It's never truly Xmas till the @alphaville.ft.com Person of Interest list arrives www.ft.com/content/6d1e...

It’s been a good year.

Happy Friday, we got you a long read on where Handel, Keynes, Newton, Turner and Darwin might day-trade if they'd been born in a different century and chosen to waste their lives. www.ft.com/content/5d21...

New FT Magazine cover story out today - How a failed baseball player and ex-Merrill Lynch broker became an international arms dealer.

When did Tottenham become Millwall?

Giving someone a subscription to FT Alphaville’s newsletter is the ultimate Christmas move (because it’s free). Heres the latest ‘stack, featuring what investors are worried about in 2026 and “a Galilean dialogue” on index funds and private equity. open.substack.com/pub/ftav/p/n...

The new way to lose money gambling is very similar to the old way to lose money gambling. www.ft.com/content/1ac0...

Here's what's kept us busy this week. ftav.substack.com/p/no-one-kno...

It's that magical time of the year. www.ft.com/content/6d1e...

We introduced a twist to Alphaville’s charts quiz this week. You have have to identify who *made* the charts rather than what they show. Oh and there’s 12 of them, but you have all christmas to come up with your guesses. www.ft.com/content/2245...

We examined the trading results of some historical geniuses and allocated them to firms that might suit them today. Keynes to TCI, JMW Turner to Jane Street, Darwin to Brevan Howard, Newton to Andurand, and Churchill gets some pity seed money from Bill Hwang. www.ft.com/content/5d21...

The most ambitious, least logical fusion project since King Crimson. as.ft.com/r/6cbfd3ce-7...

This is a total treasure trove every year for anyone who likes to read. The design is unnecessarily nice too

It’s a big day for central banks around the world today, so naturally Alphaville is tackling the big topics — like whether Rishi Sunak got some cowboy boots as PM and how much they cost. www.ft.com/content/82d2...

“We are seeing an industrial-scale pardon business.” www.ft.com/content/ef6e...

Mark to maaaa_ 　　　 a 　　　　 a 　　　　 a 　　　　 a 　　　　　a 　　　　 。 　　　 。 　　　. 　　　. 　　　 . 　　　　. as.ft.com/r/35dd7896-1...

In October, Renaissance Technologies suffered a nightmare, with its two public hedge funds abruptly losing about 15%, before soaring back in November. Yet for a lot of other big quantitative investors, the autumn was mostly plain sailing. Why? on.ft.com/4aGVxNG

Here's a roundup of FT journalists' favourite non-FT stories of 2025. The winner features snail orgies in the lede. www.ft.com/content/72d0...

Public market price discovery can be BRUTAL. www.ft.com/content/bc85...

Pretty amazing what happens with “risk-adjusted” public equity returns when you simply introduce the same lagged reporting that private equity returns come with. www.ft.com/content/ff83...

“The appetite to deregulate has been rapacious; the analysis of the costs and benefits of our policies has been non-existent; and, the repercussions, I would argue, could be dire.” www.ft.com/content/7027...

🚨A new angle on private equity’s volatility laundering www.ft.com/content/ff83...

Justice is, and cool-down rotisserie chickens are, served. as.ft.com/r/c13ac0f9-8...

Loved this update on Invesco's increasingly desperate attempts at getting shareholders to OK the overhaul of its money-spinning QQQ exchange-traded fund. www.ft.com/content/0dba...

CCC: weird name, weird company. as.ft.com/r/f031dbfb-d...

Mark Rowan: “Private equity is an amazing asset class. It’s just not a growth business." www.ft.com/content/9a34...

Bonus weekend @alphaville.ft.com content from George Steer www.ft.com/content/6d6c...

Salah is once again really not making a strong case for being a starter.

Here's what we've been up to this week. ftav.substack.com/p/spacex-cel...

Post's here: as.ft.com/r/9aaeb116-2...

Jan Marsalek Klaxon 🚨🚨🚨 @samgadjones.bsky.social is still hot on the Russian Agent of Chaos beat, delving into the Wirecard fraudster’s Libyan cement factories

I now know what to get the kids this Xmas. www.ft.com/content/39aa...

Bloody hell, the SEC’s Caroline Crenshaw is not leaving the organisation quietly. She says there is a “rapacious” appetite to deregulate, and warns that “the darkest depths of winter still lie ahead for America’s capital markets”. www.ft.com/content/7027...

Time to slack off work and bask in other people's misfortune? Here you go: as.ft.com/r/bb63bdcf-b...

In October hedge funds managed by the fabled Renaissance Technologies suddenly and mysteriously careened lower, before rebounding strongly. This encapsulated how 2025 has been an exceptionally turbulent year for quantitative investors of almost every stripe. But WHY? www.ft.com/content/4300...

Lan-party like it's 1999. as.ft.com/r/caf86b67-9...

If you like it when politicians reach for convoluted ways to not answer simple questions, here's a post for you. as.ft.com/r/da930974-f...

“To really enjoy the hostile takeover process a person has to be into its slow-moving corporate kabuki theatre of regulatory arbitrage and shadow boxing by legal precedent. Fortunately, we are.“ www.ft.com/content/baf7...

JUST PLEASE DON'T CALL IT QE OK

The Federal Reserve said today that it’s going to be buying $40bn of Treasury bill a month to ensure that the US financial system has enough liquidity. Here’s an old AV post on why, and why it matters: www.ft.com/content/df3a...

"Once a critical mass of retail investors experiences losses or mismatches between marketing and reality, class actions are likely to follow." as.ft.com/r/5e708cf5-c...

Fascinating guest post on how the “democratisation” of private equity could end up biting the industry. www.ft.com/content/c460...

Punters gonna punt. as.ft.com/r/3efe57b6-f...

RIP the efficient markets hypothesis. www.ft.com/content/d339...

Hm.

Correlation ≠ causation Causation = Succession? as.ft.com/r/3b25aeae-c...

It's that time of year again. www.ft.com/content/377b...