Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Uh-Oh……..

By -

I’m afraid I might have some bad news for the bears and, frankly, I’m not that surprised, because things have been absolutely glorious for a few days now, and “a few days” is about the lifespan of happiness for the bearish set.

What I am referring to is what I call the Fed Spread, which is probably a misleading and inaccurate term, but it’s my shorthand way of saying “The calculation of a bunch of Federal Reserve data that comes out every Thursday afternoon and does a good job predicting the S&P two weeks into the future.” See, it just comes out easier my way.

Over the past few days, a major bank has failed pretty much every single day (Silicon Valley Bank, then Signature, then First Republic, then Credit Suisse………you get the idea) and, naturally, the central bankers of the world did the only thing they know how to do, which is to throw literally trillions of dollars at the problem.

(more…)

Options Basics (by Xerxes)

By -

I thought I’d write something up to be a little more fundamentally educational rather than making guesses on market or stock directions. There is a lot of excitement recently regarding 0DTE (zero days to expiration) options. I don’t intend for this to be an all encompassing educational post, just a general walkthrough of how Options are priced, how they move, and why these particular types of options are so attractive in this trading environment.

What Is An Option?

An Option is a Derivative contract, meaning its value is based on an underlying security. The 2 key features of a contract are its strike price and an expiration date. A Call Option gives the contract owner the right to buy the underlying security at the strike price. A Put Option is the opposite in that the owner of the contract has the right to sell the underlying security at the strike.

(more…)

Dildo Bros

By -

It’s truly sickening, looking at the tweets of the likes of Bill Ackman, Jason Calacanis, and David Sacks – – all of them billionaires, but every single one of them whining and pleading for the U.S. Government to BAIL OUT Silicon Valley Bank. Remember the game, people. Private profits (specifically, the men mentioned above). Public losses. Fuckin’ Ackman even has the gall to demand the announcement before the Oscars so he can enjoy the show.

(more…)

Lulz from the SVB Website

By -

Since I entered Friday massively short, and have zero buying power left, I was bored enough to wander over to a place I’ve never been in my life – – the Silicon Valley Bank website – – and take a look around.

I thought I’d share some nuggets from there, since, for the moment, the website is still up and running. As you might guess, since this is a financial institution, it is absolutely SLATHERED with virtue-signaling. Indeed, there’s not a white male to be found anywhere except for their actual senior leadership page, which is the kind of do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do hypocrisy rampant in modern American corporations, particularly banks.

(more…)