macrocephalopod

I love the vol market. think its predictive power for other yvars needs way more exploring. think of all the variables. aggregate IV. skew. term struc. kinks. that's 1 surf. Now we can compare X_surfA, X_surfB (after normalizing). >100 dimensions probably

so if those are xvariables, how do they relate to future rets, futureMAE, future autocorr? not just for asset 1, but the spread betw aaset 1 fut MAE and asset 2 fut MAE

when ya think about it, its all a matrix.... too bad my matrix game is rusty this ignores the positioning type bets tho. like getting paid for offering liquidity to a desperate seller

Why vix though? It's kinda like being a ES trader or CL... I mean sure you may be able to squeeze out some alpha, but you're fighting with thousands, if not millions of people. Think you'd have more success looking at structuring baskets for dispersion or correlation trades?

yeah wasnt thinking vix. thematic etfs like EM, KRE, anything optionable and liquid, then playing spreads maybe. could target niche products too. dispersion sounds cool but can retail play? like <8k

Not sure what your career goals/plans are and I'm not saying this to rub you the wrong way... But gotta start off and cut your teeth on an institutional desk.

I'd say don't focus on what you can do with 8k right now; and focus what you would do if/when you got allocated 50mil on a desk.