Looking back over the past decade, investing has been one of the most fulfilling pursuits in my life, while I took a break from entrepreneurship and active work in the tech space. The rewards have been financial, but more importantly they’ve been intellectual and personal. It’s the one arena where my natural aptitudes—and even some of my weaknesses—find a productive outlet.

The Most Competitive Game in the World

Public markets are relentlessly competitive. Every participant has access to the same information, and you’re not just up against other individuals. You’re competing with hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, high-frequency traders, and quant models that process data faster than you can blink. Unlike poker or chess, the stakes are measured in fortunes, not trophies.

That intensity is precisely what makes investing appealing to me. Easy games get boring. This one never does.

How It Fits My Aptitudes

I naturally like breaking problems into inputs, levers, and outputs. Investing is exactly that: analyzing what moves a business, an industry, or an economy and positioning around it. The systems thinking that sometimes makes me annoying in casual conversation is actually useful when you’re trying to understand why a company will look different in five years.

Markets also force me to study everything. Over the past decade I’ve gone deep on AI infrastructure, real estate, P2P lending platforms, crypto protocols. Each cycle requires new knowledge. For someone who gets bored easily, this is ideal. The curriculum keeps changing.

Then there’s pattern recognition. Investor behavior repeats in ways that are almost comical once you’ve seen a few cycles. Euphoria, despair, rotation. The specific assets change but the emotional arc stays remarkably consistent. Spotting where we are in that cycle early is one of the few genuine edges available to individual investors.

And finally, I’m comfortable thinking in decades. Most market participants are optimizing for quarters or even days. That patience is rare, and rare things tend to be valuable.

Where My Weaknesses Become Strengths

In daily life I can be restless and impatient. In markets, that same energy translates into scanning widely for new opportunities. The trick is channeling it into research rather than trading too frequently. When I notice I’m getting twitchy, I try to redirect that impulse toward learning about a new sector rather than hitting the buy button.

I’ve always questioned consensus, sometimes to a fault. In investing, that skepticism means I don’t chase every hype cycle. It has cost me in the short term more than once—I was late to several obvious winners because I was busy poking holes in the thesis. But long term, the same instinct has kept me out of the worst blow-ups. I’ll take that trade.

Stubbornness is another one. I don’t like being wrong, and markets have humbled me repeatedly. But they’ve also forced me to define clear exit criteria for positions before I enter them. That discipline turns stubbornness into conviction when it’s backed by evidence, and into a clean exit when it isn’t.

The Value of Diverse Opinions

One thing I’ve learned is that investing in isolation is a mistake. I actively seek out people who think differently than I do—different asset classes, different time horizons, different risk tolerances. Some of my best decisions came from conversations where someone challenged an assumption I didn’t even know I was making.

This doesn’t mean following other people’s trades. Most of the time I listen, ask questions, and ultimately do something completely different. But the process of defending your thesis out loud, or hearing why someone smart disagrees with you, sharpens your thinking in ways that reading alone never will.

I’ve also found that the best investors I know are genuinely curious about being wrong. They’re not looking for confirmation. They want someone to find the hole in their logic before the market does. That mindset took me years to develop. My natural inclination is to defend my positions, but I’ve learned that seeking out disagreement early is far less expensive than discovering your mistakes after you’ve sized up.

The Psychological Test

Returns don’t come just from analysis. They come from surviving. I’ve held through multiple 50% drawdowns at this point. That requires emotional fortitude that you can’t fake and can’t really learn from books. You either have the stomach for it or you don’t, and you won’t know which until you’re in the middle of it.

Volatility is the price of admission, not a mistake. Every percentage point of return is earned through discomfort. I’ve come to enjoy that test. Drawdowns reveal who really understands what they own versus who was just along for the ride.

The longer I do this, the more I realize that temperament matters as much as intelligence. I’ve seen brilliant analysts blow up because they couldn’t handle the emotional swings. And I’ve seen average stock-pickers do extremely well simply because they had the patience to sit still when everyone else was panicking. Knowing which type you are—and building a strategy that fits your psychology rather than fighting it—is half the battle.

Why I’ll Keep Playing

Investing is both an intellectual puzzle and a mirror. It amplifies my strengths, exposes my weaknesses, and forces me to evolve. There’s no final score, only cycles and new opportunities.

It’s also given me something I value deeply: optionality. The returns over the past decade have bought me time and freedom to pursue other interests, to be present for my family, to take risks in business that I couldn’t take if I were starting from zero. That compounding isn’t just financial. The knowledge compounds too. Every cycle teaches you something that makes the next one slightly more navigable.

That combination of challenge, learning, and freedom is exactly why I’ve enjoyed it for the past decade. I intend to keep playing for decades more.

One of the points I made above is that investing in isolation is a mistake. If you’re looking for someone to exchange ideas with, or you’re new to this and want to talk through where to begin, drop me a line.

European retail investors cannot normally buy U.S.-domiciled ETFs like QQQ due to the PRIIPs regulation and the missing KID. Brokers block direct purchase to comply. However, you can still own such ETFs by using options. We’ll keep on using the very popular QQQ as an example.

The Workaround

1. Sell a cash-secured put on QQQ. One contract controls 100 shares. If QQQ closes below your strike at expiration, assignment occurs.
2. Receive 100 QQQ shares via assignment. You own the shares even though direct buying was blocked.
3. Sell the shares if desired. EU rules restrict brokers from offering non-PRIIPs ETFs to retail clients. They do not prohibit a client from selling an ETF already held.

What This Is and Is Not

• Bullish exposure path: You are paid premium and may acquire shares at the strike if assigned.
• Not a clean substitute: Sizing is lumpy (blocks of 100), timing is uncertain, and rolling is often required.

Key Constraints and Risks

• Capital: Minimum cash ≈ 100 × strike price. Example: $400 per share → ~$40,000 per contract.
• Assignment timing: You may not be assigned when you want the exposure. Deep ITM strikes increase assignment odds but reduce premium efficiency.
• Broker policy: Many EU brokers block purchases of non-PRIIPs ETFs but allow sales of positions already held. Policies can change. Client agreements reserve rights to close positions for risk or compliance reasons.
• Operational: Options expire. You must manage rolls, strikes, and expiries. Taxes differ for premium, dividends, and capital gains.
• Regulatory: Future rules could narrow or remove this path.

Practical Setup

• Account permissions: Enable U.S. options. Confirm assignment handling and settlement currency with your broker.
• Contract choice: Select strike and expiry to match target entry level and time window. Cash-secured only if you want delivery.
• Exit mechanics: If assigned, you can hold, write covered calls, or sell the shares. If unassigned, you earned premium but did not gain share exposure.

Cleaner Alternatives (UCITS)

For long-term Nasdaq-100 exposure, use PRIIPs-compliant UCITS ETFs:

• Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 UCITS ETF (EQQQ) — TER ~0.30%.
• iShares NASDAQ-100 UCITS ETF (CNDX) — TER ~0.33%.
• Xtrackers NASDAQ-100 UCITS ETF (XNDX) — TER ~0.25%.

Bottom Line

The put-assignment path can create temporary exposure to QQQ for EU retail accounts that cannot buy it directly. It is capital-intensive, operationally complex, and dependent on broker policy. For most investors, UCITS Nasdaq-100 ETFs are simpler and adequate replacements. However, if you absolutely want access to U.S.-domiciled ETFs this is how to do it.

 

If you’ve ever needed to convert currencies, you’ve probably considered services like Wise, Revolut, or maybe even a crypto exchange like Kraken. But have you ever thought about using Interactive Brokers (IB) to trade the currency pairs directly? Let’s dive into how Interactive Brokers stacks up as a tool for currency conversions and compare it to popular alternatives.

Why Interactive Brokers for Currency Conversion?

Interactive Brokers isn’t just for buying stocks or trading options; it’s also a powerful tool for converting currency. Unlike Wise or Revolut, where you’re charged a margin on the conversion rates plus a small fee, Interactive Brokers allows you to directly trade currencies on the foreign exchange market, meaning you can often get closer to the interbank rate—the most favorable rate available.

When you want to convert from, say, USD to EUR, you simply trade the currency pairs like you would with any other financial asset. This direct approach has some advantages:

• Lower Spreads: Interactive Brokers gives you access to live FX spreads, which are often tighter than the margins applied by consumer currency conversion services.
• Transparent Fees: IB charges a small commission per trade—usually just a few basis points. This transparency can help you avoid the surprise markups that might be embedded in other conversion tools.

Comparing Costs: Interactive Brokers vs. Wise, Revolut, and Kraken

Let’s take a look at a simple comparison using an example conversion of $1,000 to euros. Here’s how the different options stack up:

• Interactive Brokers: IB’s fee structure is typically a very small commission, and the exchange rate is practically at market value, making it extremely competitive for larger amounts. Let’s say the total cost is around 0.02% of your $1,000 transaction.
• Wise and Revolut: Both of these platforms tend to offer exchange rates close to market rates, but they add a small markup. Wise charges a transparent conversion fee, while Revolut may depend on your account type—standard accounts might have weekend markups or fees for larger amounts.
• Kraken (Crypto Exchange): Crypto exchanges like Kraken can also be used to convert currencies, albeit indirectly. You’d need to convert your USD into crypto (like USDC) and then trade it for another fiat currency, such as EUR. The fees can vary significantly, ranging from trading fees (often 0.1% to 0.26%) to withdrawal fees, and there is also the added volatility risk when handling crypto as an intermediary.

Example Calculation

Let’s assume you are converting $1,000 to euros on each platform:

• Interactive Brokers: If the EUR/USD rate is 1.10, you could receive approximately €909, factoring in a minimal commission fee.
• Wise: You might receive around €906, after the service fee of around 0.5%.
• Revolut: You could receive a similar amount as Wise during weekdays, but if it’s the weekend, there might be an extra charge, bringing it down to about €903.
• Kraken: With Kraken, after trading and withdrawal fees, you might end up with around €900, though this could vary depending on market conditions and the crypto route you choose.

Speed and Convenience

• Interactive Brokers: While IB offers great rates, the process might feel a bit more technical. You have to be comfortable with the trading interface.
• Wise and Revolut: Both are extremely user-friendly. Wise, in particular, is designed to make international transfers simple, even if you pay slightly more for that convenience.
• Kraken: Converting via a crypto exchange involves more steps and comes with crypto-specific risks, like market volatility. It’s probably not the most convenient choice unless you’re already comfortable with crypto trading.

Downsides to Using Interactive Brokers for Currency Conversion

While using Interactive Brokers for currency conversion can lead to substantial savings, there are a few downsides to consider:

• Not Intended for Currency Conversion: Interactive Brokers is primarily a brokerage platform for trading stocks, options, and other assets. Using it purely for currency conversion is sometimes seen as a “hack” and not its intended use. In fact, Interactive Brokers has been known to discourage users from exploiting this feature solely for currency exchange purposes, and they may even limit your account activity if this behavior is detected.
• Complexity: The trading interface is not as intuitive as dedicated currency conversion platforms. It may feel overwhelming for users who are not already familiar with the intricacies of forex trading.
• Regulatory and Compliance Risks: Depending on your country, there may be specific regulations around currency trading that could complicate things if you’re only looking to convert funds. Interactive Brokers might also scrutinize your transactions more closely if it appears that you’re primarily using the platform for currency conversion.

Final Thoughts: Best Option for Currency Conversion?

If you’re converting large amounts and want the lowest possible cost, Interactive Brokers is likely your best bet. It offers near-market rates with very low commissions, which adds up to considerable savings, especially if you’re converting a significant sum. However, if ease of use and speed are priorities, Wise and Revolut are still excellent choices.

Kraken, while an interesting option, adds a layer of complexity and risk due to the need to convert through crypto. It might be worth considering if you’re already active in the crypto world, but for most people, IB or a dedicated currency conversion service will be simpler and more straightforward.

If you’re already using Interactive Brokers for trading, why not leverage it for currency conversion too? The potential savings could be worth the extra clicks.

Over the past few years, I’ve used options as a way to generate consistent income from stocks I own or follow closely. Like many traders, I gravitated toward weekly options. They’re fast, frequent, and seemingly efficient. Whether I was writing covered calls on MicroStrategy or selling cash-secured puts on Alphabet, the weekly premiums felt like a reliable source of cash flow.

But recently, I made a strategic shift: I’m moving away from weekly options and focusing on monthly full-term options instead. After diving deeper into the mechanics of option pricing, execution, and market structure, I’ve realized that monthlies offer superior performance in most real-world trading scenarios.

Here’s what changed my mind, and why you might want to reconsider your own approach if you’re still using weeklies as your default.

Weekly Options: What I Was Doing

My earlier approach centered around short-term trades. I’d sell weekly calls or puts to collect premium, targeting short-term moves in names like MicroStrategy (MSTR), Tesla, or Alphabet. The appeal was obvious:

• Faster income cycles
• High annualized returns (on paper)
• Tactical flexibility

But in practice, I noticed several recurring issues:

• Wider bid/ask spreads on anything beyond the front-week
• Low open interest and less competitive pricing
• Higher gamma risk near expiry
• Constant need to monitor, manage, and roll positions

These frictions slowly eroded returns and added more stress than necessary.

Enter the Monthly, Full-Term Option

So what is a full-term monthly option? It’s the option that expires on the third Friday of each month. These were the original standardized options listed by the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) when listed options began trading in the 1970s.

Weekly options, on the other hand, were introduced much later (2005 by CBOE) to meet demand for more flexibility and short-term trading instruments. While they serve a purpose, they were essentially bolted on to the original system.

And it shows.

The Structural Advantage of Monthly Options

1. More Premium in Real Terms
   Monthly options consistently offer more time value per trade. Yes, weeklies may look more “efficient” per day on paper, but in practice, monthlies return more net premium due to better execution and tighter spreads.
2. Superior Liquidity and Tighter Spreads
   Market makers prioritize monthly expiries. The bid/ask spreads are narrower, meaning you lose less on the buy and sell side.
3. Better Open Interest and Volume
   Full-term options attract more traders. More liquidity = better fills and less slippage.
4. Simpler Management and Rolling
   Weekly positions expire quickly, requiring more active management. Monthly options give you breathing room to manage positions deliberately.
5. Lower Gamma Risk
   As weekly options approach expiration, price sensitivity (gamma) spikes. With monthlies, that curve is smoother.

If You’re Holding for a Month Anyway, Use the Monthly

This was a big insight for me: I realized that even though I was trading weekly options, I was often holding them for 2–4 weeks before rolling or closing. So why not start with the monthly to begin with?

Instead of targeting an August 30th expiry (a weekly), I now look at the August 16th full-term option. Or even better, go out to September 20th, sell the call, and manage or roll it earlier if needed.

You’re not locked in. You’re just operating on more favorable terms.

Why Weeklies Can Look Tempting: Volatility Magnifies the Premium

One of the big reasons I leaned into weekly options — especially with names like MicroStrategy (MSTR) — was the sheer volatility. When a stock regularly moves 5–10% in a week, the premiums on short-dated options get inflated fast. That meant:

• Juicy implied volatility (IV) priced into the premiums
• The ability to quickly collect income, sometimes multiple times in a month
• An opportunity to sell rich options even when far out-of-the-money

And it worked — for a while. MSTR’s wild swings made weeklies feel like an income machine. But as I looked deeper, I realized that those rich premiums came at a cost:

• Assignments became more frequent and harder to control
• Bid/ask spreads on later-dated weeklies were sloppy
• Managing positions every few days started to feel like a job

It became clear that even in high-IV environments, the structural advantages of monthly options often win out, especially when you’re trading size or managing a portfolio systematically.

Are High IV Weeklies Really That Much Better?

It’s true that weekly options often show higher implied volatility per day than monthlies. On paper, that makes them look more profitable. But here’s the reality:

Issue	Why It Hurts Weeklies
Wider bid/ask spreads	Slippage reduces your actual collected premium
Thin open interest	Poor fills or difficulty closing positions
Gamma spikes	Rapid, unpredictable price moves near expiry
More frequent management	More trades = more fees + more stress
Assignment risk	Especially with short-dated ITM options

So while weeklies may look more profitable in high-volatility stocks, monthlies often deliver more net premium with less friction, especially when scaled.

Who Weekly Options Are Still Good For

Despite all the advantages of monthly options, there are still specific situations—and traders—for whom weeklies make sense.

• Earnings Plays & Volatility Events: Traders who want to sell options around earnings or Fed announcements often prefer weeklies for their precision. The ability to target a specific date lets you isolate risk to that event window.
• Short-Term Directional Bets: If you’re speculating on a 1–3 day move in a stock, weeklies give you the cheapest and most gamma-sensitive exposure.
• Scalpers and Day Traders: Those managing trades by the hour or day often favor weeklies for their fast-moving nature. They’re nimble tools in the hands of professionals.
• High IV Environments: In stocks with elevated implied volatility (like MSTR), weeklies may offer juicy premiums that justify the risks—if managed closely.
• Exit Tactics: If a monthly covered call is expiring in-the-money, you may prefer to let the shares get called away and switch to puts rather than roll at a poor price. This can be a cleaner transition than forcing a roll for little premium or upside.

In short, weeklies are best for traders who are both tactically aggressive and highly active. They require more time, tighter discipline, and the ability to move quickly. They’re not inherently bad—but they’re often used inefficiently by traders who would be better off with the stability and performance of full-term options.

Final Thoughts

Weekly options are great for tactical plays, earnings speculation, or quick gamma scalps. But for consistent income, clean execution, and strategic control, monthly full-term options are superior.

This isn’t just theory. It’s a shift I’ve made in my own trading, and it’s already improved both my performance and my peace of mind.

If you’re looking for less friction, better fills, and stronger long-term returns, consider making the switch.

Monthly might not sound exciting—but it works.

Investing across borders opens up new opportunities for yield, growth, and diversification. But with international investing comes exposure to foreign currencies—and that means currency risk.If your home currency is the euro, US dollar, or any other, and you invest in assets priced in a different currency (like the British pound, Japanese yen, or Swiss franc), shifts in exchange rates will impact your actual return. Even if the investment performs well in local terms, currency fluctuations can boost or shrink your returns once converted back.Fortunately, there are effective strategies to manage this risk. Below are three simple approaches retail investors can use—along with a deeper look into how currency-hedged ETFs actually work.

1. Use Currency-Hedged ETFs

Best for: Investors who prefer a hands-off approach

Many ETF providers offer currency-hedged versions of their funds. These are designed to deliver the performance of the underlying investments while neutralizing the impact of currency movements relative to your base currency.

How does this work in practice?

Fund providers use rolling forward contracts—agreements to exchange currencies at a set rate on a future date. Each month (or sometimes weekly), the ETF manager enters into new contracts that match the value of the underlying portfolio. If the foreign currency weakens, gains from the forward contract offset the loss. If the currency strengthens, the gain in value is canceled out—but your exposure remains aligned with the core asset, not the currency.

This type of hedging is mechanical and systematic, often with little to no day-to-day impact for the investor. You just hold the fund as you would any normal ETF.

Examples for euro-based investors:

• iShares MSCI Japan EUR Hedged UCITS ETF
• Xtrackers FTSE 100 EUR Hedged UCITS ETF

How to do it:

• Log into your brokerage account
• Search for the hedged version of the fund (look for your currency and the word “hedged” in the name)
• Review the factsheet to confirm hedging frequency and method
• Buy as you would with any ETF

This approach works well when your goal is to track the equity or bond performance of a specific market, without letting currency fluctuations interfere.

2. Build a Natural Hedge Through Portfolio Diversification

Best for: Long-term investors with global exposure

A natural hedge uses the principle of balance. By holding assets in different currencies and regions, you avoid the risk of being overly exposed to just one. If one currency drops, gains in others may cushion the impact.

For example, an investor who holds:

• US stocks (USD exposure)
• Eurozone real estate (EUR exposure)
• UK dividend stocks (GBP exposure)
• A global bond ETF (mixed currency exposure)

…is unlikely to suffer major damage from a single currency movement.

How to do it:

• Analyze your portfolio by currency exposure
• Identify concentration risks
• Add international exposure gradually across geographies
• Rebalance once or twice a year

This approach relies on long-term alignment and reduces the need for ongoing management or financial products.

3. Use Forward Currency Contracts (with Help)

Best for: Larger portfolios or investors working with private banks or advisors

Forward contracts allow you to lock in a specific exchange rate for a future transaction. These are useful if you expect to sell an asset or receive dividends and want to fix the future cash flow in your local currency.

Banks or asset managers typically manage this process. For example, an investor planning to repatriate £100,000 from a UK investment next year might agree to exchange it at a fixed rate today, protecting against adverse currency moves.

How to do it:

• Contact your advisor or bank
• Ask about currency hedging using forwards
• Match contract dates with your expected income or exits

Final Thoughts

Global investing introduces currency risk, but this doesn’t need to be a source of stress. Whether you prefer the simplicity of a hedged ETF or the elegance of long-term portfolio balance, you have the tools to control your exposure. Choose the method that fits your strategy and move forward with confidence.