Continued on Trailing Risk

No matter when you traded markets, in the 80's up through today, the greatest marginal advantage made all the difference in being successful.  In a pit standing right next to a brokers bid and offer or, for awhile anyway, next to the exchange server's broadcast bid and offer.

The great rush to quant trading operations was ultimately not that they would  make so much more money, although I am sure they believed it, but rather that those allocating trading capital would hopefully view quant expertise as the only way to reduce risk exposure in a trading world made flat and edgeless by connectivity.

But the nature of risk is to be misunderstood almost universally.   It is true the more time a position remains exposed requires a greater cost in covering the greater possible negative outcomes.  HFT seemingly reduced that risk by speeding through all the elements and squashing the measure of time down to almost nothing.  Catch me if you can if you will.  But the spiraling failure of quick time to capture greater returns shows the greatest marginal advantage in HFT ultimately loses to the performances of the gma in longer time, less transactional strategies.  Great returns come from strategies that  cover greater event horizon risks because of the increased probability of catching significant returns from extended market moves.      

Trailing Risk

As a floor trader in the early 80's, I experienced the jostling arms raised hysteria of market making.  The anxious close proximity to price discovery scribbled down on trading cards while impatiently looking to confirm  trades with other traders nearby or across the pit.  Laughing out load sometimes at the sheer idiocy as bodies colliding in pressing motion to a  collective scream  of "Sold".  

Back then we viewed risk as the thing to minimize so we would not have to put any more money in our margin accounts.  Get the edge, don't be stupid.  Move up in size and use the same rules.  But we all marveled at the shooter.  The big traders who stepped out, no net. Later it became clear many shooters with bid and offer size bravado were hiding quiet trades the rest of the pit never saw.  Bag men.

Of course the pit shooters died with electronic trading, no where to steal an edge.  Now naked out there and looking as stupid as they really were.  No real talent.  

The search for an edge was passed from the early neanderthal shooter to the nerd geek high frequency sneaks listening to the pipeline of bids and offers passing from exchange platforms into computer sniffing algorithms ready to front run all the brokers on Wall Street.   May be the dumbest of all trading species.  But even the brightest of of nerd scholars abandoned great theory about risk and price construct to focus on front running since random price action seemed too hazardous to their genius image.  The blasts of 1997, 2000, and 2008 forever humbled risk harnesses, efficient market theory, and all option theory.  

To be continued.

End of Year / Over Last 6 Years

Last day of trading for 2013 and the numbers below show this year's price performance of the particular index or stock against the overall price performance since the end of year closes 2007.  DJIA is up 26% in 2013 and up 25% over the last six years.

DJIA +26% / +25%     SP500 +29% /+24%    NQ +35% /+70%    AAPL +4%/ +180%

BAC +34% /-62%    GOOG +57% /+60%    GS +38% /-18%     IBM -3%/+72%

MSFT +40% /+5%    F +18% /+127%    PFE +22% /+34%

More Bernanke Bubble

The Bernanke Bubble keeps growing as Fed policies help to carry stock indexes to new highs.  The bubbles always collapse.  However, if you have been stubborn enough to insist on a short or die attitude,  you are broke.    Beating the benchmark stock indexes this year has not been easy and  successful strategies do not point with greater insight as to when the giant price construct in asset prices end.   Ben has had few tools but those designed to unfairly aid the top and which has created a unique re-framing of capitalism for only those of influence.  Why should the top suffer when there are means to reward those who are positioned to benefit the most?

The collapse of the Bernanke Bubble will eventually come and look much like all the other stock market failures of the past but whose repair will be without the ability to foster goodwill from the greater population. That could be ugly.

Sell The Top Day

I have designated Thursday, October 31 as "Sell the Top Day".  It just happens to fall on Halloween and there are some ghoulish data elements to the big hump in stocks.

1.  While stock ownership is at a record low, speculative money is now pouring into stocks at the fastest rate since 2000.  The first tells you the boomers are done with growing stock portfolios.  The second tells you risk aversion is gone and the selected public would now rather seek a gain than avoid a loss.  Bad news.

2. The rich are tearing down homes at a record pace across the nation to build bigger ones.  This was Ben Bernanke's main wealth effect strategy.  His ideas was that if he pumped asset prices, primarily stocks, the rich would buy your house if you lived in their neighborhood and they would take it in foreclosure if you lived in your neighborhood.  Its working.

3. It takes Fed intervention of 85 billion a month and the treasury's already trillion plus to keep stocks higher.  It takes one word in a Fed statement to crash it all.  Now this may sound scarey but no one remembers what down looks like.  Scarey down.

Driving Air

The only distraction for investors now will continue to be the increasing high pitched sound of air being forced into the only opening of the equities balloon chamber.  The noise is distracting  but can be removed by wearing an Equity Manager's Headset manufactured by the Fed and sold at any business cable news outlet.  The headsets are constructed of two ten year notes held together with Wall Street's and Washington's favorite material, Ivy.  Though the material is considered not safe by previous users, it continues to be popular and is especially worn to major financial events.   The headsets can also be used when driving while texting at high speed, downhill, in heavy traffic.  

No Matter What Happens, Managers Will Still Be Clueless

Where the markets ride on the road through good news/bad news is only important to managers who  do not have a clue on how markets work.  A collapse or a surge higher in equities will be a short term opportunity.  The fact that managers cannot consistently deliver alpha no matter their pedigree is proof that most of them are accidental winners and perennial flat liners.   Up has always been the favorite of most successful macro equity managers and volatility with front running solutions has been the HF's bank.   Big Data momentum prop houses will be the next mediocre performers as short term momentum strategies will end up chasing their own tail as tightening latency solutions will deny any price separation opportunities between good news / bad news. 

Budget /Debt Ceiling struggles have gripped hard on upside hopes as congressional true believers bleed to promote a form of government servicing the privileged at the expense of those of lesser means.    But all governments in their evolution struggle with factions of extremism, adopting a tiny portion of their ideas but letting the bulk of it destroy the extremists who promote it.  

The problem in this particular market construct is the world has become accustomed to asset intervention and the belief it will always be delivered and will always work.   A default would be certainly bring significant flight to cash not seen since 2008.   A solution would put the bears on the bottom yet again.

Double Tops Never Fail

This is a double top of the ugliest sort.  A look at the top 1% share of total income.  The last time it was this high was in 1928.
Data from Mike Konczal (Rortybomb) of Next New Deal .

Bernanke Slaughters Bears/ Performances

Bernanke stuck it to the bears in stocks and bonds yesterday.  Bears in bonds will need an event not on the screen to reclaim any hope this year.  Bears in stocks will need a twist in debt ceiling/budget game.

Much talk has been about the anniversary of the 2008 crash.  Here is an accounting of eight stock performances this year and since December 31, 2007.  The first percentage return is this year, followed by last 5 years.

AAPL  -13%/ +134%  BAC +27%/-61%   GOOG +28%/+31%   GS +32%/-22%

IBM +.09%/+80%    MSFT  +25%/-6%  F  +36%/+134%  PFE  +16%/+26%

The Giant Squeeze On All Edges

Market topping action continues with Bears pushing hard to get the S&P500 action below 1650 to begin the journey back to 1550 for starters.
 
Tough year again for the general mass of fund managers who year after year continue to have lousy returns.  The HFT shops have found themselves lost without the ability to meaningfully front run any other HFT as Big Data looks like is will also be a big waste of time.  Every other proprietary firm is now either pimping services as a sell side vendor or working on the next big staff reduction.
  
Many of the desperate are pinning their hopes on the fixed income  death dive tsunami which now has been greatly anticipated each of the last three years.  This may be it but it probably isn't.  
 
The giant squeeze on all edges is upon the world.  Over employment has been replaced with falling work force participation but oddly creating falling unemployment rates.  Great trading performances have fallen victim to the great regression where what was once thought of a shop after shop and firm after firm of trading talent is now revealed guys looking more like the clueless they always were or even worse, as dumb as bankers.  Just showing up is out of business. 

Markets are more concerned about who the next Fed Chairman will be than war in Syria or the US budget deadline.  Obama looks like he has given the edge to Summers who knows less about markets and more about opportunism created by being a repeat offender creating personal wealth through public service and Ivy League circle jerks.   Markets don't like him because he is unpredictable.  Most don't like him because he is a jerk.