$ ls /en/guides
English reference guides
Long-form, sourced, durable guides translated from the French l0g corpus. This English section is intentionally limited to guides: the rest of l0g.fr remains primarily French.50 guides are currently available in English.
$ ls /en/guides/macro
10 guidesMacro data
How to Read the Balance of Payments and the Current AccountA reference guide to the balance of payments: the three accounts (current, capital, financial), the iron accounting identity that a current account deficit must be financed by capital inflows, the link with savings and investment, the net international investment position and America's eroding exorbitant privilege, and the reading pitfalls. With the US external accounts of 2026 as the worked example.How to Read Central Bank FX Reserves (COFER and the gold share)A reference guide to global foreign exchange reserves: what the IMF's COFER measures, the dollar's share and its gradual decline, the central trap of valuation versus true purchase flows, the case of gold excluded from COFER and its crossover above Treasuries, and how to tell an allocation decision from a mere price effect. With 2026 data as the worked example of the de-dollarisation narrative.How to Read the NY Fed Household Debt ReportA reference guide to the New York Fed's Household Debt and Credit Report: what it measures and how (the Consumer Credit Panel, a 5% Equifax sample), the composition of US household debt, the three lenses on delinquency (stock, flow, severity), the transition rate as a leading signal, the trap of the aggregate that hides a K-shaped economy, the student-loan case after the forbearance reset, and the reading pitfalls. With the first quarter of 2026 as a worked example.How to read an IMF program: quota, SDRs, facilities and repayment schedulesA reference guide to how the International Monetary Fund works, seen from both lender and borrower: the quota that governs everything, the SDR as unit of account and reserve asset, the difference between the general window (GRA) and the concessional window (PRGT), the instruments (SBA, EFF, FCL, PLL, RFI), access limits and exceptional access, conditionality through tranches and reviews, surcharges and preferred-creditor status. With the method to read the Fund's official country data tables.How to Read CBO Forecasts: the Budget Baseline and Its TrapsA reference guide to the Congressional Budget Office: what this independent budget referee is, what it publishes, how to read a baseline through deficits, debt-to-GDP and net interest, the misunderstood current-law convention that makes it a benchmark rather than a forecast, the difference between static and dynamic scoring, and how sensitive long-term projections are to interest-rate and productivity assumptions. With 2026 figures as illustration.How to Read CPI: U.S. Inflation, Measure by MeasureA reference guide to the Consumer Price Index: what the BLS actually measures, how the basket is built, why shelter accounts for about a third of it, the difference between headline, core and supercore inflation, the traps between raw and seasonally adjusted data, level and change, and why the Fed targets PCE rather than CPI. With May 2026 as a case study, when energy drove the headline.How to Read the U.S. Jobs Report: NFP and Its TrapsA reference guide to the BLS Employment Situation: the two surveys that can contradict each other, what NFP really measures, the ±122,000 confidence interval that makes a single print fragile, monthly revisions and the annual benchmark revision that erased 911,000 jobs, the difference between U3 and U6, and why a falling unemployment rate can be bad news. With the May 2026 report as a case study.How to Read JOLTS: under the hood of the U.S. labor marketA reference guide to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey: what JOLTS measures that payrolls do not, the five key numbers (openings, hires, quits, layoffs, total separations), the quits rate as a confidence gauge, the job-openings-to-unemployed ratio watched by the Fed, the Beveridge curve, measurement traps, and the 2026 regime of a frozen low-turnover labor market.How to Read PCE: the Inflation Gauge the Fed Actually TargetsA reference guide to the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index: what the BEA measures, why it is broader than CPI, how the chained Fisher formula captures substitutions, why health care carries so much weight, how to distinguish headline PCE, core PCE and market-based PCE, what Dallas Fed trimmed mean and Cleveland Fed median PCE add, and why the Fed's 2% target is defined on PCE rather than CPI. Uses May 2026 as a case study, when core PCE ran above core CPI.How to Read M2 Money Supply: liquidity signal, bad readings and risk-on narrativesA complete guide to U.S. M2: the Federal Reserve definition, what it measures and does not measure, the 2020 explosion and 2023 contraction, and a disciplined reading of its link with risk assets and crypto. The correlation exists, but it is fragile, conditional on velocity and macro regime, and fixed-lag models often amount to overfitting.$ ls /en/guides/fed
9 guidesFed, debt & liquidity
Reading the ECB balance sheet and the Target2 balancesA reference guide to the Eurosystem balance sheet: how to read the weekly financial statement, where European quantitative tightening stands, where the Target2 balances come from and why they are not the hidden bailout of legend, how central banks can string together losses without ceasing to function, and the new operational framework for rates. With 2026 figures as illustration, first rate hike since 2023 included.Reading a bank stress test: DFAST, CCAR and the stress bufferA reference guide to reading the Fed's annual bank stress test: the difference between DFAST and CCAR, the tailor-made apocalypse scenario, the mechanics that project losses, revenues and the capital ratio over nine quarters, the Stress Capital Buffer that follows and sets each bank's room for buybacks, and the limits of the exercise, starting with its blind spot on liquidity runs. With the 2026 test as the thread.Reading money market funds: Rule 2a-7, stable NAV and run riskA reference guide to money market funds: what they are for, the three families (government, prime, municipal), the corset of the SEC's Rule 2a-7, the stable one-dollar NAV and the dread of 'breaking the buck', the 2023 reform that scrapped gates, and their systemic role as a tap of Treasury bills and repo. With the record $8 trillion of assets in 2026.Reading a bank's soundness: capital, liquidity and hidden lossesA reference guide to judging a bank's soundness: the difference between solvency and liquidity, capital ratios (CET1, leverage ratio) and liquidity ratios (LCR, NSFR), the trap of unrealized losses buried in a held-to-maturity portfolio, the fragility of the liability side and uninsured deposits, and why a profitable bank can vanish in 48 hours. With the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank as the case study.How to Read the Dot Plot and the SEP: the Fed’s Projections, Without the MisreadA reference guide to the Federal Reserve dot plot and Summary of Economic Projections: what the dots really show, why they are neither a plan nor a forecast but a median of individual views on appropriate policy, how to read the central tendency, the neutral rate and the gap with market pricing. With the June 2026 SEP, the first under Warsh, where the 2026 median flipped from an implied cut to an implied hike.How to Read Liquidity: Reserves, TGA, RRP and the Net-Liquidity ProxyA reference guide to financial-system liquidity: the three taps of bank reserves, the Treasury General Account and reverse repos, the net-liquidity formula markets follow and its limits, how to read the plumbing from primary sources, and the 2026 regime after the end of quantitative tightening.How to Read the Repo Market: SOFR, the Rate Corridor and Reserve ScarcityA reference guide to U.S. secured-funding plumbing: what repo is, how SOFR is produced and on what volume it rests, the Fed’s rate corridor (IORB, RRP, SRF, EFFR), how to read the SOFR-IORB spread as a reserve-scarcity thermometer, the anatomy of a stress episode with September 2019, quarter-end and year-end jumps, and the 2026 regime after the end of quantitative tightening.How to Read H.4.1: the Fed Balance Sheet, Line by LineA reference guide to H.4.1, the weekly release detailing the Federal Reserve balance sheet. What the Fed holds, where liquidity goes, why bank reserves are a residual, how to read quantitative tightening in the table, and the traps to know before drawing any conclusion.How to Read TIC Data: who really finances U.S. debtA reference guide to Treasury International Capital data: what monthly flows and the Major Foreign Holders table measure, why Japan ranks ahead of the UK and China, and above all the custody bias that assigns Treasuries to the custodian country rather than the true owner. Belgium, Luxembourg, the Caymans, undercounted basis-trade hedge funds and the declining official share: what the data shows and distorts.$ ls /en/guides/markets
25 guidesMarkets, SEC filings & positioning
How to Read Corporate Debt: Five Numbers, One Maturity Wall, One TrapA reference guide to reading corporate debt: gross debt, genuinely available cash, reconciled net debt, the maturity schedule, interest burden and cash generation. A method for separating a fundable balance sheet from a refinancing problem, without turning one ratio into a verdict.How to Read Sovereign CDSA reference guide to sovereign credit default swaps: what insurance against a state's default is, the premium in basis points as a risk thermometer, the credit event and the role of ISDA and its Determinations Committee, auction settlement, the CDS-bond basis that says what the cash spread does not, and the special case of redenomination risk in the euro area. With Italy as the worked example.How to Read a Consumer Credit Securitisation (Auto, Card, BNPL ABS)A reference guide to consumer credit ABS: how a pool of auto loans, card balances or instalment payments becomes a rated bond, the tranche waterfall, the four credit-enhancement cushions (subordination, overcollateralization, excess spread, reserve account), reading the pool (FICO, expected cumulative loss, concentration), the early-amortisation triggers, and what separates these ABS from the CDOs that blew up in 2008. With the 2026 market as the worked example.Reading European sovereign debt: OATs, Bunds, BTPs and the spreadA reference guide to euro area government debt: why a single currency coexists with some twenty national issuers, what the OAT-Bund or BTP-Bund spread really measures, the great 2026 reversal in which France becomes the weak link while Italy tightens, the ECB's safety net (the TPI) and its conditionality, the embryonic common safe asset that EU bonds represent, and Germany's fiscal turn. With 2026 figures as illustration.Reading a credit rating: scales, default and the issuer-pays conflictA reference guide to credit ratings: what a rating really measures (a probability of default, not a price or a guarantee), the scales of S&P, Moody's and Fitch and the investment grade / high yield frontier, the role of approved agencies (NRSROs) and the conflict of the issuer-pays model, default rates by rating and the transition matrix, the difference between a public and a private rating, and what a rating does not say. With GPU-backed debt and insurers' private ratings as case studies.Reading the gas and LNG market: the three benchmarks and inter-basin arbitrageA reference guide to the world natural-gas market: why there is no single price but three regional benchmarks (Henry Hub in the US, TTF in Europe, JKM in Asia), the LNG chain from liquefaction to regasification, the units and their conversions, the arbitrage of cargoes between basins, the role of European storage and chokepoints like Hormuz, and the signals to watch. With the 2026 Hormuz crisis as the thread.Reading a life insurer's soundness: capital, reinsurance and opaque assetsA reference guide to judging a life insurer's soundness: the regulatory capital ratio (RBC) and its NAIC action levels, reading the statutory balance sheet (Schedule D versus Schedule BA), reinsurance ceded to Bermuda, the share of affiliated and illiquid assets, NAIC designations and private ratings, the fragility of an annuity liability, and why a well-rated insurer can hide a risk moved out of sight. With the collapse of 777 Re as the case study.Reading the copper market: Dr. Copper, LME, tariffs and deficitA reference guide to the copper market: why it is called Dr. Copper, where its price is set between London, New York and Shanghai, the COMEX-LME split caused by the US tariff, concentrated mine supply and the smelter-charge signal (TC/RCs), electrification-driven demand, and the deficit expected in 2026. With a metal around $13,000 a tonne as the thread.Reading CLOs and leveraged loans: tranches, waterfall and real risksA reference guide to leveraged loans and CLOs: the raw material (syndicated floating-rate loans, often cov-lite), the mechanics of tranched securitization from AAA to equity, the payment waterfall and protection tests, the decisive distinction from the 2008 subprime CDOs, the real risks (floating rate, weak covenants, restructurings that mask defaults), and the rising rivalry with private credit. A market of over $1 trillion, decoded.Reading interest rate swaps: IRS, OIS and swap spreadsA reference guide to interest rate swaps: the mechanics of exchanging fixed for floating on a notional, the swap rate and its curve, OIS as a read on central-bank bets, the shift from LIBOR to SOFR, the swap spread and its sign flipping negative at long maturities, the role of clearing and margin, and the 2022 UK LDI spiral as a case study. The largest derivatives market in the world, decoded.Reading dealer gamma: when options hedging drives the marketA reference guide to options positioning and market-maker gamma: what delta and gamma are, why dealers mechanically hedge their options in the underlying, the decisive difference between long gamma that dampens volatility and short gamma that amplifies it, the rise of 0DTE options, and the precedents of the 2018 Volmageddon and the GameStop gamma squeeze. How an invisible force sets part of the market's moves.Reading the carry trade: borrow low, invest high, and manage the unwindA reference guide to the carry trade: how you borrow in a low-yielding funding currency to invest in a higher-yielding asset and pocket the gap, why the strategy amounts to selling volatility, the role of leverage, the mechanics of the unwind that sank the Nikkei 12% in a single session in August 2024, and the dials to watch to gauge the risk. With the yen as the guiding thread.How to Read the CFTC COT Report: Who Is Positioned, and How to KnowA reference guide to the Commitments of Traders, the weekly CFTC release that reveals large-trader positioning on futures markets. Which reports to read, which categories carry the signal, how classification is done, and which blind spots to know before drawing conclusions.How to Read Credit Spreads: OAS, Quality Scale and Stress SignalA reference guide to credit spreads: what the yield gap between a corporate bond and a Treasury measures, why OAS is the reference measure, the quality ladder from investment grade to CCC, how to decompose a spread into expected loss, risk premium and liquidity premium, the role of CDS and CDX indexes, and how to read spreads as a forward stress signal. With 2026 levels near the tightest since 2007 and the market-complacency debate.How to Read the Dollar: DXY, Cross-Currency Basis and Offshore Dollar DebtA reference guide to the dollar as the world’s funding currency: what DXY really measures and why its basket is biased, why the Fed’s broad dollar index is a better compass, covered interest parity and its post-2008 break, cross-currency basis as the hidden price of dollars and a funding-stress thermometer, FX swaps as off-balance-sheet repo, the missing dollar debt estimated by the BIS, Fed swap lines as the offshore backstop, and the crucial distinction between the reserve dollar and the funding dollar. With the 2026 regime as illustration.How to Read the Treasury Market: Auctions, Curve and Term PremiumA reference guide to U.S. government debt: the composition of the market, from bills to notes and bonds; quarterly refunding and auction mechanics; how to read an auction through bid-to-cover, tail and dealer takedown; what the shape of the yield curve signals; how to decompose a long yield into rate expectations and term premium; who owns the debt; and which stress thermometers to watch. With 2026 figures as illustration.How to Analyze SEC Form 13F FilingsA reference guide to Form 13F: who files, when, what it contains, how to read it on EDGAR, and above all its blind spots. A quarterly rear-view mirror of long positions, powerful only if its limits are understood.How to Read a 10-K Without Drowning: the SEC Annual ReportA reference guide to reading a Form 10-K: the map of the document, where to start, how to separate a real risk factor from boilerplate, how to read MD&A and the financial statement notes, and how to spot control weaknesses. The most complete document on a listed U.S. company, read by priority.Reading the gold market: London, Comex, paper versus physicalA reference guide to the gold market: why gold is not a normal commodity, where its price is formed between London's OTC market and Comex futures, the paper-versus-physical mechanics (EFP, lease rates, contango), the real drivers of price (real rates, dollar, central banks, debasement), and the role of gold as a reserve asset.How to Read Volatility: VIX and MOVE, the market fear gaugesA reference guide to implied-volatility indices: what VIX measures for equities and MOVE for bonds, how they are built, how to read levels and term structure, why VIX and MOVE sometimes diverge, common traps, and the 2026 regime in which both are low.Reading the uranium market: fuel cycle, prices and bottlenecksA reference guide to the uranium market: the fuel cycle from mine to reactor, why uranium pricing is mostly private contracts rather than an exchange, reactor demand, concentrated and slow supply, the conversion and enrichment bottleneck, and the indicators to follow.Reading the oil market: price, curve, supply and dataA reference guide to the oil market: Brent versus WTI and why two benchmark prices coexist, how price is formed between paper and physical markets, what contango and backwardation say about the balance, the role of OPEC+ and spare capacity, strategic stocks, and the data calendar to follow.Schedule 13D vs 13G: activism or passive ownershipA reference guide to SEC Schedules 13D and 13G: the same 5% ownership threshold, two disclosures whose real difference is intent. Schedule 13D signals influence, often activism; Schedule 13G signals passive ownership. Accelerated deadlines since 2024, the purpose-of-transaction item, group doctrine, and how to read the filings on EDGAR.How to Read Private Credit: the risk you cannot seeA reference guide to private credit: what it is, why it grew, and how to read risk without a market price. Model valuations, PIK interest, NAV loans, gated redemptions: the four blind spots, the vehicle glossary, and the lessons from the 2025-2026 stress sequence.How to Read SEC Form 4: insider transactions without the noiseA reference guide to SEC Form 4: who files it, when, and how to separate signal from noise. Most insider transactions say little; open-market purchases matter. Transaction codes, the 10b5-1 checkbox, purchases versus sales, and how to read the filing on EDGAR.$ ls /en/guides/crypto
6 guidesCrypto & regulation
How to Read a CBDC: the digital euro parameter by parameterA reference guide to central bank digital currencies, through the example of the digital euro. A CBDC is not an object but a bundle of design choices, each of them political: retail or wholesale, account or token, direct or two-tier distribution, holding limit, remuneration, privacy, legal tender and programmability. Each parameter reveals the issuer's real priority, between payment sovereignty, financial stability and surveillance. With the digital euro's 2026 timeline as the thread.GENIUS Act: who enforces what in U.S. stablecoin regulation?A reference guide to GENIUS Act enforcement: which regulator supervises which kind of stablecoin issuer, how the federal and state entry points work, why a permitted issuer becomes a financial institution subject to sanctions law, and why the July 18, 2026 implementation deadline remains tight.Reading on-chain data: what the blockchain shows, and what it hidesA reference guide to on-chain data: public permanent ledgers versus delayed regulatory filings, how to read activity (active addresses, exchange flows), valuation metrics (realised cap, MVRV, SOPR, NVT), DeFi TVL and its double-counting traps, and the blind spots that make interpretation hard.MiCA, acronym by acronym: decoding Europe's crypto rulebookA reference guide to MiCA: the three crypto-asset categories (EMT, ART and other crypto-assets), the CASP licence, who supervises what across national competent authorities, the EBA and ESMA, the caps on non-euro stablecoins designed to defend monetary sovereignty, and the end of the transition period on July 1, 2026.OFAC and the SDN List: can sanctions target code?A reference guide to OFAC and the Specially Designated Nationals List: how the world's most powerful financial-sanctions tool works, the 50 percent rule, its reach into crypto, stablecoin freezes, and the legal limit drawn by U.S. courts in 2025 when Tornado Cash was delisted.Stablecoins and the GENIUS Act: reading the promise of the digital dollarA reference guide to stablecoins and the GENIUS Act: how a token holds its peg, what the July 2025 U.S. law actually requires, why an attestation is not an audit, how to read a reserve report, and why this $320 billion market has become a buyer of U.S. Treasury bills.