No direct insight to the actual trades outlined here, but most of my mildly-informed WSJ/FT/Economist reading 3rd-tier software engineer 10% YTD gains have been

No direct insight to the actual trades outlined here, but most of my mildly-informed WSJ/FT/Economist reading 3rd-tier software engineer 10% YTD gains have been from speculative forward/inverse trades when things appear calm or at maximum chaos. The strategy has not been based on expecting the broader economic issues to actually be resolved, but instead: "things are too crazy in US-China/EU-UK/Middle East, good news coming soon, time to buy long" or "things are too calm/optimistic, someone is going to rattle saber soon, time to go short" It doesn't take a rocket scientist to read the geopolitical mood and the level of bluffing going on, and I'm quite sure if I had more $$ to manage and more time to watch the ticker and newsfeeds, I would have made bigger bets. that said, someone directly moving markets could do far better.