Robot James 🤖🏖 Profile picture
Apr 30, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read Read on X
Tail hedging for degenerates. Image
For most of my time, I just thought of tail hedging as the "cost of entry".

A "ticket to the dance" if you like.

You can't predict what happens in the tails - so pay up to cover them & go play hard in the peak of the bell curve, where your tools and models are most valid.
If you're a good trader, you'll tend to find that your highest expected return opportunities appear after massive moves.

Disconnections happen when others risk models are flashing red and they are FORCED to trade (rather than want to).

You want dry powder for these times.
You can't predict the tails, so just get them covered and concentrate on the games you can win at.

"Getting it covered" = buying OTM options.

Other approaches such as short trend-following will *probably* pay off when you need it, but might fail.

That isn't good enough here
One of many trade-offs for the trader.

- best opportunities are in chaos
- chaos doesn't happen very often
- in benign times, easiest way to make money is carry-like stuff that incinerates your buying power just when you want it most

Tail hedging doesnt solve this, but helps

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More from @therobotjames

Feb 5
trading to stay alive.

your risk is slippery.

you put a position on at a certain size.

your position gets bigger or smaller on you with the whims of the market

and sometimes the asset you're trading starts moving a lot and so does your risk.
if you're long only investing for the long run, it can be fine to just buy things and leave them alone.

this is reasonable because, if you are long an asset:

- your position gets bigger as you make more money
- your position gets smaller as you lose money
so your portfolio risk doesn't really change except for changes in the volatility of the market (and little boring things like uninvested dividends)

so it's completely reasonable to buy the VT ETF, set dividends to reinvest just leave it alone forever.
Read 13 tweets
Feb 1
shorting dogshyt perp listings on binance
. . .

what happens immediately after a new perp is listed on binance?

well, on average they go very down.

future of finance innit. Image
in this article i show you how a naive approach to trading this kinda works, but is strewn with blow up risk.



and then i show you some dead-simple modifications to:
- dramatically improve strategy performance
- mitigate the chances of getting rekt robotjames.substack.com/p/shorting-per…Image
you should read the article because:

- i want you to
- it's better than this thread

i explain all the dynamics and the exact trade rules for a simple strategy i designed for you.

i'm not gonna do all that here, but i'm gonna tell you a lot of useful stuff.
Read 26 tweets
Jan 20
trading through extreme chaos.

much of my insufferable schtick on here is...

“you can get away with doing very simple things if you pick the right place to do them”

you can also get away with doing very simple things if you pick the right time to do them. Image
when the proverbial excrement really hits the proverbial fan, a lot of shit starts dislocating in very clear and obvious ways.

this is due to forced trading.

people trading because they have to, rather than because they want to.
trading that is entirely about necessity. nothing to do with price or value or predictions.

people forced to cut size because they are mandated to.

people forced to cut positions cos their risk manager is screaming at them.

responses to margin calls, or getting liquidated.
Read 34 tweets
Dec 18, 2025
you can still get away with dead simple trades if you pick the right place to do them.

i'm going to show you how to do basic white girl pairs trading in crypto perps. Image
like everything i share, it’s going to be very straightforward.

i’m not going to ask you to do anything cerebral or difficult.
you just need to:

1. understand what drives the divergence / convergence pattern we try to harness in a pair trade.

2. look for places where that is likely to be the case.

3. check that you actually see that behaviour in the past.

4. bet on it - in a simple direct way.
Read 40 tweets
Dec 15, 2025
pairs trading for dickheads

when an online “kwant trader” starts writing about pairs trading i usually want to stab myself in the dick.

but, since i am both an enormous hypocrite and a better writer than the rest of you, i am going to talk about pairs trading today. Image
i’m going to tell you what pairs trading is.

and why and when it works.

and why and when it doesn’t work.

we’re going to run through a simple example. and i’m going to give you everything you need to trade it yourself, with nothing more than tradingview and a pair of hands. Image
actually, one hand would be fine.

i have a lot to say about this.

so do yourself a favor and read it all here: robotjames.substack.com/p/pairs-tradin…
Read 18 tweets
Jul 30, 2025
a chat today reminded me that the crucial first step in any successful trader’s journey is to…

stop doing really dumb shit.
if you have no edge (and i think we can both assume you won’t at the start) then there’s nowhere for returns to come from.

you can’t make money like that

but there are plenty of ways you can lose money.
1) if you have no edge then every trading approach apart from doing nothing can be expected to lose money.

trading costs money (from fees, spread, and the price impact of your own trades.)
Read 10 tweets

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