Do we need to remember that there are 42 gallons of oil in a barrel? I can’t help but pay added attention to the idea of a crack spread. I’m starting in on a regiment of 2-4 g of daily vitamin C to mitigate some of the higher levels of oxidative stress due to the increased metabolic demand of constant studying. That along with my daily omega 3 fatty acid supplementation, pomegranate juice and regular soymilk diet and I should be good to go for the next week.
wtf? No… but i’ll remember it now. 42 gallons in a barrel. Boom.
wut?
From Schweser practice exam, Volume 2, 2PM (if memory serves).
Oh, was it a variable quantity commodity swap or something? Where you have to incorporate the Q?
CF_AHHHHHHHHH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh, was it a variable quantity commodity swap or > something? Where you have to incorporate the Q? Nah, just calculating the crack spread…the “zinger” was that they gave you the oil in barrels and the two other legs in gallons, and YOU HAD TO CONVERT THE BARREL OF OIL INTO GALLONS!!! The horror…took about six seconds.
Add a box of cigs to that list and you’re there
Good god, I don’t even know what crack spread is…
Whoops. Sounds like time to review alternatives again 
What I like about crack spread is not only its utility as a descriptive finance term, but its ability to ascribe meaning to a wide variety of professional backgrounds and lifestyle choices. For example take T-Bill, a friendly neighborhood drug dealer " I just made 2 Gs from my crack spread", or Joe the plumber " Boy, I sure worked hard today fixing pipes and exposing my crack spread", and perhaps even Laqueisha “You better pay me a hundred dollars first before I give you some of this crack spread”. It’s true that among the many thousands of pages of finance material I have encountered along this journey to CFAdom, the only marginally interesting or amusing concept I have found has been and will remain the crack spread.