1/16 Did you know the "Father of Options" circumvented 19th century usury laws w/financial engineering to make $?
Let's dive into the fascinating story of how Russell Sage leveraged put-call parity to become a millionaire, and how put-call-LP parity revolutionizes DeFi options🧵
2/16 In this thread we'll:
• Show how Russell Sage made millions by subverting the law with options
• Use monkeys & bananas to explain put-call parity
• Explain why "put-call-LP parity" for DeFi options is as groundbreaking as put-call parity was for TradFi options
3/16 What's usury?
Usury, aka predatory lending, is charging an excessive rate of interest on a loan.
Historically, usury was defined as charging *any* interest on a loan and was condemned by major religions & prominent philosophers (Moses, Buddha, Muhammad, Aristotle...)
4/16 In 1867, Russell Sage was convicted of violating New York usury laws for charging an 8% annual interest rate on a late loan to a stockbroker.
The penalty for Russell was $250 in fines and 5 days in prison.
5/16 However, this didn't deter him. Russell used his know-how of options to create synthetic loans.
He developed OTC options trading on such a grand scale that he was known as "The Father of Puts and Calls," "inventor of straddles & strangles," and the "Money King."
6/16 But how exactly did the "Money King"💰👑 create loans through options trading?
The answer lies in a fundamental concept found in every financial textbook called "put-call parity", which can be used to create synthetic loans.
7/16 Imagine a seesaw with 4 types of fruit: apples🍏, peaches🍑, cherries🍒, and bananas🍌.
In order to stay balanced, the seesaw must have a fixed ratio of apples🍏 + peaches🍑 on one side, and cherries🍒 + bananas🍌 on the other side.
8/16 Each fruit represents a financial instrument, and the fundamental relationship between the fruits is put-call parity.
🍏 = asset price
🍑 = put price
🍌 = bond price
🍒 = call price
Put-call parity: 🍏 + 🍑 = 🍌 + 🍒
9/16 "Mon[k]ey King"🐵👑 be like: "Me like loanshark — me want high interest rate!"
Buying 🍌(bonds) is a fancy way of saying: "Me lend you some money in exchange for interest."
→ So 🐵👑 can loanshark by buying 🍌(bonds — in this case, high yield ones)! 🤯
10/16 But 🐵👑 couldn't legally buy bananas🍌 (bonds — the high yield ones). 🚩🚩🚩🐵👑⛓️👮
15/16 Summary:
• Put-call parity describes the relationship b/t puts and calls
• Russell Sage took advantage of this to make high interest loans
• Put-call-LP parity describes the relationship b/t put, calls, & LP
Disclaimer: None of this should be taken as financial advice📢
⬇️❗HODL downside is substantial (can go to 0)
🧢 LP upside is capped on Uni V3 — token goes up, you now hold the other token
🚫🧢 Call options have unlimited upside, capped downside — but pay premia
1/13 📈 Want to understand the potential risk/reward of options trading?
Look no further than the Greeks!
We'll break down Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega, & Rho and explain how they can help you make more informed decisions when trading Panoptions 😉
2/13 The Greeks are a set of risk measures used in options trading to help investors understand the potential risks and rewards associated with their positions.
Continuing our #ResearchBites series on the Greeks, we'll discuss:
1/12 The weekly volume on all NFT trading platforms was $120M last week. This includes BAYC, CryptoPunks, LOOT, Azuki, etc.
But...
$23 billion (yes, with a B) of value was traded on Uni V3 as financial NFTs 📈
Here's 8 reasons why @Panoptic_xyz is bullish on financial NFTs🧵
2/12 First of all: why is Uni V3 a financial NFT platform?
Liquidity in Uni V3 is deployed under a price range, which means LP positions are non-fungible and can't be tracked using ERC20s
Instead, Uniswap issues an ERC721 to track the funds controlled by each LP position
3/12 Reason 1: Most derivatives in TradFi *are* NFTs
—
Futures contracts expire at a set date, and each underlying has multiple tickers:
The Canadian dollar futures \6CH3 (exp. MAR-23) is different than the \6CM3 (JUN-23).
Options follow the OSI standard for exp, strikes, etc.