Macro research has always been a field that investors have a &#34;love-hate&#34; relationship with.
Those who identify with it believe that only by understanding macro trends can one grasp the primary narrative of the era. In the capital markets, true major opportunities often come from judging the direction of the era's waves; only by standing on the side of the trend can returns be amplified—as long as one stands at the &#34;wind vent,&#34; even &#34;pigs&#34; can fly.
Those who question it believe that macro is too grand and too abstract. Changes in monetary and fiscal policies far across the ocean seem a long way from the returns in one's own account. Rather than spending a great deal of time studying these &#34;out-of-touch&#34; issues, it is better to focus energy on screening individual stocks and specific assets.
For the past decade or so, these two viewpoints have been in constant debate.
However, after 2020, the market environment began to undergo significant changes.
Macro factors are no longer just &#34;background variables&#34; but are increasingly directly affecting asset pricing and market rhythm. The weight of macro trading continues to rise, and the starting point of many market movements no longer comes from industry logic or company fundamentals, but from changes in policy and liquidity.
The deep-seated reason is that the policy thinking of major global economies is shifting—Western governments are gradually moving from a &#34;small government&#34; model emphasizing free markets to a &#34;big government&#34; model of more active intervention. Faced with economic downturns and market volatility, policymakers' tolerance has significantly declined, and fiscal and monetary policies are being used more frequently to stabilize growth and support the market.
The direct impact of this is: the relationship between macro variables and market trends has become more complex.
Take the market in the second half of 2025 as an example. Looking only at the micro level, the fundamentals at that time did not support a &#34;comprehensive bull market&#34;: global economic growth was still slowing; corporate earnings improvement was not significant; and geopolitical conflicts and policy uncertainties remained.
Yet the market moved to a different rhythm—from US stocks to emerging market equities, from commodities to certain high-risk assets, a significant rally occurred almost simultaneously. The differentiation between different assets was quickly compressed, and risk appetite as a whole rose, presenting a state of &#34;synchronized expansion.&#34;
The intuitive feeling of many investors at that time was: It seemed like all assets were rising, but it was hard to explain exactly why.
Using a traditional fundamental framework, it is difficult to explain this phenomenon. This is because industry logic, corporate earnings, and regional differences did not improve synchronously.
But from the perspective of macro and liquidity, all of this becomes easier to understand: At that time, under the constraints of growth pressure and financial stability goals, the policy orientation of major economies began to turn marginally looser; the dollar liquidity environment improved in stages, and global funding costs declined; at the same time, the balance sheet expansion of some key financial intermediaries further amplified the transmission efficiency of funds across different markets.
The result was: funds did not &#34;selectively&#34; enter a certain type of asset, but rather re-priced risk assets at a faster pace and on a larger scale.
In this environment, it is difficult to explain the source of returns through the logic of a single industry or individual stock. What truly played a dominant role were the higher-level variables—the changes in liquidity throughout the entire financial system.
This was also the common confusion for many investors during that stage: they didn't catch a particular &#34;certainty industry,&#34; yet as long as they were in the market, they could obtain returns; whereas once they ignored changes in the macro environment, even if their individual stock selection had no obvious problems, the portfolio's performance could significantly lag behind.
Behind this case lies an increasingly important reality: in certain stages, the market is not driven &#34;bottom-up&#34; by fundamentals, but is uniformly priced by &#34;top-down&#34; macro liquidity. Understanding this often determines whether you are going with the trend or fighting against it.
But we must admit that if our understanding of macro remains only at the level of superficial indicators such as GDP, inflation, and non-farm payrolls, we may easily fall into a dilemma: the more data we look at, the harder the market becomes to understand. Because what truly affects the market rhythm is often not the superficial data itself, but the underlying operating mechanisms:
How is dollar liquidity generated?
How is capital transmitted within the financial system?
How is liquidity redistributed among different markets?
—This set of mechanisms determines the flow of funds and also profoundly affects the logic of asset pricing. Only by understanding it can one truly see how macroeconomics affects investment.
To answer these questions, Wallstreetcn has specially invited Cheng Tan, founder of &#34;Tantu Macro,&#34; to bring a new master class in Shanghai on Saturday, April 25, 2026: &#34;Understanding the Underlying Logic of Global Asset Pricing Through Dollar Liquidity.&#34;

Dr. Cheng Tan graduated from the Department of Finance at the Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. He worked at the Central Foreign Exchange Business Center of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) for ten years and was involved for a long time in the global asset allocation and tactical operations of foreign exchange reserves. Here, a massive volume of foreign exchange assets is managed, and it is one of the key participants in the global liquidity system.
Contrary to many people's imagination, the investments of SAFE are not simple passive allocations, but high-intensity active management. With the multi-asset linkage of stocks, bonds, and foreign exchange, any deviation in judgment will result in very direct performance pressure.
In such an environment, macro research is never a job of &#34;writing reports,&#34; but rather continuously answering a series of practical questions:
<ul>
<li>Is the trend truly established?</li>
<li>Is a turning point approaching?</li>
<li>Is noise interfering with judgment?</li>
</ul>
Cheng Tan later summarized the role of macro research in twelve characters:
Grasping trends, judging turning points, and filtering out noise— this methodology comes from the long-term testing of real market environments.
Of course, we must also be candid: this course is not suitable for all investors.
For most investors, understanding an industry and studying the fundamentals of a company is often a more direct and efficient path.
However, if you hope to grasp the core variables of market changes over a longer investment cycle; if you hope to understand the transmission logic behind global asset prices instead of staying at the superficial level, then this relatively hardcore and deep-paced course may be worth your dedicated time.
In the process of refining the course with Mr. Cheng Tan, we also made a decision that was not easy: to actively give up a &#34;comprehensive&#34; general-knowledge expression and focus on the more fundamental and drier financial operating mechanisms.
Because we are becoming increasingly clear: macro policies, the structure of the financial system, and household balance sheets are essentially a set of interconnected systems. If one ignores the structure of financial intermediaries and the path of liquidity transmission and relies only on aggregate indicators to judge trends, it is easy to misread the market.

We hope that through this course, we can help you establish an operable liquidity analysis framework.
Not a pile of fragmented knowledge points, but a complete system from concepts to tools, and from mechanisms to cases.
What you ultimately gain is not just knowledge itself, but two more important abilities: the ability to grasp the macro main line from the top down and the ability to verify liquidity details from the bottom up.
In a market environment where uncertainty has become the norm, we hope this framework can become a set of basic tools for you to understand asset pricing.
If you hope to: no longer be led by emotions, no longer stay at the level of opinions, and truly understand the underlying logic of market operations, then this course may provide you with a systematic starting point.
This course includes one hour of interactive Q&amp;A, where students can discuss their most concerned issues with Mr. Cheng Tan and receive face-to-face answers to their questions. Friends interested in this course can click on the image above to register. If you want to know more about the course details, you are also welcome to scan the image below to consult the course assistant.

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On April 25, Cheng Tan, founder of Tantu Macro, will guide you to understand the root causes of global asset price fluctuations from their source

- Macro research has become a polarizing field for investors, with some believing it is crucial for understanding market trends, while others argue it is too abstract.  
- Following 2020, macro factors increasingly influence asset pricing and market dynamics, as policy shifts in major economies lead to more active governmental interventions.  
- A course led by Cheng Tan aims to provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of global asset pricing, emphasizing a bottom-up understanding of liquidity and its impact on market behavior.

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Decoding Dollar Liquidity: Cheng Tan of Tantu Macro Guides You Through the Underlying Logic of Global Asset Pricing