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The Premiere Investment Research, Training, and Community Platform for Institutions and Retail Investors
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The Premiere Investment Research, Training, and Community Platform for Institutions and Retail Investors
Welcome to a new age of investing.
In this world, where the game is played with loaded dice, a man must have a temper of iron, with armor proof to the blows of fate, and weapons to make his way against men. Life is one long battle; we have to fight at every step; and Voltaire very rightly says that if we succeed, it is at the point of the sword, and that we die with the weapon in our hand. ~
In 1605, Miyamoto Musashi, a young Ronin samurai and quite possibly the greatest swordsman to have ever lived, was challenged to a duel.
The challenger was another young man named Matashichiro from the Yoshioka family, a clan renowned for their swordsmanship. Matashichiro was looking for revenge. And for good reason. Musashi had recently slain both his father and older brother in separate duels.
Musashi’s samurai friends warned of a trap and offered to tag along. But, being the badass he was, he refused and went alone.
Musashi would often play mind games with his opponents. For instance, he’d show up to duels in strange dress or with unconventional weapons. He once fought with a sharpened boat paddle, and won.
One of his favorite strategies was to arrive late, frustrating and angering his opponent. This is what he did when he fought Matashichiro’s father and brother. So that’s what the Yoshioka clan figured he’d do again.
Matashichiro arrived at the appointed place a few minutes early, bringing in tow with him a small army, rumored to be 20-men large. Expecting Musashi to arrive late, they laid down and hid in the tall grass ready to pounce on him once he arrived.
But Musashi had their number. He’d arrived hours earlier and had taken cover behind a large tree. As soon as the Yoshioka men laid down, he leapt out with sword in hand and yelled “I’ve been waiting long enough… DRAW YOUR SWORDS!”
His opponents, startled, stumbled to their feet in a daze. In one fell swoop, Musashi killed Matashichiro, then proceeded down the line taking out each of his men – 20 in all – one by one, in a matter of seconds.
The Macro Ops Collective was created to assist investors like you in your trading strategy, boost your performance both from a portfolio and personal perspective, and understand the game(s) you’re playing with masterly level knowledge.
Your average market participant is much like the poor Matashichiro. They’re unimaginative, they’re reactive, and they don’t really know what game they’re playing.
So you have to decide. Do you invest with the paper thin guidance of the inexperienced (and wrong) masses? Or will you join the single greatest (and most profitable) trading community in the world? The choice is yours.
Wild story, isn’t it? If you’re into this type of stuff I recommend picking up “The Book of Five Rings”, which Musashi wrote himself. On the surface, it’s about the art of swordplay though it’s really about the art of strategy, and performance, and why it’s crucial to understand the game one is playing.
This brings us to a good jumping-off point for what the Macro Ops Collective is… what it isn’t… and how it might (I say might, because the Collective definitely is not for everyone) help you.
Help you in your trading strategy, boost your investing performance both from a portfolio and personal perspective, and understand the game(s) you’re playing at a second level and beyond…
You see… Your average market participant / investor is much like the poor Matashichiro. They’re unimaginative, they’re reactive, and they don’t really know what game they’re playing.
They are the ones who write, tweet, and televise such poorly informed and mistimed headlines such as those below… including the even poorer souls who listen to them.
We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.
It’s mind-blowing to think about how much information is available now versus 20 years ago, or even just 5 years ago. But the massive amount of available data is part of the problem. It is incredibly tempting to be distracted by useless and wrong information, leading your time and investment astray.
We want to help you synthesize this noisy world so you can focus on the few critical inputs, risks, and trends that matter. And make more money as a result. The Collective exists to make you a calculating, ruthlessly efficient, and consistently profitable investor.
We do this through superior quantitative tools, an informed contrarian research process, and a frequent review of our results so we can test and learn, leading to more profitable outcomes.
Constantly evolving collectively as investors so we will be even better a year from now, and we’re pretty damn good today.
We have a holistic approach to markets and investing in general. One we call the Trifecta Approach. It involves deep thematic research focusing on the biggest, most misunderstood and overlooked trends in the world.
A key differentiator between us and other research providers is that not only are we not afraid to take a wildly out-of-consensus view when our process says to do so, but we absolutely love being the outside zebra.
Matashichiros safely stay in the efficient market box. They really like it there. It’s easy to comment on what’s already happened. It makes them feel smart when their estimates on next quarter earnings are close on the mark.
Too bad for them, because that’s not where the real money is. For that, you have to travel outside that crowded space and place your bet on underwriting the future. It takes guts, imagination, and a hard-tested process but that’s where the Collective operates. That’s where we make our killing.
Here are some recent examples of the investing research you can expect to receive inside the Collective.
Well, then, my boy, develop your strategy So that prizes in games won’t elude your grasp. Strategy makes a better woodcutter than strength. Strategy keeps a pilot’s ship on course When crosswinds blow it over the wine-blue sea. And strategy wins races for charioteers. One type of driver trusts his horses and car And swerves mindlessly this way and that, All over the course, without reining his horses. But a man who knows how to win with lesser horses Keeps his eye on the post and cuts the turn close, And from the start keeps tension on the reins With a firm hand as he watches the leader.
At Macro Ops we’re maniacal about continuously studying, updating, sharpening, and repeating our processes when it comes to investing. Middling traders and investors hope to make their cheese using innate skill and their self-deluded ideas of genius and grandeur.
We don’t suffer from any such illusions. We’ve had our teeth kicked in by the market too many times to believe such nonsense. It’s a beautiful and liberating day once a trader can release himself from those ridiculous egoistic shackles and finally get down to doing the proper work of making money.
Our work on process, strategy, and methods is one reason why portfolio managers love us. Nobody else out there is doing and sharing this important work. And it’s a lot of work. We’re continuously working on devving out and testing new methodologies, new trade structures, new exit routines, sharing what we learn with the Collective.
Our Trifecta Lens Score Indicator and approach for applying hedges vs buying dips is an example of what was born from this effort (example here).
When we recommend trades, we give trade structure, sizing, and exit information too. Stock picks are a dime a dozen and about as good as a handful of wet crepe paper if they don’t include the above.
Wild story, isn’t it? If you’re into this type of stuff I recommend picking up “The Book of Five Rings”, which Musashi wrote himself. On the surface, it’s about the art of swordplay though it’s really about the art of strategy, and performance, and why it’s crucial to understand the game one is playing.
This brings us to a good jumping-off point for what the Macro Ops Collective is… what it isn’t… and how it might (I say might, because the Collective definitely is not for everyone) help you.
Help you in your investing strategy, boost your performance both from a portfolio and personal perspective, and understand the game(s) you’re playing at a second level and beyond…
You see… Your average market participant is much like the poor Matashichiro. They’re unimaginative, they’re reactive, and they don’t really know what game they’re playing.
They are the ones who write, tweet, and televise such poorly informed and mistimed headlines such as those below… including the even poorer souls who listen to them.
Real students of the game never stop learning. We can’t. We don’t want to. One of the great things about markets is that they’re always changing, and so do our skills and knowledge base if we want to stay competitive.
The Collective exists to help you do just that. All Collective members get access to our Vault, where every single theory, strategy, process, and book notes we’ve ever written sits. It gets added to monthly.
Also included are influential white papers, webinars, and mini-courses on everything from our strategy to how we analyze potential trades.
In our quest for constant evolution, we recently developed a quarterly DEEP DIVE. This is where the Macro Ops team and fellow Collective members work together on a single subject. It can be anything of interest. Have an idea you think would be valuable to dive into when it comes to investing? Join the Collective today and share it with our group of experienced investors.
The Collective gives you full access to our private Slack group where the Macro Ops team and fellow traders from around the world spend a good chunk of time each day shooting the sh*t about everything from health hacks to sharing research and trade ideas as well as planning local meetups and get-togethers.
Our community of traders and investors is truly the best on the internet and our competition isn’t even close.
...Everything in life conspires to push you into the center, and not just politically. The center is the realm of compromise. Getting along with other people is an important skill to have, but it comes with a danger: by always seeking the path of least resistance, the path of conciliation, you forget who you are, and you sink into the center with everyone else. Instead see yourself as a fighter, an outsider surrounded by enemies.
Constant battle will keep you strong and alert. It will help to define what you believe in, both for yourself and for others. Do not worry about antagonizing people; without antagonism there is no battle, and without battle, there is no chance of victory. Do not be lured by the need to be liked: better to be respected, even feared. Victory over your enemies will bring you a more lasting popularity.
You need vision and the willingness to fly solo and underwrite the future. You have to be proactive rather than reactive. You have to efficiently filter out the noise and have a tested process for getting at the truth. You need backtested trade structure and sizing methodologies as the basis of your approach. You’ll find that and more inside the Collective.
As Ray Dalio put it, “You can’t make money agreeing with the consensus.”
We’ll see you inside.
Join our Collective and attack markets with the power of your own highly-skilled research team.
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Inquire about multi-user access or institutional subscriptions at alex@macro-ops.com.
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All content in this page, on our website, all emails, social media posts, comments on other websites or other material generated by Macro Ops is intended for general information and educational purposes only. NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE. Click here for full disclaimer.
Brandon has been a professional investor focusing on value for over 13 years, spending his time in small to micro-cap companies, spin-offs, SPACs, and deep value liquidation situations. Over time, he’s developed a deeper understanding for what deep-value investing actually means, and refined his philosophy to include any business trading at a wild discount to what he thinks its worth in 3-5 years.
Brandon has a tenacious passion for investing, broad-based learning, and business. He previously worked for several leading investment firms before joining the team at Macro Ops. He lives by the famous Munger mantra of trying to get a little smarter each day.
AK is the founder of Macro Ops and the host of Fallible.
He started out in corporate economics for a Fortune 50 company before moving to a long/short equity investment firm.
With Macro Ops focused primarily on institutional clients, AK moved to servicing new investors just starting their journey. He takes the professional research and education produced at Macro Ops and breaks it down for beginners. The goal is to help clients find the best solution for their investing needs through effective education.
Former trade desk manager at $100+ million family office where he oversaw multiple traders and helped develop cutting edge quantitative strategies in the derivatives market.
He worked as a consultant to the family office’s in-house fund of funds in the areas of portfolio manager evaluation and capital allocation.
Certified in Quantitative Finance from the Fitch Learning Center in London, England where he studied under famous quants such as Paul Wilmott.
Founder and head macro trader at Macro Ops. Alex joined the US Marine Corps on his 18th birthday just one month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He subsequently spent a decade in the military. Serving in various capacities from scout sniper to interrogator and counterintelligence specialist. Following his military service, he worked as a contract intelligence professional for a number of US agencies (from the DIA to FBI) with a focus on counterintelligence and terrorist financing. He also spent time consulting for a tech company that specialized in building analytic software for finance and intelligence analysis.
After leaving the field of intelligence he went to work at a global macro hedge fund. He’s been professionally involved in markets since 2005, has consulted with a number of the leading names in the hedge fund space, and now manages his own family office while running Macro Ops. He’s published over 300 white papers on complex financial and macroeconomic topics, writes regularly about investment/market trends, and frequently speaks at conferences on trading and investing.
Macro Ops is a market research firm geared toward professional and experienced retail traders and investors. Macro Ops’ research has been featured in Forbes, Marketwatch, Business Insider, and Real Vision as well as a number of other leading publications.
You can find out more about Alex on his LinkedIn account here and also find him on Twitter where he frequently shares his market research.