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Recent TV Media Appearance Link Below:-
CNBC Asia HQ Singapore, Friday October 30th, 2026
Brief coverage of our Short positions in the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and our Long VIX Futures bias. As well as Bitcoin (where we were also tactically short for risk-tolerant accounts and zero weighted for everyone else)
Followers of our positioning will know of these via direct media messaging and subscribers from the Positions Section Below in our Newsletters.
Positions Update
We continue to trade and operate from the short side for most assets.
Our short Silver target of <50 was reached last week as was our ~3800/3900 Gold Target (we were short of both, refer to Second Section in last few Newsletters).
After taking a very short meditative biscuit break out of the market, during the mid-terms, we had re-established our shorts on S&P and Nasdaq futures, in line with our bias as shared via Newsletters, direct media messaging and also on recent TV media appearances. Added shorts on the FTSE 100 earlier today.
Currently the S&P 500 is down 250pts, Nasdaq 100 is down 1700 points and the November VIX Futures contract is up 30% today on an unleveraged basis (or 150% ROI if used as a Future).
These are fast-moving times, hence we are not posting updates in the Second Section of today’s Newsletter - please contact us if you are trading or investing and might be interested in the levels we are watching. Our positions can and will change without notice.
Family Offices on the Move - Part 1 - The GCC
If one recalls how High Net Worth Families and their structures used to operate, perhaps 20 years ago, it provides a useful framework for the direction of travel and decision points which are in play, today.
The division of labour for a HNWI/UHNWI family (or family office) used to be ~20%/~80%, with ~20% of the intellectual workload being conducted in-house and ~80% delegated to Investment Bankers of various stripes. This led to a prerogative for proximity to such providers, as well as legal/accounts functionaries. Indeed, our own HQ (back then) was similarly placed - just 5 minutes walk from legal counsel, much the same distance from our Prime Brokers, Clearers, Custodians and the rest.
Then there is the mindset of the key individuals - considering lifestyle, education and tax treatment for the jurisdiction in which they place their headquarters.
These latter points are still a large part of the decision process. What has fallen away, however is the need to be close to anyone, or anything, for commercial reasons.
From our observations and discussions across a range of FO/MFO outfits, the division of labour has now reversed. ~20% is outsourced, with ~80% of the clever stuff being completed in house. There is still a need for legal sign-off and contractual completions - but legal directions, portfolio design, monitoring, real estate management and asset allocation are now mostly conducted in house, by specialised staff. AI has also just made many of those tasks vastly more straightforward.
There is less demand for the layers of fees relating to Investment Bank Fund products and Funds of Funds products, they opt instead for direct market access, ETFs and plentiful other ways to design market exposure, far more cheaply than before.
We have been operating in only this economical manner for decades (for both our own investment interests and also for the portfolios that we manage), forcibly eschewing anything that an Investment Bank tells us or shows us.
In this context, periodic meetings and online meetings with providers can certainly suffice. There is no longer a perceived benefit to being based in the same city as your providers, any more.
Onto tax treatment and security, we are not tax advisers nor are we experts on anyone’s national security. However, we can observe that as recently as 2-3 years ago, there was steady one-way traffic into certain parts of the GCC. Low Taxation, Safety, Security and a Business-friendly environment were strong drivers of these flows. Also - the lack of alternative competition on these attributes certainly helped.
On all these fronts, we observe a changed perception.
Tax and Regulation seems to be on the way in, with strident rules, codes and penalties coming on-stream in 2027.
Further, there are numerous demographics that are simply not comfortable with the optics of being allied with the perpetrators of the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. They also recognise that this places them, whilst in situ, at personal risk. We are vigilant on how this landscape will change, after the shredding of the Republican Party in the recent US mid-terms.
And….now there is a lot of competition. Although not new news, there is a greater marketing push by Spain, Portugal, Turkey and others, who are offering nuanced 0% tax structures, plus good weather, developed infrastructure, viable time zone locations and a very high quality of life.
That, combined with a perceived lower overall lifestyle security risk in many of these competing locales, has led to a vibrant 2-way flow vis-a-vis parts of the GCC, when before it was just a one-way ticket in, until only recently.
So far, we gather that there is still no perfect world or single solution, with UHNWI/HNWI families and offices tending to hedge their bets across at least 2 jurisdictions. Where they prefer to live seems to be oftentimes quite far from where their HQ is incorporated and domiciled.
Part 2, a Ranking and a Conclusion to follow, once we have completed the tour.
Next phase will be the trips to Malaga, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal upcoming in the next few weeks.
See the Section below for Tactical Outlook & Shorter Term Trades :
Gold, Silver, Palladium
EUR/GBP
EUR/USD
DXY
USD/ZAR
November VIX Futures
December Nasdaq Futures
December S&P 500 Futures
UK FTSE 100
If you would like to view the Investment Recommendations Section below, please request access from your Axis point of contact.