Protecting portfolio against extreme losses is a fundamentally difficult task since past experience provides a poor guidance for the future. This paper focuses on a robust approach to the portfolio insurance, which does not require historical calibration, and therefore avoids the hazards of data...

Much of the trading activity in Equity markets is directed to brokerage houses. In exchange they provide so-called quot;soft dollarsquot; which basically are amounts spent in quot;researchquot; for identifying profitable trading opportunities. Soft dollars represent about USD 1 out of every USD...