Learn to read strategies
The concepts you need before you take anyone's word for it — each explained against our live, public track records.
Options strategies & payoffs
The named structures — wheel, spreads, butterflies — and which ones come with a real track record.
The wheel strategy, explained (and its listed ETF version)
Selling puts until assigned, then covered calls until called away — the options 'wheel', why it's one short-vol bet, and the listed way to hold it.
Vertical call spread — capped risk, capped reward, explained
Buy one call, sell a higher one: the bull call spread's defined payoff, when traders use it, and the listed 'defined-outcome' ETF with a real backtest.
Butterfly spread — a bet that the price stays put
Buy one, sell two, buy one: how a butterfly profits when a stock pins near a strike, why it's cheap, and why we don't publish a track record for it.
Ratio spread — the one with open-ended risk
Buy one option, sell more than one: how a ratio spread works, why the extra short leg leaves undefined risk, and why we won't publish it as a strategy.
Risk reversal — sell a put to fund a call
Sell a downside put, buy an upside call: how a risk reversal builds cheap bullish exposure, what it really costs in a crash, and why there's no fund for it.
Chart indicators (technical analysis)
The lines traders draw — what each measures, how it's read, and what the evidence says.
Simple moving average (SMA), explained
What a moving average is, why the 200-day line is the market's most-watched trend gauge, and how one of our live strategies actually uses it.
MACD indicator, explained
Moving Average Convergence Divergence in plain words — how the MACD line, signal line and histogram are built, how traders read them, and the catch.
RSI (Relative Strength Index), explained
How RSI turns recent gains and losses into a 0–100 gauge, what 'overbought' and 'oversold' really mean, and why the level alone isn't a signal.
Stochastic oscillator, explained
Where today's close sits in its recent high–low range, what the %K and %D lines mean, and the limits of an 'overbought/oversold' reading.
Bollinger Bands, explained
A moving average with volatility bands above and below — how the bands widen and squeeze, what a 'touch' means, and why the band is not a signal.
Donchian channels, explained
The highest high and lowest low over N days — the breakout tool behind the famous Turtle traders, and how it relates to trend-following.
Fibonacci retracement — a straight take
The 38.2%, 50% and 61.8% levels traders draw after a move — where they come from, why so many watch them, and what the evidence actually says.
Volume, explained — the second axis of every chart
What trading volume measures, why 'volume confirms the move' is the oldest chart adage, and how our portfolio view uses volume without turning it into a signal.
Momentum & trend strategies
The return effects behind our systematic engines, in plain words.
Momentum investing — what it is and does it work?
What stock momentum is, why the anomaly exists, how the classic 12-1 strategy works, and how to check a real track record instead of promises.
Dual momentum — the strategy that knows how to go to cash
How Gary Antonacci's dual momentum works: relative + absolute momentum, when the strategy steps into cash, and what its live track record looks like.
Options — the basics
Calls, puts, pricing and the Greeks — the grammar before the strategies.
What are options — calls, puts, and 'option income'
Calls and puts in plain words, why covered calls and put-writing generate income, and the parity trick that makes them the same bet in a mirror.
Option Greeks: delta, gamma, theta, vega, rho
The five sensitivities that describe an option's risk — what each Greek means in plain words, and why theta is where option-income comes from.
The Black-Scholes model, explained simply
The 1973 formula that prices an option from five inputs — the idea of a fair price with no forecast, why it won a Nobel, and where it breaks.
The volatility smile (and skew), explained
Black-Scholes assumes one volatility; the market quotes a different one per strike. What the smile/skew is, why it exists, and what it tells you.
Charm and the charm surface (a second-order Greek)
Charm is how an option's delta drifts with the passage of time. What the charm surface is, why dealers watch it — and why it is NOT a retail edge.
Net premium flows and dealer gamma, explained
The net dollars flowing into calls vs puts, and why dealer hedging can amplify or dampen moves — plus why it's not a retail edge.
Reading a track record
The metrics that matter — and the traps that make a backtest lie.
How to read a backtest without getting fooled
Five questions that expose a dishonest backtest: costs, survivorship bias, look-ahead, window choice and out-of-sample honesty — with examples.
CAGR vs average return — why averages lie
A higher average return can leave you with less money. What volatility drag is, why CAGR is the number that counts, and how to spot flattering marketing math.
Max drawdown — the risk number that matters most
What maximum drawdown is, how it's computed, why it says more than volatility, and how deep losses require outsized gains to recover.
Sharpe and Sortino ratios — reading the quality of a return
What the Sharpe ratio measures, how Sortino differs, what counts as a good value, and the traps when comparing strategies.
Survivorship bias — why backtests on today's index lie
Testing a strategy on today's S&P 500 or WIG20 members quietly deletes the bankruptcies. What survivorship bias is and how point-in-time universes fix it.
Foundations (the plumbing)
What systematic investing is, and the plumbing behind every strategy on the site.
Systematic investing — getting started without tea leaves
What systematic investing is, why rules beat intuition, the classic beginner mistakes, and what a real track record looks like.
Model portfolio — what it is and how it differs from advice
What a model portfolio is, how to read monthly allocation updates, how publishing a model differs from investment advice, and what to watch for.
What is rebalancing and why monthly?
What portfolio rebalancing is, what it costs, why frequency is a trade-off, and why systematic strategies rebalance on a fixed schedule instead of on feelings.
How stocks and interest rates move together (or don't)
Rates are the gravity behind stock prices — but the correlation flips by regime. The discount-rate channel, 2022's lesson, and why no fixed sign exists.