Since the US and Iran signed the ceasefire memorandum, news of renewed armed clashes between the two sides has emerged again over the weekend. The incident started when some merchant ships failed to navigate along Iran's designated routes, leading to them being intercepted with weapons fire, while the US bombed Iranian regional facilities once again on the grounds that Iran did not adhere to the terms. In reality, the entire process is no different from before the memorandum was signed; they fight and talk to increase their respective bargaining chips, and then pull back to the negotiating table to renegotiate. The rhythm of the entire financial market will continue to be pulled back and forth by relevant news, and investors should prepare for a roller-coaster ride. Of course, for short-te
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Brace for Impact: The Trader’s Guide to the Renewed US-Iran Crossfire
Brace for Impact: The Trader’s Guide to the Renewed US-Iran Crossfire
From Rate Cuts to Rate Hikes? Will the Fed's Hawkish Pivot Crash the Market?
After Warsh replaced Powell as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, expectations and rumors regarding an interest rate hike within the year have persisted. The substantial inflationary pressure brought about by the outbreak of the war in the Middle East has already forced multiple central banks to opt for rate hikes in response, and there is a high probability that the Federal Reserve will not go against this trend. However, looking at history, a rate hike does not signify an inevitable change in the trend; more often than not, other external crises are required to trigger a reversal in the market's trajectory. According to the latest FedWatch data, the probability of maintaining the current interest rate level at the Federal Reserve's year-end meeting is only 22%, while the combined prob
From Rate Cuts to Rate Hikes? Will the Fed's Hawkish Pivot Crash the Market?
Oil Plunges, Undercurrents Thrive? June 19 Deal Could Flip — Option Strategy to Capture Time Value
With rising expectations that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement will be signed, the market appears to have temporarily escaped the shadow of inflation, and U.S. equities have finally welcomed a long-overdue rebound. Many investors may feel this is the time to buy the dip. However, I want to caution: do not yet let your guard down. The market's volatile phase has not passed. The current gains in U.S. stocks remain unstable, and the first leg of the crude oil bearish rally may already be complete. We need to patiently wait for the November 19 ceasefire agreement signing results and specific details to materialize before the market can potentially launch a new bearish phase. More importantly, for both the fragile rebound in U.S. equities and U.S. Treasuries, adopting a selling-options strateg
Oil Plunges, Undercurrents Thrive? June 19 Deal Could Flip — Option Strategy to Capture Time Value
📰A Mid-Session Pause: The US-Iran Truce Is In — What’s Next for Markets?
After two months of back-and-forth, the US and Iran finally announced over the weekend that a ceasefire memorandum of understanding had been reached. Although the final signing is still a few days away, the market has already fully priced in the impact of the news. Before the fourth quarter, geopolitical issues are expected to stop bothering investors. On the trading side, we still lean toward the view that most assets will remain range-bound over the next one to two quarters. As long as there are attractive relative lows or highs and the risk-reward is acceptable, there will be opportunities to try and trade the move. We will not go into the details of the agreement itself. Those can be found on various financial websites. Instead, we will focus on how asset prices are moving. Crude oil i
📰A Mid-Session Pause: The US-Iran Truce Is In — What’s Next for Markets?
Is the Inflation Rebound Just a False Spike?
This round of correction in the U.S. stock market has a very clear trigger: crude oil stayed at elevated levels for too long, pushing up U.S. inflation data. This, in turn, raised expectations of Federal Reserve rate hikes and led to an unexpected surge in U.S. Treasury yields. As a result, capital rotated from equities into bonds, and under the pressure of higher interest rates, U.S. stocks experienced profit-taking and mean reversion. $E-mini Nasdaq 100 - main 2609(NQmain)$ $Invesco QQQ(QQQ)$ $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$ $Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 - Jun 2026(MNQ2606)$ $ProShares UltraPr
Is the Inflation Rebound Just a False Spike?
Futures Weekly： Equities Cool, Bonds Heat Up While Gold Falls Out of Favour
Over the past week, renewed military clashes between the United States and Iran have shaken global equity markets, while gold has retreated sharply from recent highs and overall risk appetite has come under pressure. The situation on the ground remains highly uncertain, with persistent geopolitical tensions interacting with shifting macro expectations; most investors are adopting a cautious stance, waiting for subsequent key U.S. economic data releases in order to better gauge the Federal Reserve’s policy path and the trajectory of asset prices. As of around 4:00 p.m. on 12 June 2026, the weekly performance of major assets is as follows: In an environment where macro expectations are oscillating, looking at price moves alone is no longer sufficient to capture the main drivers of asset perf
Futures Weekly： Equities Cool, Bonds Heat Up While Gold Falls Out of Favour
Is the Main Downwave Here?! Don’t Be a Permabear — Know When to Lock In Gains
Recent capital flows in the financial markets paint quite an intriguing picture. While everyone is still watching to see if US stocks have peaked or will continue to surge, massive funds have quietly executed a major rotation. In today's note, I will use the latest market fund data to discuss these ongoing trend changes. Let me start with the conclusion: the current downward trend in U.S. stocks may not have actually ended, but until the S&P 500 posts a pullback of more than 8%, we should not preemptively assume this is a massive bear market. We can consider carefully building short positions, but once key market signals appear, we must take profits promptly and adjust our bearish view. $S&P 500(.SPX)$
Is the Main Downwave Here?! Don’t Be a Permabear — Know When to Lock In Gains
Strait Reopening Imminent? What Could Be the Market Impact?
Over the weekend, there were frequent positive signals from the U.S.–Iran peace negotiations. If an agreement is reached, the reopening of the Strait could be imminent. As discussed in last week’s live session, the core sticking point in current negotiations lies in uranium enrichment. The U.S. is seeking Iran’s commitment to abandon uranium enrichment before lifting sanctions, while Iran prefers that sanctions be lifted first before addressing enrichment. If this divergence can be reconciled, negotiations could accelerate; otherwise, entrenched positions on both sides may stall or even derail the process. Recent developments appear favorable for the reopening of the Strait, which is likely to trigger a notable shift in market positioning next week. 1. Direct Impact on Crude Oil There is l
Strait Reopening Imminent? What Could Be the Market Impact?
Futures Weekly： Equity Fund Outflows Narrow, While Gold Allocation Heats Up
In the latest week, US-Iran negotiations remained deadlocked. On May 18, Trump said that the military action against Iran originally scheduled for May 19 would be postponed, indicating that the US-Iran standoff did not escalate further this week. At the same time, the US publicly stated that the talks with Iran had made “significant progress,” while also saying that a “Plan B” was already prepared, which suggests that the substantive differences between the two sides have not been resolved. In addition to the ongoing market pricing of disruptions stemming from the Middle East situation, investors are also closely watching the progress of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company, which could potentially stage the “largest IPO in history.” As of 3:00 p.m. on May 21, 2026, the weekly performance of
Futures Weekly： Equity Fund Outflows Narrow, While Gold Allocation Heats Up
Has the Pullback in U.S. Stocks Finally Begun? Key Strategies to Watch Right Now
In my previous post, I reminded everyone to pay attention to the short-term trading opportunity at the bottom of VIX, as well as the still-bullish opportunity in short-term crude oil deferred-month contracts, namely the September WTI crude oil contract. A week has passed, and both of those calls have played out: VIX has already bottomed and turned higher: The September crude oil futures contract has rebounded continuously from the bottom, already rising 17 points from its low: This time, let’s talk about the warning I have been repeatedly giving everyone: the issue of a medium- to short-term phased pullback in U.S. stocks. As the U.S. dollar index and U.S. Treasury yields have both moved higher recently, global bond yields have broadly risen, and a pullback in global risk assets, character
Has the Pullback in U.S. Stocks Finally Begun? Key Strategies to Watch Right Now
Trump’s China Visit Ends Below Expectations, Has the Short-Term Pullback in U.S. Stocks Begun?
Trump’s much-anticipated visit to China came to a quiet close. China’s reception was high-level and formal, but after the visit, no joint statement was issued. Instead, the results were mainly reflected through the two sides’ separate communiqués. Compared with Trump’s 2017 visit, which produced a $253.5 billion deal package, this visit focused more on stabilizing the strategic relationship and restoring institutional channels. From the market’s perspective, the two sides agreed to mutual tariff reductions, and the U.S. opened up sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips. Trump also claimed that China had committed to purchasing $20 billion worth of Boeing aircraft and a large amount of U.S. soybeans. However, in the actual announcements, China did not provide any specific procurement figures. For the
Trump’s China Visit Ends Below Expectations, Has the Short-Term Pullback in U.S. Stocks Begun?
📊Futures Weekly：Mild Net Outflows in US Equity Funds While Massive Capital Bets on the Bond Market
Over the past week, the situation in the Middle East has presented a state of "extreme stalemate, neither war nor peace." Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, the United States briefly initiated "Operation Liberty" in an attempt to escort trapped vessels out. However, following a strong response from Iran, US President Donald Trump officially announced the suspension of the plan on May 5, citing the "acceptance of Pakistani mediation." During this period, Iranian officials reiterated that the strait would not reopen unless dictated by national will, leaving energy supply chain risks elevated. On May 7, local time, a new round of military conflict erupted between the US and Iran near the Strait of Hormuz. Despite the sudden outbreak of hostilities, US President Donald Trump insisted that the US-
📊Futures Weekly：Mild Net Outflows in US Equity Funds While Massive Capital Bets on the Bond Market
A Higher Probability Path of “Unstable Peace” Under Remote Signaling Dynamics
Macro Theme: De-escalation and “Unstable Peace” as the Core Pricing Driver Although last weekend’s White House dinner shooting incident attracted significant attention, it did not create any material impact, and markets were not disrupted at the start of the week. Meanwhile, the ongoing “Middle East saga” continues steadily, and the U.S. decision not to arrange “in-person” negotiators suggests that the intermediary model has shifted toward “remote” communication. If no surprise attacks occur within the next one to two weeks, it can largely be concluded that this tug-of-war style “peace” will persist until around the midterm elections, when potential changes or turning points may emerge. The three potential models and scenarios of U.S.-Iran negotiations have already been discussed in previo
A Higher Probability Path of “Unstable Peace” Under Remote Signaling Dynamics
Why I’m Hesitant to Buy Into Semiconductor Stocks After Their Sharp Surge
Today, let’s talk about one of the hottest topics in the investment world recently: the sharp rally in the U.S. semiconductor sector. It is fair to say that, whether we look at the fundamentals and financial data or at market price performance, the semiconductor sector has become a major driver of the recent rise in U.S. equities, and arguably the dominant one. As we all know, in the recent performance of U.S. equity gains, large technology companies—especially the SOX Philadelphia Semiconductor Index—have delivered the largest share of the market’s beta gains. At the same time, in the upward revisions to average earnings-per-share expectations for the S&P 500, semiconductor names such as Nvidia and Micron have also made the biggest contributions. However, even in last week’s market ra
Why I’m Hesitant to Buy Into Semiconductor Stocks After Their Sharp Surge
📊Futures Weekly：Equity Funds Face Deeper Outflows as Falling Metal Inventories Raise Price Risks
Over the past week, the Middle East situation has been marked by a ceasefire that remains temporarily in place, stalled negotiations, and no meaningful improvement in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. On April 21, Iran declined to attend the second round of U.S.-Iran talks scheduled for April 22. The United States then extended the ceasefire period and said it would maintain maritime pressure and military deterrence until Iran submits a unified proposal. This suggests that developments are not moving toward smooth diplomatic progress.As for the Strait of Hormuz, market attention has shifted from whether it is nominally open to whether actual shipping has truly resumed. The latest reports still point to disrupted transit, indicating that although the ceasefire framework has not collaps
📊Futures Weekly：Equity Funds Face Deeper Outflows as Falling Metal Inventories Raise Price Risks
CFTC Observation: Watch Out For a Sudden Surge in Bullish Bets on Precious Metals
I. CFTC Positioning Data: Understanding the “Language of Smart Money” Many people focus only on prices, but what truly drives prices is where the money is positioned. The Commitments of Traders (COT) report released by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) translates this “language of money” into indicators that ordinary investors can understand. The “soul” of this report lies in two dimensions: who is holding positions, and whether they are long or short. CFTC positioning data classifies participants into three major categories: commercial positions (hedgers), non-commercial positions (speculators/funds), and non-reportable positions (retail traders). Among these, the most critical are non-commercial positions—funds, hedge funds, and large institutions whose objective is pr
CFTC Observation: Watch Out For a Sudden Surge in Bullish Bets on Precious Metals
Why I’m Using an Options Strategy to Lightly Bet on a Modest Pullback？
At present, global risk appetite across risk assets is still mainly driven by U.S. equities. As the marginal impact of Federal Reserve commentary has faded, the absolute dominant force shaping market sentiment remains the progress of the U.S.-Iran war. $标普500(.SPX)$ $标普500ETF(SPY)$ $SP500指数主连 2606(ESmain)$ $微型SP500指数主连 2606(MESmain)$ $微型SP500指数2606(MES2606)$ Why do we say the Fed’s commentary has become less influential at the margin? The reason is simple. First, there is no certainty that the so-called new chair, Warsh, will actually be able to take office smoothly
Why I’m Using an Options Strategy to Lightly Bet on a Modest Pullback？
Latest Futures Class Recap:How Are Markets Pricing U.S.-Iran Risk?Can U.S. Stocks Still Push Higher?
This session focused on how the U.S.-Iran situation may affect oil, gold, U.S. stocks, the dollar, Treasuries, and crypto under different scenarios, with special attention to the key one- to three-week window ahead.Guest Speaker: Cheng Jun (CME Guest Lecturer with more than 10 years of margin trading experience, specializing in gold and FX trading through a combination of macro analysis and Demark technical analysis)Course Link1. The current market narrative is still primarily driven by changes in the geopolitical situationMost assets are still following the same pattern: they come under pressure when tensions rise and rebound whe
Latest Futures Class Recap:How Are Markets Pricing U.S.-Iran Risk?Can U.S. Stocks Still Push Higher?
📊Futures Weekly: Money Flows Out of Stocks Despite the Rally, While Precious Metals Bulls Cool Off
Since April 9, developments between the United States and Iran have broadly followed a pattern of “ceasefire implementation and advancing negotiations, but fragile execution and unresolved disagreements.” After the two-week temporary ceasefire entered the implementation stage, the Strait of Hormuz nominally resumed limited shipping, yet the actual volume of vessel traffic remained extremely low, suggesting that maritime tensions had not genuinely eased. Then, on April 10 and 11, the United States and Iran held high-level talks in Islamabad, discussing sanctions arrangements, ceasefire boundaries, and navigation through the strait. Despite the lengthy discussions, however, no substantive breakthrough was achieved. From April 13 to 15, there were brief expectations that the ceasefire might b
📊Futures Weekly: Money Flows Out of Stocks Despite the Rally, While Precious Metals Bulls Cool Off