RECORDING OF Commodities Options Trading and Market Making Masterclass

Commodity options aren’t just equity options in a different wrapper—they’re built to solve fundamentally different problems. This webinar explores what makes commodity derivatives structurally unique, from the motivations of producers and consumers to the mechanics of how exotic structures are priced and hedged in real-world markets.

About the Speaker - Kristopher Abdelmessih

• Experienced Options Trader with over two decades of expertise in options and volatility trading.
• Early Career: Developed core skills as a market maker on the trading floors at Susquehanna International Group (SIG), mastering options pricing, risk management, and liquidity provision.
• Parallax Trading: Managed a relative-value commodities volatility book, focusing on cross-market volatility opportunities and strategic positioning.
• Independent Commodity Options Trader (2008-2012): Specialized in trading energy and soft commodities, enhancing his market knowledge and practical execution skills.
• Exchange Memberships: Active member on major commodity derivatives exchanges including NYMEX, ICE, and COMEX.
• Thought Leadership: Author of the widely-followed Moontower Blog, known for deep insights on options strategies, market dynamics, and trading philosophy.

Today, Kris brings his extensive real-world trading experience and analytical insights to our discussion on Commodities Options Trading and Market Making.

Agenda

 Topics We’ll Cover:

• Coming from Equities to Commodities
• Understand the key differences in how options are priced and traded.
• What Are Commodity Options Hedging?
• Learn what risks commodity options are designed to offset—across term structures and user types (producers, consumers, and speculators).
• Asian-Style Options in Physical Markets
• Discover why producers prefer average-priced puts—and how market makers hedge them using vanilla options.
• Spread Options Explained
• Unpack calendar spreads and input-output spreads (like crack, crush, and spark), and how they're modeled and traded.
• Types of Options in Commodity Markets
• Overview of commonly traded structures—from plain-vanilla calls and puts to path-dependent and calendar spread options.
• The Mechanics of Market Making
• A then-and-now reflection on how commodity options were quoted 15 years ago, and what’s changed with the rise of electronic liquidity.
• Voice vs. Screen Liquidity
• Why only the front month is reliably electronic, and why deferred months still run on phone calls.
• The Firefly Problem
• A look at illiquidity in deferred curves—and why the option screen often lies.
• ETF vs Futures Option Pricing
• Understand the pricing puzzle between futures and ETFs like USO—and why it’s a top-tier interview question for traders and quants.
• The 2020 Oil Collapse & USO Breakdown
• A case study in negative oil prices, forced ETF restructuring, and lessons in market mechanics under stress.

Whether you’re a trader, quant, or risk manager, this session offers a deep dive into the mechanics, models, and market structure that define commodity options and futures-based ETFs.