge. The Hedged …

Jeff loves it when he sits across from someone who, like him, has been in the niche-managed futures part of the investment world for their entire career. There’s not all that many of them, and today's guest, Michael …

How do all these smart people end up in the crypto space? Versus the hedge fund world or traditional finance, or doctor/lawyer, etc.  And how do investors separate the signal from the noise amongst all the meme stock …

Cover the kid’s ears… because we’re going back to our WTF format to ask what the actual Fingazi is going over in the UK with the bank of England raising rates, then buying a bunch of Gilts to save their pensions. The …

How do you create a new futures contract?  You need an exchange. And you need something that changes in price, like a commodity market – or a financial index. This week we're diving deep into crafting an index with T3 …

Otherworldly forces can affect the market and hurt it just as much. Hurricane Ian continues to bring surges, winds, and flooding to Florida, and we have our own hurricane swirling around the set. That's right, we're …

We have a little saying over here on The Derivative, The More, The Merrier, and on this week's episode of The Derivative, we're not chatting with one guest, but THREE! Class may no longer be in session, but we are …

In the chaotic world we’ve endured since 2020, it turns out all you needed was an outlier-loving strategy to get you through the storm. We’re talking …

It's not every day you get to sit down with a Volatility veteran with over 30 years of experience…..Well, maybe it’s a bit more common here on the …

For those lucky few who’ve sold a business, inherited wealth, or otherwise find themselves in the enviable position of staying wealthy, not getting …

Summer’s nearly over and class is definitely back in session for this episode, as we're about to get schooled on options and trying to separate the …

We’re breaking the law...the laws of trading, that is! On this episode of the Derivative, we're joined by Agustin Lebron, who started his career as an engineer and turned prop trader (you'd be surprised how common of a …

This week we're adding a different twist to our typical episode, and we're diving into WHY Commodities can be accretive in your portfolio with Tim …

Will the real Portnoy please stand up? This week's guest may not be rating pizzas worldwide in one bite, but he is an expert at simplifying the complex world of money — we're sitting down with the one and only Brian …

It's not every day you get to talk about investing and food in the same conversation, and this week, refinancing, restructuring, and investing in niche businesses is on the menu with Adam Tkaczuk(@Adam_Tkaczuk). Adam is …

You may know this week's guest as a Kansas City Chief and sometime Royals fan on Twitter, but he has more than one connection to Kansas City. Jay …

Are the Fed’s hikes starting to dampen inflation? Oil, grains, and metals have all fallen from their highs. But the rarely spoken of Cotton market was one of the first to crack…falling from 1.58/lb to 0.95/lb in just a …

What should we make of the recent crypto crash?  A sign this is all a scam? Or just another dip in the cycle? Gather round; you're in for an …

This week's guest may be new to Twitter (@nancy__davis), but she's certainly not new to the wide world of volatility in all its wonderous “fruit” …

In this week's episode, Jeff talks with StoneX's Global Macro Strategist, Vincent Deluard @VincentDeluard, who authors weekly research reports on global macro trends, asset flows, European capital markets, and …

We're taking flight and zooming over to the big bend for a cheerio chat with Charlie McGarraugh, an ex-midwesterner turned londonite. Charlie is the Chief Strategy Officer at Blockchain.com and has an impressive resume …

Viva Las EQ Derivatives... This week Jeff journeys back to the Windy City from Sin City, where he is joined by a special guest, Mutiny's very own Jason Buck @JasonMutiny. In this episode, they give essential insight …

You're driving down the winding roads of Napa Valley, visiting the countless wineries, taking in the beautiful scenery, and enjoying the various …

We're back for part two with Noel Smith – where we dig into the types of options and volatility strategies, he employs for his Convex AM hedge fund. …

We’re talking with the purveyors of one of the best performing mutual funds thus far in 2022, the dynamically shifting asset allocator, RDMIX (past …

This week, we're painting the picture of what life on Chicago's option trading floors was like at the CBOE...but there's a catch — we put it all on the table and needed two episodes! Today's guest came into asset …

This week, we're adding another stamp to our Derivative passport and traveling to Zurich, Switzerland, as we talk to the Head of Systematic Solutions …

A little over four years since 2018’s Volmageddon, and 2 years after TVIX got terminated – two new VIX ETF’s were recently launched – the 1x short …

Forget about not being emotional in your investment process. Tap into those emotions! According to today's guest Denise Shull, that is the recipe for …

What exactly does a chief strategist do? Besides picking fights with Bitcoin HODLers on Twitter… And how exactly does one of the most prominent voices on the dangers of too much passive money trying to fit into a single …

Who in the right mind would choose to make a living day trading stock index futures? It must be one of the most competitive, most challenging arenas …

Interesting times in the world bring interesting guests to the show. And, there's no better time than now to sit down with a global finance correspondent, especially with the U.S. unleashing their USD financial war …

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The luck of the Irish is on our side as we celebrate today's episode with Dubliner Alan Dunne, CEO and Founder of Archive …

Picture this...Downtown Chicago...December 2019 B.C. (Before COVID)...The RCM crew is venturing out to a small studio ready to record the first episode of The Derivative, with no video or clue what we were doing! Who …

Oil prices spiking. Wheat at new highs. A bid in Bitcoin. Russia’s invasion on its neighbor, Ukraine, got the world's attention and moved all sorts of markets. While our human side rallies around the Ukrainian people, …

With news of Russia invading Ukraine, it was as scary, market-wise, as it’s been since March of 2020 with global stock indices selling off rapidly overnight to send the Nasdaq into bear market territory, SP into …

From his days as a clerk in the S&P pits to becoming Chairman and CEO of EMC Capital, John Krautsack is here to tell us about his journey in the futures industry — and nothing is off limits! From his wild west pit …

There are not a lot of Florida Gator fans in Utah, just like there are few firms that move from high-frequency trading (HFT) into the mutual fund space. That's why Matthew Hanna from Teza Capital Management is here to …

Timmberrrrr...welcome to the world of lumber! We’re laying the lumber in this episode talking through an exciting world some know as timber; others as fiber or wood, and the futures world as Lumber. Whatever you call …

When in Rome do as the Romans do?...Did they have convexity? They had the word, convexitas, and in this episode, we are joined by not one, but …

Now we’re cooking! We’re turning up the heat and bringing an abundance of flavor in this episode with a special guest who discusses venture capital, working capital, adds in a dash of e-sports and computer games, and …

We're taking a trip across the pond to London in this episode and diving into the carbon markets and emissions trading with Michael Azlen, CEO and founder of Carbon Cap Fund and Management. Whether you care about making …

We're kickstarting the 2022 season of The Derivative with fan-favorite - Cem Karsan. In this episode, the FinTwit star better known as @jamcroissant …

Join us in this, our last episode of the year, where we’re talking Crypto and Bitcoin ETFs with Jason Urban, Global Co-Head of Trading at Galaxy …

In this episode, we shed some light on one of the largest groups you’ve maybe never heard of, whose new “mission” is to seek out incredible trading …

This week is a cage match of a pod, going point/counterpoint on every Alt from private equity to fine art to digital assets with Phil Huber and the knowledge he’s about to drop in his upcoming new book ‘The Allocators …

In this episode, we sit down again with one of the OGs of VIX futures trading & options, Brett Nelson, CEO of Certeza Asset Management, and discuss their new mutual fund — Convex Core and how it relates to their …

In this week's pod, we're doing something new and digging into the derivative market's Ag roots in our first "Way more than you need to Know" series, starting with the Global Meat Markets. Joining us today discussing …

We’re looking into the far reaches of the search for yield in this episode, diving into investors’ interest in so-called Cat Bonds, or catastrophe bonds, and the world of reinsurance and ILS (insurance-linked …

How do large delta hedging flows of market makers tie in with Central Bank quantitative easing? How do ETF rebalancing’s and structured note issuer movements shift markets? We sit down with options guru Hari Krishnan …

In this episode, we're stepping away from our ordinary world of futures and options to find out why boring old corporate bonds aren't all that boring …

Jeff is “stacking” two guests in this episode, welcoming 1. Corey Hoffstein, CIO and co-founder of Newfound Research, host of Flirting with Models Podcast, and co-conspirator on the Pirates of Finance YouTube channel; …

How is the ETF sausage made? Who creates the filling? The casing? Who buys it at the store? What other meat is it replacing?  We dig into all these tasty morsels and more with this episode’s guest – the ETF expert Dave …

We jump back into some VIX and Volatility discussion with this week’s episode but also get to talk about trend following’s rise and fall (and rise …

Our guest this episode is surely not a stranger to our listeners, with his voice reaching far and wide via StockTwits, the Panic with Friends podcast, his ever-changing Twitter handle (currently Metaverse Lindzon) and …

What do you do when trends stop appearing for the quarter of a billion dollars you manage? Where do you go to find markets like the ‘good old days’ …

Over 100,000 investors in 180 countries listen to Ben Hunt, founder of Second Foundation Partners and the Epsilon Theory blog, debunk the latest narrative machines in each of his opus-like post. So with Covid cases …

Who hasn’t been pitched a buffered note at this point? Participate in the upside and get credited back the first 10% in losses. What could go wrong? …

Dive into this fun chat with the equally irreverent and intelligent Bill Brewster, the self-made value investor in the style of Warren Buffet who dishes on twitter @BillBrewsterSCG hosts the Business Brew podcast in his …

We’re excited to have one of the pioneers of options trading on this episode, Jerry Haworth -  Founder and CIO of renowned option and tail risk firm 36 South. In this wide-ranging talk, we dive into Jerry’s roots in …

Saddle up everybody, because we’ve got the UrbanKaoboy on this episode, who’s ridden everything from ponies to draft horses to mustangs over his 30+ years in the investment game, doing commodities and derivatives at …

What is it about engineers and seeing the world through a quant lens?  We’ve talked to plenty of quants who have an engineering mindset; but this episode’s guest is an actual engineer – doing his mechanical engineering …

Our guest this episode has quickly become one of the must follows on FinTwit with his mixture of motivational messaging and market savvy. Kris Sidial …

There’s a new word in the financial lexicon. Transitory. And it all has to do with whether recent moves higher in prices of everything from lumber to copper to labor are the first signs of 1970s type inflation, or….as …

Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic in every walk of life, and perhaps no more so than in the world of hedge funds and alternative investments. Howard Siow, Founding Principal and CEO at Taaffeite Capital, joins The …

Who in their right mind would name an investment strategy after cockroaches?  Well, probably the guys who view themselves as staging a mutiny against …

How do you get included in a Market Wizards book? How do you get a whole Michael Covel book written about you? You move from charting markets on …

We’re talking with two ‘in the crypto weeds’ traders/asset managers, Ben Upward of Synchronicity and Gary Basin, about crypto’s -30% one day drop, coinbase, the most surprising (& scariest) things about the recent …

From actual capital allocator to branding his book and podcast “Capital Allocator,” Ted Seides has one of the biggest banks of knowledge in the capital allocation game. He’s a well-known author of two books, host of the …

In through the nose – out through the mouth. In through the nose – out through the mouth.

You’ve now joined a headspace where we think you’re prepped to focus in and become one with today’s guest. He’s a well known CTA, …

Today’s guest is one you’ve heard many times before if you’ve listened to The Derivative,  but may not necessarily know all that well. He’s and alts/managed futures veteran, having started his career in Chicago’s famed …

COVID affected a lot of ways that we interacted with the world – it changed how we worked, how we socialized, how we entertained ourselves….and if you’ve been tuned into the markets over the past year, it also changed …

*We apologize for potential audio issues with this episode – please see the transcript HERE or go to the episode blog on rcmalts.com to download.*

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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – the opportunities in the Asian investment landscape are nuanced, emerging, and incredibly attractive. But on top of the excitement around the opportunities, there’s also …

The world of sports and finance have continually meshed together – and the Covid-19 pandemic has fast tracked that even further. Between the growth of analytics, to financiers making their way into the pro sports arena, …

How many families have two brothers who’ve been in the hedge fund game for 30+ years, much less on polar opposites of the long vol/short vol …

When you hear news about artificial intelligence (AI), it might be easy to assume it has nothing to do with you. But if you use face recognition on your phone? Check. Google auto-fills your search bar? Check. And …

Forget fat tails, left tails, even tall tales. We’re going into extracting value from long tails of the distribution on the pod in this episode. Vineer Bhansali is a 29-year industry veteran, previously at PIMCO, a …

The king of Commodities has entered The Derivative ring. You know his name, you’ve read his books, you’ve probably utilized his index, and now you’re listening to him in this most recent podcast episode. Jim Rogers is …

We’re bringing out the cake & ice cream for this pod because it’s The Derivative’s 1 year anniversary! If you’ve been with us since the beginning – you may fondly remember our inaugural episode The Human Behind The …

Talking this week with Poker Pro Chris Sparks on everything from game strategy to deciphering A.I. capabilities and catching bots. With Founder, CEO, and Performance Coach of The Forcing Function we’re taking it back to …

Why can't vol managers tell good jokes? Bad timing? Buh dum tsss.
All jokes aside, we’re excited to be back talking Volatility on The Derivative with …

Bitcoin started the year with a bang, rising up above $41k before falling back into the 20ks, and settling in the mid 30ks lately. It was at $5k in …

If you’ve been on the internet, watched TV, or talked to anyone outside of yourself in the past week and a half you can’t have missed it. GameStop stock ($GME) went from trading at a low of $3/share to +$400/share …

Welcome to the Wizarding World of Market Wizards – and today’s special guest is head wizard who wrote the actual books on market wizards, Jack Schwager. Jack has written 6 books on the markets including his original: …

2020 was ruled by global macro events – are we looking at the same fate in 2021? Our guest today can talk not only global macro, but also volatility, …

We’ve already covered the first three months of 2020 with Part I of our 2020 review. We’re now heading into Part II with Jason Buck, CIO at Mutiny …

2020 has been a year for the books – be it the fastest every market sell-off or a just as amazing tech rally from the lows. Whether you’re looking at it from a social/emotional/fiscal lens, it probably didn’t pan out …

It’s hard to get too far into the words Trend Following without running into the name Michael Covel. If you’ve ever looked into the strategy type, …

Many investors look at commercial real estate as a high-risk, confusing, and sometimes scary way to invest. Our guests today show us why this isn’t the case. From commercial real estate, to mortgage-backed securities, …

One of the leading volatility trading and derivatives investing events of the year wrapped up last month and we have lots of thoughts. From new vol …

Does all this Machine Learning stuff really work? If it’s so good, why aren’t AI powered hedge funds printing money? And what is the difference between AI, machine learning, deep learning, machine trading, and more. …

Our guest today is somewhat of a modern philosopher, mapping out how the investing world sees the real world, while at the same time questioning his own place in that world and how he can change it for the better. Ben …

Votes are being counted, CNN and Fox are on 24-hour reporting cycles, and Tweets/FB Posts/Texts are still being sent out at lightening speeds. What happens if a winner isn’t announced for 2 or more days? What happens if …

For every option buyer, there is a seller. The brave souls who are accused of picking up pennies in front of a freight train. But are they dumb? …

Is trend following too big? Can managed futures do it without the bond tailwind they’ve had for 30 years? Does globalization take away …

Today’s pod is all about word play playing into alternative investment. How does Jam Croissant relate to Cem Karsan? What about Vanna Charm and …

With storms named Gamma and Delta making their way to US shores – we really couldn’t have timed this release better from a …

If men are from Mars and women from Venus, it often feels like stock/bond investors are from Earth and us Alternative Investment folks are from …

We’re joined by option guru and author of ‘The Second Leg Down’ in this episode to talk through the real-time test of market crashes and volatility …

The “bar” we walk into in this episode is one that specializes in blending the unique flavors of beta and alpha, and our mixologists are Victor …

So – what’s happening in the wide world of volatility? The market moved to new all time highs and the VIX actually went UP. The market then …

In today’s episode we’re pushing the boundaries of traditional alternative investments and getting into oil trading, trend following, and taking …

With a Top Gun-like bio of working with billionaires and big hedge funds, Michael Green is one of the top prospects in the alternative investment game. BUT, all we hear him talking about these days is his passive …

We’re leaving the fire of hedge funds and jumping headfirst into the frying pan of……performance mindset? Yep, from pro athletes to pro traders, everyone needs a performance mindset, and  today’s guest founded his firm …

It’s a job all in itself to be able to look at data – especially data that affects all of us on a daily basis – and be able to interpret that to make sense to yourself. Take that and have to turn it into something that …

Legend time. We’re hearing straight from the mouth of well-known Turtle Trader – Jerry Parker – on this episode to talk all things trend following. …

We sat down with three different legs of the hedge fund stool who (feeling the currently hedge fund investment landscape is a bit broker) are …

In a #ThrowbackThursday of sorts, we’re bringing you an episode recorded pre-pandemic where we hit the road and traveled to Utah to interview the brain behind Certeza Asset Management, Founder and CIO – Brett Nelson. …

How do you get investors to stick with an asset allocation that’s good for them in the long term, but maybe doesn’t taste so good over shorter timer periods?  Today’s guest has designed a new mutual fund to attempt just …

In today’s episode, we’re passing by all the players and calling in the head coach – the head coach of Ycharts that is. Sean Brown – CEO of Ycharts joins us to talk about how this FinTech SAAS focused company is helping …

We recently wrapped up our virtual conference: “Capitalizing on China’s Growth: Opening the Door for Investors and Managers” where we had some great one-on-one interviews with hedge fund managers operating in Asia and …

Similar to how we quickly grabbed some experts to discuss Crude Oil going negative, we grabbed some VIX experts as soon as the news hit this week …

Our guest today is the Co-founder & CEO of Newfound Research, host of the popular podcast Flirting with Models, and FinTwit “influencer” – Corey …

In this episode, we’re flipping the script of our usual hedge fund manager and drilling down on the allocation side. Alexander Mende is a Senior Investment Analyst and Head of Investment Research at RPM Risk and …

In this episode, we’re joined by a powerhouse group of volatility experts consisting of Kevin Davitt, Wayne Himelsein, Jason Buck, and Bastian …

The financial world seems to have a fascination with zoomorphism – the attribution of animal names, emotions, or intentions to non- animal occurrences like market shocks. Black Swans are the famous one, but there’s also …

70 days without sports – seems unbelievable, right? The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all in more ways than one, and while no sports for 2+ months is at the top of the “first world problems” list, it’s a void left …

In today’s episode, we have a little different structure and three unique guests to bring a fresh twist on The Derivative podcast. Blu Putnam of the …

Futures traders take clicking a price to generate an order on their PCs for granted these days, much less the instant delivery of every tick, order book data, and trade fills. How’s it all work?  How did it all used to …

This episode’s guest, Salem Abraham, is a bit of a legend in the trend following/managed futures space, with his 30+ years of knowledge and …

VIX and volatility guru (who also sidelines as CBOE & CNBC contributor and an RIA and CFO) Joe Tigay is on our pod to share some nuggets of VIX …

Yesterday was a historic day for crude……and the trend continues today. With crude oil going negative for the first time ever. That’s right – May …

In this episode we chat with an ETF creator, financial book author, and host of the popular Meb Faber Show podcast. We're talking with Meb Faber …

In this episode we're diving deep into VIX futures and using that instrument to gain convexity in a portfolio, we chat with Swiss hedge fund manager …

Chickity China the Chinese chicken futures. Between strict regulations, gated access, mainland-based employees, and more seemingly difficult …

Take a listen to our latest podcast to hear why we think trading in and out of different volatility regimes in the commodity markets “like a woman” …

This timely episode gets into just what kind of investment strategy you would have needed to have to capture the huge down move in markets recently …

A little different than our usual “hedge fund strategy manager” we chat with Tom Anderson – journalist turned trader turned broker turned entrepreneur – who is now President and Chairman of the Board at DrawBridge …

We sit down with the three Canadian founders of Resolve Asset Management to talk zebras walking amongst horses, mid-frequency trading (move over …

In this episode exploring the many facets of long volatility and tail risk exposure, we pick the brains of the founders of the Mutiny investment …

This episode dives deep into the math and people behind what most people take for granted or don’t even know they need to improve their trading – execution algorithms. We cover Orlando as a favorite vacation spot …

This fun conversation talks with two guys who have chosen a life of monitoring the markets on a near real-time basis, covering serious strategy …

Wayne Himelsein is a hedge fund manager, President, and Chief Investment Officer at Logica Capital Advisers. Beyond that Wayne is a 25-year veteran in the trading space, and we're talking about hedge funds, his …