let me get this straight. a firm with 150 billion in assets hedges it with less than 1% of committed known risk after a year where indexes are up over 20% and this is big news? if really worried they would have done more!Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates LP has bet more than $1 billion that stock markets around the world will fall by March. The wager, assembled over the past few months and executed by a handful of Wall Street firms, would pay off for the world’s biggest hedge fund if either the S&P 500 or the Euro Stoxx 50—or both—declines, some of the people said.
It is made up of put options, which are contracts that give investors the right to sell stocks at a specific price, known as a strike, by a certain date. They allow investors to shell out a relatively small amount of cash to hedge a larger portfolio or make a directional wager. The options expire in March and currently represent one of the largest bearish bets against the market.
Bridgewater paid roughly $1.5 billion for the options contracts, or just about 1% of the Westport, Conn., firm’s $150 billion in assets under management, according to people familiar with the matter.
The options contracts are tied to around $100 billion worth of the indexes, said people familiar with the matter. How much the firm stands to potentially make would depend on many factors, including the magnitude of any market decline and the timing of when the firm cashes in its bet.
Amahrix,
What is your suggestion for me?

Thanks bone and good post.Great question, since day traders like yourself are either long or short the market and generally speaking are flat outright price risk (neutral) when not engaged in a very brief duration intraday bet. SMH.
If you carry a core long position in your trading account you can lighten up on it - and maybe think more for yourself and take less advice from someone who asked two weeks in another thread how to convert ZN quotes to English and how option strikes work on Ten Year Note futures.![]()
Did anyone here even traded option? THEY PAID 1.5 BULLION PREMIUM. THIS IS HUGE If there is a sharp market drop it could turn in 10-20 ... billions fast
You're absolutely right.
Did anyone here even traded option? THEY PAID 1.5 BULLION PREMIUM. THIS IS HUGE If there is a sharp market drop it could turn in 10-20 ... billions fast
Overnight,IMHO, I think being very long and strong, as @SimpleMeLike posted, or having any unhedged directional bet in the market right now, is folly. We got Trump with his trigger finger on both the Hong Kong bill signing, and the trade deal stuff.
Who the hell knows what the weekend will bring on actions and headlines. I learnt my lessons, and it is costing me potential income. But better to be flat and safe than fat and unhappy.