<t>It is skewed to make it interesting - like a newspaper - report the disasters not the happy stories. Nevetheless, there is a lot of relevant commentary. I think the best thing is that it gives a sense of perspective for the industry. That is, it is cyclical and the nature of the industry (ie ince...

Sorry - double post

<t>I guess I have a couple of points. Firstly, before anyone denigrates a book and a person, they should at a minimum have read the book.Secondly, I'm in the structured products business. I know how it works. I don't think it is unreasonable to talk about the negative side of the business, particula...

<t>Have you guys...ummmm...read the book - or isn't that necessary?I've read the first hundred odd pages and so far it's OK. I mean, in structured products there is certainly a non-zero amount of clients lying to themselves, sales people lying to clients, traders lying abou their risks, etc. Certain...

<t>Thanks.I know you have a lot of USD swaps trading experience. Did you do much swaption / cap floor trading? How were you really making money? Was it getting the direction of interest rate moves right? Using spread trades or butterflies to predict slope or curvature moves? Bid ask spreads? Somethi...

right - so market practice is to trade fair value swaps rather than off market swaps?

Sorry - I meant swaps.If I want to hedge a 5y pay fixed swap starting in 5y with a 10y pay fixed swap and a 5y receive fixed swap, each will have their own swap rate. Say the 5y5y forward swap rate is 5%, do I use this rate or the fair swap rate for the 10y and 5y swaps?

Hi johnself11Hedging a 5x5, if you do a 10 payer and 5 year receiver, are these ATM or at the strike of the 5x5. The former would be more liquid but would not match cashflows precisely?

What do you mean "use the same volatility for the strike?"

Hi Mark - I'm over here.I'm in Sydney. You can email me on streloa2@bigpond.net.au

<t>Depends on the strategy. Eg. If I'm running a stat arb fund that turns over its relatively small positions every five days, I am very liquid. I can exit without much market impact in a day. If I'm taking big positions in less liquid stocks or OTC positions, then...Again, if I come across somethin...

This may helpwww.huangcapital.bigstep.com/INST.pdf

<t>AnnesophieI'll try to find some good papers, however, in summary, there is increasing interest from institutional investors for two main reasons:- HF returns are (arguably) uncorrelated with the market (which tend to comprise the majority of their portfolios) and as such help in matching their li...

Thanks annsophie. I'm due ot join aima. Are there any that you recommend?

Can anyone recommend the better hedge fund conferences - ie more investors and fewer service providers?