Wow - he's getting a lot of hate. I'm not sure what exact strategy they employed, but the typical way to play these to hide the theta is proxy plays, not direct

Wow - he's getting a lot of hate. I'm not sure what exact strategy they employed, but the typical way to play these to hide the theta is proxy plays, not direct exposure (which would be killed by theta). The proxy is exposed to the primary movement but also stands on its own in the absence of the desired movement. Everyone seems to hate on derivatives, but nobody can argue that they don't provide the necessary granularity to exactly specify risk/reward profile of the position you're looking to hold. Who knows - maybe everyone here is right and they got creamed for 7 years before making back 20%. My feeling is that the position was likely more thoroughly built than that. Again - who knows - but just hating on it at face value isn't doing anyone any favors in understanding the market and the way informed investors articulate their desired position in it.