63 min listen
Benn Eifert, Founder and CIO, QVR Advisors
FromAlpha Exchange
ratings:
Length:
41 minutes
Released:
Feb 1, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
As founder and CIO of QVR Advisors, Benn Eifert spends his time looking for opportunities in volatility markets and helping his investors protect capital through periods of uncertainty. With the surge in volatility that has recently materialized in GameStop and a number of other stocks with high short interest, it was timely to have Benn back on the Alpha Exchange to share his always excellent insights on option market dynamics. Our discussion considers the emergence of a factor that may have been hiding in plain sight – crowd sourced convexity that left option hedgers short gamma. In the process of laying out this recent single stock risk event, Benn clarifies some of the misconceptions that may be common around the retail options trading community. From Benn’s vantage point, some of these investors are hardly unsophisticated and understand leverage, positioning and the feedback loops that can occur when dealers are hedging options from the short side. As we step back and consider the ecosystem of supply and demand for optionality in the equity market, Benn describes the losses that were imparted on short volatility strategies in March 2020 and how that figures in to a VIX that has been persistently high relative to the metrics it is typically related to. Lastly, given that 2021 has demonstrated that stocks can actually crash up as well as crash down, we consider the implications of GameStop on the volatility surface. Here Benn sees good reason to expect a persistent, extra premium to the upside call as a result of recent events. I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Benn Eifert.
Released:
Feb 1, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Eric Peters, One River Asset Management: Beginning his career in Chicago trading corn futures in the late 1980’s, Eric Peters moved into the sharp elbowed world of bond futures trading on the CBOT and then went to a bank, prop trading rates and derivatives through the 1990’s. His perspectives on the exchange rate mechanism crisis in 1992 and the bond market massacre in 1994 provide significant insight on the way in which policy frameworks invite risk taking that can ultimately lead to instability. Utilizing many of these lessons on risk, Eric founded One River Asset Management, a firm that delivers bespoke solutions to institutional investors, helping them navigate markets in the post-crisis era. As 2018 comes to a close, Eric sees a long period of adjustment to a higher volatility regime in both the risk asset complex as well as inflation. by Alpha Exchange