A week after the consensus longs went 1–5, the favorites flipped the tape and printed 5–1 — the only "upset" was a pick'em that closed by $6M. The P&L spreads were still loud (avg $33M), but the levers moved. Week 1 was decided by monetization and books off the desk; Week 2 added a new one: blow-ups. Thirty-four of them across six sessions, and they didn't just dent the print — they decided who lost.
The Trade of the Week delivered. Kian D (6 tickets, fastest fill in the building at word 17) and vishnu m (6 tickets, zero blow-ups) traded size, and Connor actually won three desks — Credit 3–0, Systematic 3–1, Commodities 3–1. But czz answered with a Rates sweep (4–0) and the back-end edge that's becoming its signature: 67% capture to Connor's 42%. Connor is now 0–2 — both to the West's best books — and is trading well below book value on its record.
Two of Week 1's most convincing winners, and the difference was self-inflicted: cryo blew up six times to ChessFun's four. cryo actually swept Commodities (3–0) and took Equities, but ChessFun owned the science desks — Credit 3–1, Derivatives 3–1 — and closed a touch better (55% v 50%). Eric L (5 tickets) and dynomite kept the ChessFun book humming. The hottest desk on the Street is 2–0; cryo's headcount is real but its discipline isn't.
The preseason A+ answered its Week-1 stumble with a statement. jonathan, opening its year, actually closed better (62% v 50%) — but it didn't matter, because it blew up SEVEN times. Take $28M off a $54M session and the math is brutal. Sohil (5 tickets) and a quick, clean akhil (word 20, no blow-ups) ran the book. James W is back; jonathan has one obvious line item to fix.
Remember mingle's 2-for-9 capture catastrophe in Week 1? Gone. They closed 9 of 13 (69%), swept Equities 4–0, and buried Fez_Keyreb — opening its year — by eighty, and they booked the whole +$80M blowout with Week-1 leader Theenash S off the desk — a bench-depth flex. roshan was everywhere: 8 winning tickets, $32M, the best book of the week (aggression and all — he blew up three times and still lapped the field). Fix the one line item that's killing you and this is what the ceiling looks like.
The rock fight of the day: seven no-bid looks (30%) made this a grind, and on a session with little to go around, efficiency was everything. The bigger problem for xpoes: top PM Rohan G was off the desk, leaving them running barely a three-trader book. That reframes the loss — it wasn't just weak capture, they were short-staffed. dan swept Equities and Credit (2–0 each) and out-closed xpoes 50% to 25% — and that 25% is no fluke, it's the second straight week xpoes left capture on the table. dan.k.memes is a quiet 2–0, printing the smart, ugly way every time.
The most-watched book off the desk all season came back online. Harry G (meduh), the No. 1 overall pick who was off the desk in Week 1, finally traded — 6 winning tickets — as GidTheKid2 ran a Derivatives-desk sweep (4–0) and rolled. This is the book they drafted: with the headliner back and William W chipping in, Gid out-traded anurag 13–9 tickets. anurag actually closed better (56% v 46%) but undid itself with five blow-ups — the same risk leak that's now cost it two straight down days. The key-man watch is over; the East just got more dangerous.
All 14 books marked to market after Week 2, both desks — top to bottom.
EAST
| # | Book | The Mark |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | dan.k.memes | 2–0 and never pretty — out-closes you, grinds you down. The East's quiet standard. |
| 2 | sumin | Dark, still 1–0 off a $138M statement. Unbeaten and untested — we'll mark them soon. |
| 3 | GidTheKid2 | The key-man watch is over — the star PM is back on the desk, and the book answered with a +$112M statement. This is what they drafted. Dangerous now. |
| 4 | mingle/Yunyi | 1–1, but the $130M eruption and a 22%→69% capture turnaround is the scariest trend in the East. |
| 5 | xpoes | 1–1, and ran the loss with top PM Rohan G off the desk — barely a three-trader book. But 25% capture for a SECOND straight week is its own problem. Loads of headcount, leaking P&L. |
| 6 | anurag | 0–2. Closes fine both weeks, but the blow-ups (5 more here) keep bleeding the book. Fixable, still in the red. |
| 7 | Fez_Keyreb | 0–1, run off the floor $50M–$130M in its open. Long road ahead. |
WEST
| # | Book | The Mark |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChessFun | 2–0, beat cryo and Connor. Still the hottest book on the Street — and tidy enough to close the ugly ones. |
| 2 | czz | 2–0 and won the marquee. vishnu m is a problem; only P&L spread separates them from #1. |
| 3 | James W | 1–1 — the preseason A+ answered with a $108M demolition. Back on schedule. |
| 4 | cryo | 1–1. Gave one away on six blow-ups. The six-deep headcount is real; the discipline isn't there yet. |
| 5 | Connor Chang | 0–2 — but both losses are to the two best books, the latest by $6M. Kian D is elite; the record lies. |
| 6 | (Stitch)² | Dark. 0–1 and still hunting for its first signature print. |
| 7 | jonathan | 0–1, debut undone by seven blow-ups. Nowhere to go but up. |
The books got even. After fading the consensus long printed money in Week 1, the chalk went 5–1 — every favorite on the board held except a coin-flip. The marquee czz–Connor opened and closed near 50/50 and resolved by $6M, exactly the nail-biter it was priced as. The blowouts were "expected" winners running it up: mingle, a modest favorite, turned the session into an $80M rout. The takeaway flips Week 1's on its head: the chaos was the overreaction. Reputation didn't print Week 1, but it sure showed up in Week 2.
| PM | Desk | P&L | Tickets | Blow-ups | Avg fill (word) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| roshan | mingle/Yunyi | $32M | 8 | 3 | 24 |
| suzuko | cryo | $24M | 6 | 1 | 20 |
| Kian D | Connor Chang | $24M | 6 | 2 | 17 ⚡ |
| vishnu m | czz | $24M | 6 | 0 | 34 |
| Sohil | James W | $20M | 5 | 0 | 28 |
| Eric L | ChessFun | $20M | 5 | 0 | 27 |
⚡ Lowest latency: Kian D (word 17) was the quickest fill of the high earners. Risk-limit trouble: edwin h (jonathan) and ishaan k (ChessFun) led the desk with 4 blow-ups apiece — edwin's in that seven-blow-up meltdown, ishaan's in a win, which tells you who could afford it.
Week 3 brings the dark books back onto the tape: sumin and (Stitch)² re-open, while mingle/Yunyi and James W go dark. The questions into the open: does the chalk hold a second session after a 5–1 week, and can the bottom of the board stop handing P&L away on blow-ups?
The West's clearest contender clash. czz (2–0) hosts cryo (1–1) in a pure style war: vishnu m's range and czz's lethal capture against cryo's six-deep, cover-every-desk headcount. cryo gave away its only loss on six blow-ups — against a book this efficient, it can't afford a repeat. If cryo's depth controls flow it wins; if czz's back end hums, the unbeaten run continues.
Connor Chang is winless but has lost only to the two best books in the West, the last by $6M. Kian D is printing like a top-five PM on the Street. Now it draws a (Stitch)² book coming off a dark week and still searching for its first signature session. This is the spot where Connor's record finally catches up to its level — or the panic truly sets in.
The hottest book on the Street visits the desk that just blew up seven times in its open. If jonathan cleans up the risk-limit breaches it can hang; if not, ChessFun's flow and Eric L's low latency turn it into another long session. A clean read on whether jonathan's debut was nerves or a real problem.
Three East tapes at once. sumin finally gets marked after that $138M statement, against an anurag book desperate to stop bleeding the book on blow-ups (0–2). xpoes carries its two-week capture problem into a date with the newly dangerous GidTheKid2 — the key-man back on the desk and the book trading at a premium. And dan.k.memes, quietly 2–0, draws a Fez_Keyreb book looking to bounce off an $80M thumping. The East's pecking order gets a lot clearer.