Madoff says losses of 50 Billion!

Quote from makloda:

A couple of years ago I read about Fairfield's Sentry "Split Strike Conversion" trading approach and was intrigued by the low volatility returns. I tried backtesting and understand the strategy, but I couldn't. It just didn't make any sense to me.

Long a basket of stocks and short the synthetic (split strike) underlying is not an edge.

92% positive months, outperforming LIBOR 550 bps over the last 10 years... I thought these guys know something I don't.

Here's a WSJ article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122903010173099377-email.html


10% every year after fees with a "strategy" that has zero edge? It sounded too good to be true I guess.

Attachment: 3x leveraged investment product in Fairfield Sentry LTD offered by a Swiss private bank. Equity looks like a completely smooth curve.

The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said. Another client was Kingate Management Ltd., whose $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff, they said.
 
Quote from ASusilovic:

The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said. Another client was Kingate Management Ltd., whose $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff, they said.

on the bright side they will have plenty of confetti for the turn of the year
 
"If it looks too good to be true, it probably is"

Zero volatility anyone? :cool:

mijnf7.jpg
 
Quote from BlueHorseshoe:

You are referring to an abusive form of hedge fund. I'd argue that Buffett's original partnerships, and later Berkshire Hathaway itself, are a more durable approach to managing parnership funds.

1. No thinking individual will trust any hedgefund for years. To put it another way, the cat that sat on the hot stove never again sat on a cold one. There will be no discerning a 'good' hedge fund from a bad one. They all are pelts to hang over the fireplace now.

2. This arrest is just the beginning. And with Madoff having the pedigree of resume, what in the world do you think this is going to look like from the outside?

3. Politicians are reactionary. Remember Chanos' gang sending out that Putz Goldstein from Bull and Bear, suing against regulation? Now, it comes back tenfold, as Schumer/Dodd/Frank fight for their pathetic political lives.

4. Buffett thought he could sit back and lick my bones. Let this all play out. I was told he said "too big". He'd sit back, wait for the damage, and swoop in (all my opinion except the "too big" comment). He knew all about this, that prick. Now, how are those GE and GS trades working out?

Your attitude I've run into for years. You're entitled to it, but the few bucks you've pulled from a corrupt system are little consequence when you see that system bring down our economy.

This is an unmitigated disaster. End of Story.

Actually, it's not. Got a nice Christmas present. You'll read about it very soon. More hedgefund follies. Paying reporters, that sort of stuff. Nice. REal talent there.
 
Quote from Businessman:

"from July 1989 to February 2001, it would rank as the best performing fund for the period on a riskadjusted
basis, with a Sharpe ratio of 3.4 and a standard deviation of 3.0%."

http://nakedshorts.typepad.com/files/madoff.pdf

Quote from Madoff :

"The worst market to operate in using the strategy, he adds, would be a protracted bear market or “a flat,
dull market.” In a stock market environment similar to what was experienced in the 1970s, for instance,
the strategy would be lucky to return “T-bill like returns.”
 
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