0/ Powell and his Fed colleagues keep getting more and more hawkish and rates have really taken off this week, but the S&P seems to keep staying strong - what is going on?

Find out with this week’s FX & Rates Roundup 🧵👇
1/ DXY pulled back post-FOMC after hitting top of channel close to 100. Market is pricing around 8 more hikes this year, so why isn't USD rallying? It's actually typical to see some dollar weakness at the start of a tightening cycle if we zoom out and look back to 90s.
2/ USDJPY continues to rally after a massive breakout above 116.5 (5 year highs) as Kuroda stays put on rates whilst Powell gives a very hawkish message to markets.
3/ EM FX rallies hard vs USD as commodity exporting economies benefit from recent prices spike on Russia/Ukraine. CAD, ZAR, MXN, NOK, AUD & BRL all up between 1 and 5% against dollar in a week.
4/ In rates, US 2Y yields continue gapping higher after Powell confirm 50bps hike in play for next meeting. Market implied probabilities favouring 50bps in both May and June meetings! Can the market digest this without stocks puking?
5/ Flattening trend continues as we now see curve inversion in a few places on the curve. 2s10s around 20bps so not quite there yet but many people suggesting we get there by summer and countdown to recession begins. 20Y auction was well bid today ahead of QE rebalancing.
6/ For an in-depth discussion on FED and rates watch this great interview from @JackFarley96 at @Blockworks_ speaking to @FedGuy12 & @NickTimiraos

7/ Financial conditions actually loosened last week due to stocks rallying. This is the conundrum the FED finds itself in right now where the need to crash the stock market for their policy to actually work and financial conditions to tighten enough to bring down inflation.
8/ If you like this thread pls RT and be sure to try out our community by joining our FREE Discord group chat (discord.com/invite/dsnhDWS…) to join the conversation and get info like this & more in real-time.

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More from @options_insight

Nov 25, 2025
For those of you who follow the SPX Vol surface, you will know that SKEW is quite pumped right now. It's still around the 80th percentile after getting hit yesterday.

So does that make it a sell still?

Not necessarily. Because there is a reason why SKEW is expensive. And that reason is that people are willing to pay for VANNA.

So, what the hell is VANNA? Explainer🧵
1/ Vanna is a second-order Greek that represents two things at once. It represents how your VEGA position changes when the underlying spot moves. But it also represents how your DELTA changes when implied volatility moves.

I like to think of it as your realised skew exposure, just like gamma is your realised volatility exposure.
2/ Let's take an example where you have a Vanna position of $100k of Vega per 1% spot change. And you are long downside puts and short upside calls.

You will therefore also have a delta change per implied vol change of $10 million DELTA per 1% vol change.

As the market goes down, you will get longer Vega. If the market goes up, you will get shorter Vega.

And as implied vol goes up, you will get shorter delta. And if implied vol goes down, you will get longer delta.
Read 11 tweets
Nov 3, 2025
I saw a reddit post about dispersion today written by a quant. It was pretty good but I feel like the target audience was vol professionals and most people wouldn't have a clue what he was on about.

So here goes....the Options Insight explanation of the famous Dispersion Trade explained in plain English...

Let's imagine the stock market is a choir🧵Image
1/
The Index (SPX) is the whole choir singing together.

The stocks are the individual singers.

Dispersion trading is about betting on how in-sync the singers are with each other.
2/
If every singer hits the same note perfectly → the choir sounds loud and clear → the SPX moves a lot.

If everyone sings their own tune → the choir sounds softer, even if each singer is loud → SPX goes nowhere.

Perfect sync = high correlation
Everyone doing their own thing = low correlation/high dispersion
Read 12 tweets
Feb 1, 2024
Why do YOU need our daily SPX fixed strike vol monitor?

1/ There are so many GEX models out there, saying different things, with different embedded assumptions. For example, @t1alpha suggest that SPX dealers have just flipped short gamma... Image
2/ But GS see a very different profile, which seems to include a lot of very short dated local gamma supply. This means dealers lose gamma in both directions. Image
3/ And finally Nomura's well followed @CharlieMcEllig1 and team said recently that the setup is the complete reverse with dealers short upside around the 5000 strike. Image
Read 5 tweets
Jan 22, 2024
Let's dive into last week's options trading insights! Remember, the full details are included in our site weekly blog post (check my profile's linktree).
1/ We saw signs that SPX buying flows might slow down after Friday's OPEX. SPX hasn't dipped, likely buoyed by these Jan OPEX positions, especailly in Mag7 names.

Protecting your US index exposure with Feb24 or Mar24 put spreads makes sense. Post-Jan OPEX, expect less market support due to the fading effect of CHARM and buyback blackouts for earnings.

This creates a chance for tactical shorts in the coming weeks. Our evidence suggests that SPX's end-of-day buying is due to dealers hedging DELTA on Jan24 long GAMMA positions.

According to GS, dealer GAMMA has collapsed, making the markets less stable as we head into mega-cap tech earnings...Image
2/ We also think it's time to consider VIX call spreads.

Why? The chances of a volatility spike seem higher now. There's been a surge in Feb24 17 calls, pushing VVIX up. This aligns with our observation of increased equity vol. Investors are hedging risks, a sign of market nervousness.

19Jan24 fixed strike vol dropped, but Feb24 and Mar24 firmed up. This indicates dealers covering short-term VEGA from VIX trades.

Even if SPX tests 5000, VIX is unlikely to drop < 12. as VIX beta drops on the way up.

We're buying VIX call spreads to capitalize on the potential vol spike. This approach offers leverage while controlling THETA bleed.Image
Read 4 tweets
Jan 19, 2024
Why am I getting bearish on stocks?
1/ As SPX rips back to its highs, we see breadth deteriorating as the Mag7 are leading the charge once again. Image
2/ The options flows also back up this move as lots of calls were bought in the Mag7 names, which went deeply in the money and the CHARM effect of these options becoming 100 delta leads to more stock buying. Here is $MSFT 19Jan open interest, but looks the same for $NVDA, $AMZN, etc.Image
Read 11 tweets
Dec 15, 2023
Are options really that risky? Or do you just not know how to size them properly?

This is a common pushback I get from people about options, saying they are way too risky and you can lose all you money trading them.

A thread...
1/ The truth is, yes they can be risky if you don’t know what you’re doing.

If you know how to size them appropriately, then options can seriously enhance you risk-adjusted return profile and allow you to profit from multiple scenarios.
2/ Example 1 - How not to do it - YOLO

You want to speculate on a stock going up because it has a strong trend and the Santa rally is coming. So you buy a 1-week OTM call with 10% of your account capital.

Three main things can happen…
Read 12 tweets

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