Author: TBkWrm

Formulation

Fiction Friday is here again and what better subject than Bobby Axelrod?

**Disclaimer: Billions and its characters belong to Showtime. Not us. There is no profit or copy right infringement intended and absolutely no intention of saying that anyone from Billions stole our ideas in the unlikely event we accidently write something that comes to fruition.  

A look inside the mind of a younger Bobby Axelrod stepping on to his road.

The buzzing of chatter in his ear is threatening to make him explode. His mother’s attempts to placate him and his father’s scornful derision. Neither are proving any easier to stand than the lackadaisical attitude of his friends whom he had abandoned a couple of hours ago in disgust.

He stands up abruptly, pushing his chair back and interrupting the all too familiar argument brewing between his parents about why he needed to go to further education anyway. His father’s attitude is worse than his friends. Continue reading “Formulation”

Billions: The Short Squeeze

All Rhoades lead somewhere and if Senior doesn’t stop trying to help Junior soon the only thing he will be watching is his son’s career go down the drain and he will be doing it from a prison cell.

Many thanks to Lady Trader for her help ensuring we have it right. It is greatly appreciated.

There is so much going on in this episode but Damianista and JaniaJania have that covered. Let us talk about the episode title. The short squeeze.

What is a short Squeeze?

Continue reading “Billions: The Short Squeeze”

Damian Lewis, 45 in numbers

Yesterday, we said happy 45th Birthday to Damian. Today we’re having some fun.

As of today Damian has been 45 for one day or, if you prefer, 46 T– 365 days and yes that is correct because this is a leap year. Take that 46!

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

On 11 February 1971:

Damian’s mother and father would have been counting Pounds, Shilling and Pence…well maybe not specifically on this day as clearly they had more important matters, but you get what I mean. There were 240 pence in a pound, twenty shillings in a pound and 12 pence in a shilling. Interestingly the shilling was first minted during the reign of Henry Vii – you think I’m going to miss a chance to get sort of screen Dad in here too? Ha! Four days later on 15 February 1971 the UK went decimal. Continue reading “Damian Lewis, 45 in numbers”

Billions: the Long and the Short of it

Billions has arrived and it seems that the relationships will be the most important issues on the show. Therefore it probably is not necessary to be able to understand what Bobby is saying when he is talking about Lumetherm, Electric Sol and Southern Wind or what he says when speaking to the reporter about Arcadian Railroad.

However, generally speaking people do not like it when they do not understand something. In fact we don’t like not understanding which is why we  have added a Glossary to the blog with definitions for words that we hear on the show and make us go ‘what?’  We invite you all to let us know if there is a word or words you have heard which we haven’t added yet.

A big thank you to Lady Trader who took the time to look this over and ensure we have it down right.

There are two terms which seem particularly important to understand. They are both mentioned during the pilot and no doubt will be important moving forward.

They are “stay long” meaning long position and “go short” meaning short position. Bobby tells Danzig to ‘go short’ on Lumetherm. Bill later advises that they should ‘go short’ on another stock (Superior Auto) as well. So what does this mean exactly?

Long or ‘long position’ is where you expect the value of stock to rise. You buy this stock and own it.

Short or ‘short position’ is where you expect the value of stock to fall. You borrow this stock rather than own it. You then sell it. However, you must later buy the stock back.

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

Continue reading “Billions: the Long and the Short of it”

Speculate to Accumulate

We love to speculate on here and so I am going to do exactly that by dissecting the 6 episode synopses that have been released so far. There are potential spoilers in the episode synopses. I may or may not get some ideas right and more than likely I will be wide of the mark, but that is a risk I’m willing to take.

All definitions from ‘Investopedia.com’

“Insider trading” is defined as ‘the trading of stock or securities by individuals with access to non-public information.’

I think it could be safe to assume that we may see many an “insider” joke from the writers over the season.

From recent trailers and pictures (I’m looking at you, Damianista), it appears that Bobby’s wife calls him “Axe” and it may in fact be his nickname going forward. It is the perfect name for him as:-

“Axe” is defined as ‘the interest that a person or trader shows in buying or selling a financial security’.

Billions hasn’t even officially started yet and the writers are laughing at us and have been for quite a while!

Breaking it down “the term ‘axe’ may be derived from the phrase ‘axe to grind’ which means to possess an ulterior motive or selfish aim.”

For my part, I would put Bobby in the ulterior motive category rather than the selfish aim category…though I suppose you could argue that is semantics.

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

Episode 1, the Pilot

Chuck Rhoades, the powerful U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is tipped to a case of insider trading with links to Axe Capital and the billionaire hedge fund king Bobby “Axe” Axelrod.

Continue reading “Speculate to Accumulate”