Statements for May have just been uploaded to the portal. We finished slightly down -0.23% for the month which was a bit disappointing given we were up over 2% around mid-May. The latter half of May saw an increase in vol of vol on the back of very interesting option market positioning heading into OPEX. OPEX is a monthly event where options with different maturities (duration) all expire on the same day. The option market is the tail that wags the dog. There are structural flows associated with option market positioning and when they get to extreme levels, you get a rise in vol of vol. In other words, volatility rises significantly yet there is very little price movement and that makes for a difficult trading environment! The Federal Reserve meeting at the beginning of May was the primary reason for the extreme levels of option market positioning as market participants wanted to be completely hedged in case of a surprise from the Fed. I do not foresee that type of positioning to occur in the months ahead given the Fed has signaled it’s intentions quite clearly to the market but it’s always a possibility. We can never rule anything out – only properly manage risk!
These are great updates. Thank you.
Agreed…great updates and it helps a lot to understand the things that affect your strategy. Thanks!