Ryanair – when every page is a dark pattern

Plus, more links to make you a little bit smarter today.

Making a new video every week until I make $5 million - Week 4

Best Practices for Using Terraform on Infrastructure as Code

Terraform, developed by HashiCorp, has become one of the most popular tools for Infrastructure as Code (IaC). It allows you to define, provision, and manage cloud infrastructure for your projects by using declarative configuration files. As teams scale and infrastructures grow more complex, following best practices in Terraform becomes critical for maintaining solid and secure infrastructure. This article outlines the key best practices that ensure you’re getting the most out of Terraform!

Beyond Trend Following: Deep Learning for Market Trend Prediction

Trend following and momentum investing are common strategies employed by asset managers. Even though they can be helpful in the proper situations, they are limited in the sense that they work just by looking at past, as if we were driving with our focus on the rearview mirror. In this paper, we advocate for the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques to predict future market trends. These predictions, when done properly, can improve the performance of asset managers by increasing returns and reducing drawdowns.

Ryanair – when every page is a dark pattern

Ryanair is a prime example of a company that employs various manipulative techniques, known as "dark patterns," to increase its profits.

What is the significance of the character "j" at the end of a Roman Numeral?

While using an old (1907) book of transcriptions (on-line) The Parish Register of Gargrave in the County of York , I was puzzled by the number of dates recorded in the 16th and early 17th centuries that could be read easily as Roman numerals except for the addition of a j at the end.

Construction and Hedging of Equity Index Options Portfolios

This research presents a comprehensive evaluation of systematic index option-writing strategies, focusing on S&P500 index options. We compare the performance of hedging strategies using the Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) model and the Variance-Gamma (VG) model, emphasizing varying moneyness levels and different sizing methods based on delta and the VIX Index. The study employs 1-minute data of S&P500 index options and index quotes spanning from 2018 to 2023. The analysis benchmarks hedged strategies against buy-and-hold and naked option-writing strategies, with a focus on risk-adjusted performance metrics including transaction costs. Portfolio delta approximations are derived using implied volatility for the BSM model and market-calibrated parameters for the VG model. Key findings reveal that systematic option-writing strategies can potentially yield superior returns compared to buy-and-hold benchmarks. The BSM model generally provided better hedging outcomes than the VG model, although the VG model showed profitability in certain naked strategies as a tool for position sizing. In terms of rehedging frequency, we found that intraday hedging in 130-minute intervals provided both reliable protection against adverse market movements and a satisfactory returns profile.