The Derivative RCM Alternatives

We’re breaking the law...the laws of trading, that is! On this episode of the Derivative, we're joined by Agustin Lebron, who started his career as an engineer and turned prop trader (you'd be surprised how common of a story and skill set that is) before writing his book The Laws of Trading: A Trader's Guide to Better Decision-Making for Everyone Today, Agustin is the co-founder and manager of Esselin Research, where he helps growing tech companies make better decisions using his trading knowledge.

Jeff and Agustin dive into his laws of trading, the book, and also chat on topics like; recognizing and nabbing players in small tech companies, applying the laws in a prop firm investing in crypto scenario, how and why trend following seems to break the law around having an edge, and so much more! Plus, tune in if you want to get Agustin's take on FinTwit’s stop order debate —SEND IT!

Chapters:

00:00-01:19 = Intro

01:20-12:33 = Why are engineers drawn to trading and markets?

12:34-23:49 = What is Toxic flow? And what is the edge for all these big players

23:50-37:12 = Recognizing & nabbing A players in small tech companies & Applying the Laws in Crypto

37:13-46:56 = Crypto Prop firm scenario part II: Execution, cost, automation & adaptation

46:57-50:58 = Is there any edge in Trend following?

50:59-58:25 = Hottest take: Stop orders & Leveraged ETFs



Follow along with Agustin on Twitter @AgustinLebron3 and for more information visit his website lawsoftrading.com and check out his book The Laws of Trading here.

Don't forget to subscribe to The Derivative, and follow us on Twitter at @rcmAlts and our host Jeff at @AttainCap2, or LinkedIn , and Facebook, and sign-up for our blog digest.

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of RCM Alternatives, their affiliates, or companies featured. Due to industry regulations, participants on this podcast are instructed not to make specific trade recommendations, nor reference past or potential profits. And listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. For more information, visit www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer

This week we're adding a different twist to our typical episode, and we're diving into WHY Commodities can be accretive in your portfolio with Tim Pickering (@AuspiceTim). Tim is the Founder, President, and CIO of Auspice Capital Advisors and leads the strategic decision-making and the vision for Auspice's diverse suite of award-winning rules-based quantitative investment strategies.

In this week's episode, Tim illustrates why the current environment could be very bullish commodities long-term, active tactical strategies, and dives into Trend following, non-correlation, CTAs ability to act as a return-enhancer, inflation protection, and much more!

Chapters:

00:00-01:52 = Intro

01:53-09:48 = Born from Canadian Commodity Country

09:49-20:08= Shell Oil and Tactical Active Strategies

20:09-29:19 = The Auspice Edge vs Buy and Hold Commodities

29:20-40:28 = The other 25%, an Agnostic approach & the Adaptive Volatility process

40:29-57:03 = Crisis Alpha Opportunities, Inflation hedges & Institutional products

Follow along with Tim Pickering on Twitter @AuspiceTim and Auspice @AuspiceCapital. And for more information on Auspice check out their website and research!

Don't forget to subscribe to The Derivative, and follow us on Twitter at @rcmAlts and our host Jeff at @AttainCap2, or LinkedIn , and Facebook, and sign-up for our blog digest.

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of RCM Alternatives, their affiliates, or companies featured. Due to industry regulations, participants on this podcast are instructed not to make specific trade recommendations, nor reference past or potential profits. And listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. For more information, visit www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer

Will the real Portnoy please stand up? This week's guest may not be rating pizzas worldwide in one bite, but he is an expert at simplifying the complex world of money — we're sitting down with the one and only Brian Portnoy, Ph.D., CFA. Brian(@brianportnoy) is the founder of Shaping Wealth, a coaching and content platform inspiring financial well-being globally. He also has multiple bestselling books on the psychology of money, most notably The Geometry of Wealth (which has been published in 8 different languages.)

For this interesting chat, Jeff and Brian dive into YOLOers needing to take some form of agency, where Crypto falls in the 7 dimensions of money life, behavioral conversations (rich vs. wealthy), Financial literacy, the happiness equation, investment expectations, and so much more! Plus, we get exclusive insight into how Brian is "Shaping Wealth" — SEND IT!

Chapters:

00:00-01:49 = Intro

01:50-08:00 = The Real Portnoy

08:01-20:06 = Taking some form of Agency & Does Crypto fall into the 7 Dimensions of money life?

20:07-36:36 = Behavioral conversations, Rich vs Wealthy: the Geometry of Wealth & Achieving funded contentment

36:37-46:59 = Youth financial literacy & Behavioral bias with institutional investors

47:00-01:02:10 = The happiness equation, Investment expectations & Offense vs Defense investing

01:02:11-01:08:43 = Behavioral framework



Follow along with Brian on Twitter @brianportnoy and for more information on Shaping Wealth, please visit shapingwealth.com

Check out Brian's book, The Geometry of Wealth

Don't forget to subscribe to The Derivative, and follow us on Twitter at @rcmAlts and our host Jeff at @AttainCap2, or LinkedIn , and Facebook, and sign-up for our blog digest.

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of RCM Alternatives, their affiliates, or companies featured. Due to industry regulations, participants on this podcast are instructed not to make specific trade recommendations, nor reference past or potential profits. And listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. For more information, visit www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer

It's not every day you get to talk about investing and food in the same conversation, and this week, refinancing, restructuring, and investing in niche businesses is on the menu with Adam Tkaczuk(@Adam_Tkaczuk). Adam is a tax consultant, project CFO, and private equity investor. He raises debt, equity, and government subsidies for projects and helps business owners reduce the tax liability on the sale of their business.

In this episode, Adam and Jeff get into "The Greatest Show on Earth" and discuss investing in distressed companies, just what deep value means, food processing and Philly cheesesteaks (we'll take a Whiz with onions, please), private vs. public equity (is the juice worth the squeeze), the true heroes of finance, tax strategies for business owners and so much more! Plus, we're playing two truths and a lie with Adam where he throws in a coffee roasting twist — SEND IT!



Chapters:

00:00-01:47 = Intro

01:48-03:45 = Choose your Fighter: Calgary Stampede or Tour De France

03:46-20:49 = Flipping distressed companies, Food processing & Philly Cheesesteaks

20:50-37:48 = Private vs. Public Equity, site selection, subsidy programs & is the juice worth the squeeze?

37:49-45:59 = Family-owned small businesses are the heroes, why not just be a plumber?

46:00-59:37 = Tax strategies for business owners, selling a business & breakdown of an opportunity zone

59:38-01:07:42 = Two Truth's & a lie? A Coffee roast profile

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From the episode:

Check out Adam's newest white paper 8 Ways to Minimize Taxes When Selling a Business

Follow along with Adam on Twitter @Adam_Tkaczuk and for more information visit ventouxholdings.com

Don't forget to subscribe to The Derivative, and follow us on Twitter at @rcmAlts and our host Jeff at @AttainCap2, or LinkedIn , and Facebook, and sign-up for our blog digest.

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of RCM Alternatives, their affiliates, or companies featured. Due to industry regulations, participants on this podcast are instructed not to make specific trade recommendations, nor reference past or potential profits. And listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. For more information, visit www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer

You may know this week's guest as a Kansas City Chief and sometime Royals fan on Twitter, but he has more than one connection to Kansas City. Jay Soloff (@jsoloff), an options volatility analyst, former CBOE market maker, pirate, and seller of uncapped forward variance swaps, joins us this week to discuss covering calls and charting curves.

Jay brings an exciting twist to this episode and talks about options education and where to find the premium, is the VIX broken (did we create a monster? + curve doodles), retail vs. investing (an exclusive look into what retail investors are getting wrong), and more. Plus, Jay gets put into the hot seat, where he provides his take on how The Fed is doing — SEND IT!



Chapters:

0:00-01:09 = Intro

01:10-06:18 = Chiefs? Royals? What it takes to be a KC sports fan

06:19-20:02 = Option trading at KC Board of trade, being a market maker & Pit language

20:03-36:48 = Is the VIX broken? The VIX: Did we create a monster? VIX curve doodles

36:49-50:14 = Options education - Find the premium!

50:15-59:24 = Retail vs Investing w/ pros & what are retail investors getting wrong?

59:25-01:05:57 = Hottest Take: The Fed's doing pretty good



Follow along with Jay on Twitter @jsoloff and for more information check out investorsalley.com

Don't forget to subscribe to The Derivative, and follow us on Twitter at @rcmAlts and our host Jeff at @AttainCap2, or LinkedIn , and Facebook, and sign-up for our blog digest.

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of RCM Alternatives, their affiliates, or companies featured. Due to industry regulations, participants on this podcast are instructed not to make specific trade recommendations, nor reference past or potential profits. And listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. For more information, visit www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer

Are the Fed’s hikes starting to dampen inflation? Oil, grains, and metals have all fallen from their highs. But the rarely spoken of Cotton market was one of the first to crack…falling from 1.58/lb to 0.95/lb in just a few short days. We're digging into this sharp drop and just why and how Cotton is involved in seemingly everything with RCM's very own cotton king, LOGIC Advisors Ron Lawson.

In this episode, Ron is giving us the low down on how and why he believes it’s not Dr. Copper which acts as the global economic barometer, but how Cotton is the real Canary and leading indicator on global demand. In between those talks, we’re covering all things Cotton including crop insurance, irrigated vs dry land, the scam that was Pima and Egyptian Cotton, the process of cotton – which countries have it, which want it, ginning it, spinning it, dyeing it, global commodity merchant co’s pushing it around, and even micro-plastics, climate change, and how Cotton always flows to the cheapest labor source. Finally,  we're walking in some high Cotton putting Ron in the hot seat. Will we ever get the growth back? Tune in to get these critical hot takes — SEND IT!



Chapters:

00:00-02:00 = Intro

02:01-07:10 = Welcome to Ernie's Tin Bar

07:11-26:16 = Cotton market Selloff, the lack of demand, and Crop Insurance Payouts

26:17-42:20 = Who has the cotton? Where is it going? The Touch, the Feel, the Process of Cotton

42:21-55:34 = Merchants, Ginners, and Spinners: The players in the cotton game

55:35-01:11:45 = Pima & Egyptian Cotton, Technologies & Standards

01:11:46-01:16:38 = UC Davis - Is all Wine starting to taste the same?

01:16:39-01:24:32 = Hottest Take: We'll get the Growth Back



Check out and sign up for LOGIC newsletters here and for more information visit their website at logicadvisors.com

Don't forget to subscribe to The Derivative, and follow us on Twitter at @rcmAlts and our host Jeff at @AttainCap2, or LinkedIn , and Facebook, and sign-up for our blog digest.

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, business, or tax advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of RCM Alternatives, their affiliates, or companies featured. Due to industry regulations, participants on this podcast are instructed not to make specific trade recommendations, nor reference past or potential profits. And listeners are reminded that managed futures, commodity trading, and other alternative investments are complex and carry a risk of substantial losses. As such, they are not suitable for all investors. For more information, visit www.rcmalternatives.com/disclaimer