My original goal is setting up this site in 2010 was to foster discussion about the Case Shiller futures that trade on the CME (and where I am the independent market maker).  As new ways to hedge home prices evolve (e.g RPX, options on CS Futures, “home price protection” products), I intend to expand this mandate to a broader discussion of home price derivatives.  As before, my goal is to faciliate a better understanding by academics, regulators, policy makers, rating agencies, traders and all interested parties in housing transactions (e.g. buyers, sellers, lenders, MBA, NAR), in the markets for home price products.  Please feel free to email me with questions or suggestions at johnhdolan@homepricefutures.com .  You can sign up for Twitter updates at @HomePriceFuture.

 

Using “Chords” and Calendar Spreads to Trade HPA

Many home price traders think in terms of implied HPAs (Home Price Appreciation).  HPA -as I define it here -is the percentage price difference between one contract and the expiration one year forward.  So if the CUS Nov 2012 (X12) mid price is … Read More

Trading CUS May ’12 w/Options -Expiration/Settlement Issues

I’m still trying to use the CUS May ’12 140 calls as a way to both launch the first option trade in many years, and also to trade the CUS May’ 12 on “inside” prices.  The CUSK12 contracts are quoted … Read More

Trading the Turn: May/Aug K12/Q12 Calendar Spreads

One way to clearly see the upcoming (seasonal?!?) turn in the Case Shiller index is in the calendar spread markets.

Each of the 11 calendar spreads for May/Aug 2012 (the K12/Q12 spread) shows spread orders where the front side (May) is … Read More