thenewbarbarianspodcast
164 posts
@thenewbarbpod
Tech giants, digital assets and the new monetary regime.
When allocators finally learn that "idio" is just a fancy way to say "short vol"
Why SIG told its traders not to hedge. Kris Abdelmessih (@KrisAbdelmessih). 8 years on SIG's options floor. Now writes Moontower. SIG's founders came from gambling. Sports betting. Poker. They understood small edges. "A bookie's making like 5% edge. Making a pretty good living off a fairly slim margin." Then they looked at options markets: "The idea that you could trade a two and a half dollar call spread for $2.20 when you think it's worth $2.50 — SIG was like, that is a ridiculous amount of edge. Way more than you'd get in gambling. And the risk is the same." So what did they do? They traded massive size and didn't hedge. "We were not even instructed to hedge. Central command looks at all the risk across the firm — this guy's long Microsoft, that guy's short QQQ, someone else is short IBM — net it all out and just trade the residual." The philosophy was simple: "Hedging is a cost. Don't hedge. Only hedge when risk starts swamping your edge." And they optimized for size over margin: "They traded giant size because they already knew this was way more edge than they'd ever find anywhere else." The result? SIG was the most profitable options trading firm of that era. Their competitors called them the Evil Empire.
We recently caught up with @kxsystems CEO Ashok Reddy at NVIDIA GTC! In this video, Ashok breaks down a few unique challenges to AI adoption in finance. He explains why determinism, token economics, and market data as a ground truth all matter when AI is used in real-world settings.
VIX futures (CFE) is scheduled for as early as next week barring any last-minute emergencies, fingers crossed. We're all-hand-on-deck on this at the moment. In case you want the fastest update once it's released, upvote this roadmap item for an automated email: roadmap.databento.com/b/n0o5prm6/fea…
Why is changing your mind in public so risky—and so powerful? In our latest New Barbarians Podcast short, we unpack the leadership mindset behind challenging consensus and navigating personal growth with courage. The risk isn't just reputational—it's about demonstrating the integrity and self-awareness to adapt and thrive. ▶️ Watch the short below. Full episodes on: Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the… YouTube: youtu.be/LsoqH7kCsGM Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7iydkY… #personaldevelopment #mindset #leadership #growth #NewBarbariansPodcast
