New Delhi, July 6 -- Dear reader,

Last week, I wrote that the bulls had an upper hand. However, markets showed signs of being top-heavy, as higher levels attracted selling. Nervousness over the India-US trade deal and Friday's Sebi ban on Jane Street dampened sentiments. The latter event triggered worries among retail options traders, since options make up the lion's share in the derivatives segment. Traders feared there would be a temporary drought of liquidity as institutional players, especially since algo and AI-capable traders such as Jane Street constitute approximately half of the entire derivatives turnover.

My call to deploy tail risk (Hacienda) hedges on all open positions turned out to be a robust strategy, and my readers sho...