Macro Ops Podcast: Volatility, Smart Beta, Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Poker with Tyler

We are starting a new podcast!!! (yes, you get three of those exclamation points … != !!!)

The Macro Ops Podcast will focus on global macro trading. But we reach further than just finance, learning from people in all walks of life in order to bring that mindset, those skills, that thinking into making ourselves better all around.

For our inaugural episode Chris (I) chats with Macro Ops Co-Founder Tyler Kling.

You can find the episode on all major platforms at the links below. 

Itunes

Google Podcasts Android Only

Breaker

Stitcher

Spotify

In Volatility, Smart Beta, Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Poker we discuss how Tyler got into the finance world right out of school at a family office, then moving on to trading for himself.

Tyler is heavily focused on the volatility complex and talks about a call he put out on VXX and VIX near the December lows in the SPX and what that looks like now.

We touch on the indecision currently in the markets and Chris’s short trade setup and contingency plan on the S&P this week.  

From there we move on to discuss an article Tyler wrote about which included a Classical Chinese text from thousands of years ago, the Zhuangzi, and how it applies to traders today. Bleak stuff indeed!

Check out the article here: Play To Win Or Go Out Like Broomcorn’s Uncle.

After the article discussion we talk about optionality, harvesting smart beta with a macro overlay, and why we need to make sure trading is adequately compensating our time. 

Finally we finish up with a discussion about poker and how it relates to trading!

You can reach Tyler at @TylerHKling on Twitter or tyler@macro-ops.com.

And you can reach Chris at @chrisDMacro on Twitter and Instagram or chris@macro-ops.com.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Brandon Beylo

Value Investor

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

Investing & Personal Finance

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.

Tyler Kling

Volatility & Options Trader

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.

Alex Barrow

Macro Trader

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.