TTU Trend Barometer
— Full details
Trend Following: Is it for you?
— Get the eBook

U Got Options

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Cem on X.

Follow Ben on X.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction to U Got Options and the trading floor setting
02:18 – Ben Hunt’s background and Epsilon Theory origins
04:11 – Markets as the ultimate multiplayer game
06:15 – Inference, unstructured data, and narrative analysis
08:18 – Why sentiment and word counts miss the real signal
11:16 – Mapping meaning and truthy stories
15:00 – LLMs as operating systems, not oracles
18:01 – Giving money back and when models stop working
21:16 – Applying narrative tools beyond markets
24:10 – Consumer weakness versus bullish expectations
30:43 – Inflation, recession, and why markets do not care
33:29 – Dormant stories and volatility discovery
34:26 – The sell America narrative and capital flows
40:05 – Common knowledge and reflexivity
45:44 – Regime change, multipolarity, and narrative dominance

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Cem on X.

Follow David on X.

Timestamps

00:01:29 – Cem introduces David Dredge live from Munich.
00:03:28 – Dredge recalls arriving in Asia before the 1987 crash.
00:05:06 – The F1 brakes analogy—why protection enables speed.
00:07:45 – The “preserve and enhance” portfolio that defied 65/35.
00:10:57 – Rethinking 60/40 and the illusion of diversification.
00:14:33 – Cem on $500 trillion of correlated assets.
00:17:22 – Why covered calls lose to convexity over time.
00:19:14 – Misreading 2022: correlation, not equities, was the risk.
00:21:20 – When diversification fails, only convexity endures.
00:27:13 – Value investing in volatility—buying what others suppress.
00:37:48 – Euro FX vol: the paradox of cheap risk.
00:44:07 – Demographics and the quiet mathematics of decline.
00:47:46 – The “Hunger Games” for global savings begins.
00:52:57 – Lessons from 1997: FX and gold vol as survival trades.
00:56:11 – The anti-fiat portfolio—Bitcoin, gold, and long vol.
01:01:13 – Closing reflection on resilience as freedom.

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Cem on X.

Follow Keith on LinkedIn.

Follow Patrick on LinkedIn.

Follow Hari on LinkedIn.

Timestamps

00:00 – Opening and introductions
01:29 – Overview of guests and themes: EM, volatility, and AI
03:10 – Keith DeCarlucci on EM FX, commodities, and volatility trades
14:13 – Relative value in equity vol and tail-hedging strategies
21:20 – Patrick Casley on portfolio construction and convexity
32:24 – Reassessing 60/40, nominal illusion, and macro correlations
39:44 – The new regime: long assets vs limited diversifiers
44:39 – Hari Krishnan on AI, options, and the future of volatility
56:06 – Upside skew, real assets, and structural market shifts
01:05:21 – Closing remarks and disclaimers

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Cem on X.

Follow Vlad on X.

Timestamps

01:27 – Introduction to Vlad Tenev
05:11 – Big announcements from Robinhood
09:15 – Tenev's favorite commodities
12:13 – Lets talk about options!
18:20 – How AI can benefit options trading
21:56 – Short selling is coming to Robinhood
25:44 – The path to making Robinhood more resilient
28:02 – The great transfer of wealth
31:17 – How Robinhood differentiates themselves from other platforms
33:35 – Creating a broader army
37:23 – What is Robinhood most excited for going forward?

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Mandy on LinkedIn.

Follow Ed on LinkedIn.

Follow Cem on X.

Timestamps

59:42 – Introduction to the series
02:21 – Where did options come from and where are we going?
10:20 – The purpose and mechanisms of the VIX decomposition tool
18:55 – The history of the VIX index
23:20 – The beginning of a volmageddon
26:24 – A comparison between 2 recent volatility events (August 2024 and April 2025)
35:03 – Key indicators for understanding risk in markets
42:23 – The current state of 0DTE options
50:29 – The optimal way of using VIX and hedge options

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Rick on X.

Follow Cem on X.

Timestamps

00:02 – Introduction to the UGO series
01:26 – Introduction to Rick Santelli
05:16 – The first trade Santelli ever made
06:32 – The historical performance of gold
08:39 – Why did Santelli move to interest rates?
10:28 – How technology impacts the way we invest
13:30 – A shadow Fed president
14:46 – How Alan Greenspan changed everything
18:47 – We are starting to pay the price of overspending
22:04 – Money printing – a daisy chain of a closed circuit
23:50 – How do we get out of debt and how does it end?
29:06 – How do you invest wisely in today's economy?
36:48 – Cost of credit: The lurking financial threat
39:03 – How young people should set themselves up for retirement

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Benn on LinkedIn.

Follow Cem on X.

Timestamps

00:11 – Introduction… setting the stage
03:01 – Understanding Options and Market Dynamics
09:47 – Market Dynamics and the Role of Administration
11:41 – Market Volatility and Structural Changes in Trading
19:00 – The Impact of Structural Changes on Market Volume
26:13 – Understanding Market Dynamics and Asset Allocation
30:23 – The Impact of Interest Rates on Investment Strategies
34:21 – Understanding Zero DTE Options and Their Market Impact
39:50 – Economic Outlook: Tariffs and Interest Rates

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Jim on X.

Follow Cem on X.

Timestamps

02:01 – Introduction to Jim Bianco and Bianco Research
06:36 – The big macro picture view
16:02 – The financial inequality is at an all time high
22:51 – The power of generational wealth
24:07 – The imbalance of politics – something has to change
27:47 – Why we will see a major shift in how we invest soon
30:19 – How the economy is changing
36:10 – What defines a strong economy?
40:58 – What is Trump talking about?
45:36 – The outlook of the economy
53:33 – The core of the political problems in the US
55:16 – How to benefit from the current market volatility

by

IT's TRUE – most CIO's read 50+ books each year – get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here.

And you can get a free copy of my latest book “The Many Flavors of Trend Following” here.

Learn more about the Trend Barometer here.

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Follow Mike on X.

Follow Cem on X.

Timestamps

02:04 – Introduction to Mike Green
07:39 – How and why 0DTE options have changed the investing landscape
17:23 – Implied volatility is changing – what does it mean for investors?
25:18 – How periods of relative stability impact investor behaviour
31:03 – The unwind of passives – is the system under pressure?
39:51 – What are prices actually telling us?
43:31 – Why this cycle might be different
48:52 – What makes a long lasting investor?
54:17 – A deep dive into passive flows
57:18 – Individualism in investing – are we becoming too separated?