April 4, 2025 (NO COMMENTS)

US President Donald Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs have thrown popular hedging strategies designed to guard against a ‘grind lower’ in equities into disarray, leaving investors grasping for other ways to protect their downside.

Investors had been piling into a slew of so-called ‘shallow hedges’, such as put spreads and volatility knockout (VKO) options, ahead of the tariff announcement on April 2.

That strategy worked well in 2022, when the S&P 500 shed almost 20% against a backdrop of low