Economy & Finance

Liquidity, incentives, cycles and risk — how value is created, transferred and sometimes destroyed.

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'Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled A Small Edge, Carefully Kept - and How It Connects to "Trading Big Bags".'

A Small Edge, Carefully Kept — and How It Connects to “Trading Big Bags”

Back when BitMEX paid maker rebates, I turned ~$30 into ~$2,000 by posting passive liquidity and guarding inventory. This post breaks down the rebate math, spread capture, and kill-switches—and shows how that small-edge discipline connects to “Trading Big Bags,” where structure, not bravado, determines survival.

6m
Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled Trading Big Bags: "Liquidity, Leverage, and the Architecture of Risk."

Trading Big Bags: Liquidity, Leverage, and the Architecture of Risk

Capital size should dictate strategy. What works for a $1,000 trader becomes reckless at $10M. The recent $17M loss on Hyperliquid shows how fragile structures — high leverage, linear contracts, and concentration — turn conviction into catastrophe. This essay breaks down why efficiency, not ego, defines survivability, and how inverse contracts, venue distribution, and leverage discipline transform outcomes.

11m
Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled EVs and the Air We Breathe: From Catalytic Converters to Clean Streets.

EVs and the Air We Breathe: From Catalytic Converters to Clean Streets

EVs are often criticised for their manufacturing footprint, but this misses the crucial point: they have no tailpipes. In cities like London, where millions of ICE cars exhale poison daily, EVs clear the air we actually breathe. They shift emissions upstream to a few factories and power plants—sites that can be regulated and cleaned far more easily than millions of exhaust pipes. Like catalytic converters before them, EVs are not perfect, but they are a vital step in reclaiming breathable cities.

Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled Land on the Ledger: Real-World Assets as NFTs.

Land on the Ledger: Real-World Assets as NFTs

Ownership is more than paperwork. This proposal maps land titles to NFTs so the blockchain becomes the registry itself—legally recognized, programmable, and auditable—uniting code and courts for faster settlement, stronger proofs, and privacy-preserving compliance in the UK/EU.

Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled ShipSpace: Unlocking the Hidden Economy of Empty Cargo.

ShipSpace: Unlocking the Hidden Economy of Empty Cargo

Every year, millions of containers sail half-empty—wasting money, space, and fuel. ShipSpace reimagines global logistics as a shared marketplace, matching unused container capacity with businesses that need affordable shipping. Cheaper, fairer, greener: the future of shipping is shared.

Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled The Necessity of Bear Markets: Creative Destruction and the Discipline of Cycles.

The Necessity of Bear Markets: Creative Destruction and the Discipline of Cycles

Bear markets and recessions are not failures of the system but essential corrections that restore discipline, clear away excess, and redirect capital toward true innovation. While modern policy seeks to avoid downturns at all costs, history shows that renewal and long-term opportunity often emerge from collapse. From the dot-com bust to the COVID-19 recession, it is in the ashes of contraction that the seeds of future growth are sown.

11m
Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled Much Ado About Laundering.

Much Ado About Laundering

Wars are not only fought on battlefields but in balance sheets. From Lockheed Martin’s rising stock to British Gas’s soaring profits and offshore billions siphoned by corrupt aides, conflict becomes the perfect laundromat—where fear, scarcity, and blood are spun into profit. This essay exposes how war launders money, legitimacy, and power in plain sight.

Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled The Market's Blindfold: Understanding Dark Pools, Hidden Venues, and Information Asymmetry.

The Market’s Blindfold: Understanding Dark Pools, Hidden Venues, and Information Asymmetry

The Understanding Market Mechanics series closes with the blindfold — the final veil that hides as much as it reveals. Markets are not neutral or transparent, but choreographed theatres of asymmetry where most begin at a disadvantage by design. This is not a guide to profit, but an invitation to awareness, humility, and the imagining of something fairer than the game we have inherited.

15m
Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled The Hidden Hand of the Market: Understanding Market Makers and Inventory Risk.

The Hidden Hand of the Market: Understanding Market Makers and Inventory Risk

Market makers are often described as neutral referees — silent guardians of liquidity. But neutrality is an illusion. This essay explores spreads, inventory balancing, OTC desks, adverse selection, and hedging to show how dealers shape price through vested interest. To see the hidden hand is the first step in no longer being led by it.

12m
Cover artwork (cover.png) for the article titled The Shadow Engine of Markets: Understanding Derivatives, Perpetuals, Futures, and Options.

The Shadow Engine of Markets: Understanding Derivatives, Perpetuals, Futures, and Options

Derivatives are not mere side bets. They are the shadow engine of markets — the hidden machinery of futures, perps, options, and ETFs that reshapes liquidity, andlifies risk, and choreographs price itself. To read markets well is to see beyond candles and charts, and to listen for the gears turning beneath them.

12m
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