The Hedge Fund Podcast with Fexingo: Alternative Investments, Strategies, and Institutional Investing

The Federal Reserve under Chair Warsh is staffing up with 'Project 2025' alumni, and hedge funds are already adjusting their interest rate positioning. Lucas and Luna break down the specific implications for the overnight repo market, the divergence between the VIX and VVIX, and why a hawkish staffing signal could reshape duration bets. With the Fed Funds effective rate at 3.63 and the VIX creepin...

Episode 28 of The Hedge Fund Podcast digs into a quiet but growing trade: hedge funds deploying machine learning to trade rare earth elements like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Lucas explains how firms are scraping satellite imagery of Chinese smelters, USGS export data, and EV battery demand signals to predict price moves in an opaque $15 billion market. Luna questions whether the data...

With the 2026 LA mayoral primary in full swing, hedge funds are quietly using prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi to bet on political outcomes. Lucas and Luna break down how funds are deploying capital into event-driven contracts, the liquidity shift from retail to institutional flow, and why the VIX's calm amid election uncertainty tells a deeper story. Featuring specific data on Polyma...

The prediction market Kalshi has exploded from political novelty to a serious institutional venue. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how hedge funds are using Kalshi to trade event-driven contracts—from Fed rate decisions to corporate earnings—and why the platform's shift toward Wall Street matters. They discuss the rise in open interest, the liquidity fragmentation between Kalshi and tra...

In today's episode, Lucas and Luna explore how hedge funds are quietly moving into Kalshi, the retail-driven prediction market. With headlines about Rubio and Vance odds and Kalshi's push for institutional clients, we examine the liquidity, regulatory, and strategy shifts: what happens when event contracts become a legitimate asset class. We break down the mechanics, compare it to Polymarket's cry...

Hedge funds have long invested in hospitals, but now they're shifting strategy: instead of buying hospital operators, they're buying the physical real estate and leasing it back to health systems. This episode explores the rise of hospital real estate investment trusts, why cash-strapped hospitals are selling their own buildings, and what it means for patient care. Lucas and Luna break down the nu...

In this episode of The Hedge Fund Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how a NASA-themed ETF has become a conduit for retail investors and hedge funds alike to gain exposure to SpaceX's private market performance. With $2.6 billion in inflows over two months, the NASA ETF has turned into a hot retail trade, raising questions about liquidity, valuation, and the lengths investors will go to access pre-IP...

Lucas and Luna explore the niche strategy of orphaned well remediation, where hedge funds are buying abandoned oil and gas wells to generate carbon credits and steady cash flow. They discuss the economics of plugging wells versus maintaining them, the role of state orphan well funds, and why this once-obscure market is attracting institutional capital. With reference to recent data showing the S&P...

With the VIX dipping to 15.32 and the VVIX at 86.06, hedge funds are piling into short volatility trades again. Lucas and Luna unpack why this setup feels different from 2018 — and how funds are hedging their downside this time around. They discuss the risk of a tail-event spike, the role of zero-day options, and how one multistrat fund is pairing VIX shorts with tail-risk puts. A focused look at...

Episode 20 of The Hedge Fund Podcast explores a fast-growing niche: carbon credit arbitrage. Lucas explains how funds are exploiting price dislocations between regulated compliance markets like the EU ETS and voluntary carbon offsets, using the VIX drop to 15.32 as a backdrop for risk appetite. Luna questions whether the market is mature enough for institutional capital, citing recent CFTC scrutin...

Bitcoin ETFs launched with a bang in early 2024, drawing tens of billions in inflows. By May 2026, the daily flow frenzy has normalized. Lucas and Luna unpack how hedge funds are now using these ETFs differently — not as directional bets but as portfolio tools for basis trades, cash-and-carry arbitrage, and yield enhancement. They dissect the mechanics of the basis trade via the CME futures basis,...

On this episode of The Hedge Fund Podcast, Lucas and Luna analyze the current divergence between the VIX at 15.81 and the VVIX at 86.03—a volatility-of-volatility signal hedge funds are increasingly trading. With the S&P 500 near all-time highs at 7,564 and the VIX dropping 4.7% in a week, the VVIX remaining elevated suggests options dealers are pricing in tail risk. The hosts break down how funds...

With the VIX at 15.74 and the VVIX at 86.03, volatility markets are flashing unusual signals. Lucas and Luna explore how hedge funds are now using volatility derivatives — specifically the VIX term structure and VVIX skew — as predictive tools for political events, including the 2026 midterms. They walk through a specific trade: a long VIX call spread tied to election night, and explain why the VV...

Hedge funds are increasingly investing in hospitals, buying up struggling community hospitals and chains. Lucas and Luna dive into the economics behind this trend, focusing on Steward Health Care's bankruptcy and the $1.1 billion acquisition by Medical Properties Trust and a consortium of hedge funds. They discuss the business model — real estate vs. operations, the role of Medicare and private in...

Leica Camera AG, the 110-year-old German optics legend, was written off as a relic of the film era. But since 2018, the company has staged a remarkable turnaround, tripling its operating profit and posting compound annual growth rates of 18 percent. This episode drills into the specific decisions that saved the brand: the pivot to high-margin digital rangefinders like the M11, the controversial sh...

China's industrial profits surged 24.7% in April 2026, the fastest gain in over two years. Hedge funds are taking notice, rotating capital into Chinese equities and commodities. Lucas and Luna dissect the numbers, the macro backdrop, and whether this is a sustainable trend or a head fake. They explore how the rally is concentrated in manufacturing and export-oriented sectors, why European companie...

The Strait of Hormuz closure is reshaping risk pricing across global trade. Lucas and Luna dive into how hedge funds are exploiting the surge in shipping insurance premiums and freight rerouting costs. With the S&P 500 near 7,519 and the Russell 2000 up 6.3% in five days, they examine the disconnect between equity optimism and the real-economy bottleneck playing out in tanker rates, war-risk insur...

The Fed's reverse repo facility has fallen to zero and the reserve supply is swelling past $3.3 trillion. Lucas and Luna dig into the 'dealer balance sheet constraint' trade that hedge funds are quietly piling into: shorting Treasury futures and going long cash bonds, exploiting the plumbing mismatch the Fed created with quantitative tightening unwinding. They walk through why the trade works, wha...

In this episode of The Hedge Fund Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the growing trend of hedge funds acquiring water rights across the western United States. They discuss why investors like Water Asset Management and Cadiz Inc. are betting on water scarcity, the regulatory landscape, and the role of the Colorado River crisis. Lucas highlights the emergence of water futures on the CME and the estimat...

Kevin Warsh's potential Fed changes could reshape how hedge funds trade short-term rates, repo, and Treasury collateral. Lucas and Luna break down the plumbing reform that matters more than the rate decision: the shift away from ample reserves and what it means for basis trades, IORB, and SOFR. With the VIX at 16.68 and small caps surging 3.4% in a week, they explore how a less iron-fisted Fed cou...

Lucas and Luna explore a surprising trend: hedge funds quietly acquiring veterinary clinic chains and pet insurance platforms. They break down the economics behind the move — steady recurring revenue, demographic tailwinds from millennial pet ownership, and consolidation opportunities in a fragmented market. With the S&P 500 at 7,473 and volatility low, funds are seeking alternative assets with un...

Lucas and Luna break down why hedge funds are piling into VIX options and the volatility smile. With the VIX at 16.70 and the VVIX at 91.16, the gap between implied and realized vol is compressing. Funds are using tail-risk hedges and dispersion trades to capture convexity. Lucas explains the mechanics of the smile, how it shifted after 2020, and why Warsh's potential Fed regime change could resha...

In this episode of The Hedge Fund Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down the resurgent bond basis trade — a strategy that exploits tiny price discrepancies between cash Treasury bonds and their futures equivalents. With the S&P 500 at 7,473 and the VIX below 17, markets feel calm, but hedge funds are quietly piling into levered relative-value plays that offer near-risk-free returns of 50-100 basis poi...

Episode 6 of The Hedge Fund Podcast: Lucas and Luna explore the quiet rise of basis trades inside the Treasury market — a strategy that has exploded from the fringes to the core of many hedge fund books. With the Fed holding rates flat at 3.64 percent and the ten-year Treasury offering near 4.5 percent, funds are borrowing cheap overnight money to buy longer-dated government bonds, pocketing the s...

On this episode of The Hedge Fund Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore a fresh angle in alternative investing: hedge funds are quietly pouring capital into AI infrastructure projects in China, following the recent thaw in US-China relations after the Trump-Xi meeting. Lucas breaks down the specific numbers — the S&P 500 at 7,473 and the VIX at 16.70 — to frame the risk-on environment. They discuss how...