SI357: Liquidity, Leverage, and the Lie of Calm ft. Cem Karsan

As summer sets in, Cem Karsan joins Niels Kaastrup-Larsen to trace the contours of a market that feels calm but isn’t. What looks like low vol masks a crowded hedge fund ecosystem and a structural vol compression regime few understand. From a VIX spike driven by unexpected Call activity to the slow-motion political pressure on Powell, the signals are subtle but mounting. They cover China’s resource diplomacy, AI’s quiet dislocation of white-collar work, and the rising fragility from concentration across assets, brokers, and narratives. This is a conversation about setup, not outcome... and the traps hiding in plain sight. ----- 50 YEARS OF TREND FOLLOWING BOOK AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO FOR ACCREDITED INVESTORS - CLICK HERE ----- Follow Niels on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or via the TTU website. IT’s TRUE ? – most CIO’s read 50+ books each year – get your FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here. And you can get a free copy of my latest book “Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio” here. Learn more about the Trend Barometer here. Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest Rating & Review on iTunes or Spotify so more people can discover the podcast. Follow Cem on Twitter. Episode TimeStamps: 01:19 - What has been on our radar recently? 03:30 - Stay tuned for the latest UGO episode! 05:04 - China is taking the long view - and succeeding with it 07:04 - Tech companies are starting to buy into rare earth 08:30 - The risk of high stock trading firm concentration 11:01 - Industry performance update 13:33 - Q1, Rick: What other asset class volatilites besides gold are mispriced at the moment? 24:59 - Karsan's thoughts on the current macro environment 30:33 - What could trigger a deleveraging/degrossing event? 32:28 - The impact of tariffs - what do the numbers tell us? 41:21 - Is a firing on the horizon for Powell? 46:53 - Inflation is becoming hard to hedge 56:15 - The Emperor's New