During the financial crisis, financial firm leverage and volatility both rose dramatically. Consequently, institutions are being asked to reduce leverage in order to reduce risk, though the effectiveness depends upon the role of capital structure in volatility. To address this question, we build...

Transaction costs in trading involve both risk and return. The return is associated with the cost of immediate execution and the risk is a result of price movements during a more gradual trading. The paper shows that the trade-off between risk and return in optimal execution should reflect the...

Geopolitical events can impact volatilities of all assets, asset classes, sectors and countries. It is shown that innovations to volatilities are correlated across assets and therefore can be used to measure and hedge geopolitical risk. We introduce a definition of geopolitical risk which is...

This paper will cover investing in commodities through futures contracts. It will note the unique sources of risk and return for such investments. We will also discuss the factors that one should take into consideration before deciding upon how much of their portfolio should be in commodities....

This article will discuss the practical issues involved in applying a disciplined risk management methodology to energy-focused futures trading. This article will show how to apply methodologies derived from both conventional asset management and hedge fund management to futures trading. It will...

The focus of this paper will be on risk management within the context of a total-return futures program centered on commodities. The following issues will be addressed: the evaluation of normal versus eventful risk; the sizing of trades and strategy buckets; and the construction of a portfolio,...