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  • Crypto Alert: Watch for This Altseason Indicator’s Next Move

    Altseason indicator
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    December 7, 2023

    Bitcoin has been stealing the crypto show with its recent rally – with most “altcoins” falling behind the king. But at some point bitcoin will start to slow down. And history suggests this might give the rest of the crypto market a brief window to catch up. The question is when? When can we expect a glorious “altseason”, where Ethereum and other altcoins outpace bitcoin? Here’s a potential altseason indicator that might fire off soon.

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  • Bitcoin Is Riding The Bands Of A Bull Market

    riding the bands weekly chart bitcoin
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    December 5, 2023

    Bitcoin is doing something it only does in major bull runs: riding the top Bollinger Band on the weekly time frame. Here’s a quick explanation of what it means and why it’s incredibly bullish for bitcoin – until it isn’t.

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  • Will Altcoins Fly Or Falter This Christmas?

    Altcoin market decision time scaled V2
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 23, 2023

    A golden rule of trading is that you don’t get bullish at resistance. And right now, the altcoin market is hovering around a massive resistance level (green line). This chart shows the weekly price candles of the TOTAL2 index, which essentially measures the total market size of crypto without bitcoin. The index is now on its third attempt to break above the $650 billion dollar mark. 

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  • Crypto Swing Trading Strategy Explained: 5 Key Rules

    the at of crypto swing trading cover
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 22, 2023

    There’s swing trading, and there’s crypto swing trading. In this guide, I’ll explain how to swing trade the world’s most volatile asset class – with 5 key rules I’ve learned from trading it since 2017. You’ll get the hard-earned lessons without the hard knocks.

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  • Is Binance’s BNB Coin About To Jump Over Its Legal Hurdles?

    BNB coin cover image
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 21, 2023

    Binance (the world’s biggest crypto exchange) is in talks with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to settle a year-long criminal investigation by paying over $4 billion in fines. That’s a lot of money, but Binance can probably afford to fork it out.

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  • Coinbase Breakout Level: 3rd Time Lucky For COIN?

    Coinbase breakout cover
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 20, 2023

    Coinbase (COIN) has been a key beneficiary of this year’s crypto rally – with the stock price up over 200% off its lows. But for all its strength, it’s struggled to crack through the $100 ceiling. With the stock ending last week at $99.05, this will now be its 3rd attempt (grey circle, in the chart). So, is a Coinbase breakout still in the cards?

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  • Dogecoin Price Analysis: Getting Its Bark Back?

    Doge coin price analysis - bull pennant
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 18, 2023

    Altcoins have seen some mega rallies lately. But Dogecoin – usually one of the most speculative of them all – hasn’t had a “proper run” just yet. Sure, it’s up around 50% this quarter. But that’s hardly the FOMO levels it’s commanded in the past. 

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  • Ethereum vs Bitcoin: What’s A Better Investment Right Now?

    Ethereum vs bitcoin
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 15, 2023

    Bitcoin is up about 120% this year, while Ethereum is “only” up 70%. But over the past 3 weeks, Ethereum has started to steal bitcoin’s thunder – beating it by about 7%. This begs the question: Ethereum vs bitcoin, which is better bang for your buck right now? So in this article, I’ve compared them based on 3 key criteria to help you decide for yourself.

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  • 2 Reasons Why $38,000-ish Is A Major Bitcoin Price Target

    Bitcoin price target
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 14, 2023

    The bitcoin price reached as high as $38,000 last week. But since then, the rally has lost some steam. And that might be because the $38,000 region is a major bitcoin price target for technical traders. Here are two reasons why.

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  • Solana is halfway back to its all time high: Don’t FOMO

    Solana all time high scaled
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 10, 2023

    Solana has been one of the best-performing digital assets this year. SOL has rallied about 500% since its $8 low last December – meaning it’s now recovered more than half its bear market losses. From here, Solana would need to see a similar percentage gain to reclaim its previous all-time high of $260 (November 2021).

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  • Why Is The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Doubling Bitcoin This Year?

    grayscale bitcoin trust
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 8, 2023

    The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is up almost 250% this year – but bitcoin itself is only up half that. Let’s unpack what’s going on here.

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  • Why Cash Is King In Crypto

    Cash is king in crypto
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 7, 2023

    “Cash is king” is a popular saying in investing. The idea is that cash gives you the resources to buy cheap investments – which could pay off over time. And this chart shows why that might be true when investing in bitcoin.  

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  • Is Coinbase a Good Investment? In-Depth COIN Stock Analysis

    Is coinbase a good investment cover
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 6, 2023

    Coinbase (ticker: COIN) started trading on the NASDAQ on April 14, 2021. The stock price reached an all-time high that day of $428 – but it currently trades for less than $100. Last Thursday, the crypto exchange released its third-quarter earnings report. So, I’ve gone through it with a fine tooth comb to check if Coinbase is a good investment right now. Here’s what I found.

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  • Mutual Fund vs ETF: Which is A Better Investment For You?

    Mutual fund vs ETF
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    November 2, 2023

    Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) each let you own a mix of investments – without having to buy lots of investments at once. This makes both of them great options for diversification. But if you’re racking your brain trying to choose which option is better for you, this guide’s got you covered. Let’s jump in. 

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  • Long Bitcoin, Short The Banks? Not So fast…

    long bitcoin short banks
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 27, 2023

    The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) is an exchange-traded fund that invests in American banks and other financial services companies. KBE is so far down over 20% this year, while bitcoin is up over 100%. As you’d expect, cries to “long bitcoin, short the banks” have now grown louder. But if you’re a long-term investor trying to build a diversified portfolio, this chart might suggest a different view: to buy them both. 

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  • 3 Types of Chart Patterns That Traders Should Understand

    Chart patterns cover image v2
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 26, 2023

    Chart patterns can be effective tools for traders and investors. They can help you decide when to buy, sell, or sit tight with an investment. But if you search “chart patterns” in Google, you’ll find hundreds of different variations. So in this guide, we’ll break them down into just three basic types: bottoming patterns, topping patterns, and compression patterns. Let’s jump in.

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  • Bitcoin Barbell Strategy Explained: Muscle Up Your Portfolio

    Bitcoin Barbell Strategy
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 24, 2023

    There’s a lot to be said about spreading your investment portfolio across many different baskets. But the barbell strategy takes a different approach. It splits an investment portfolio into just two weights on either side: the “risky” side (stocks) and the “safe” side (bonds). In this post, I’ll explain how the barbell strategy might work when one of those sides is bitcoin. 

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  • Beware The Bitcoin ETF Launch Date

    Bitcoin ETF approval vs SPDR Gold shares ETF launch
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 24, 2023

    The bitcoin price made a fresh yearly high yesterday of around $35,000. This comes as more investors expect the first physically-backed bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) to be approved by the US regulator. We don’t know exactly when it will be approved, but it could be anything from a few days to a few months out. Yet, bitcoin’s recent rally suggests an ETF approval might come sooner rather than later. 

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  • Chainlink Breaks 1.5-Year Trading Range. Now what?

    Link price cover V2 scaled
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 23, 2023

    This chart shows the price of Chainlink’s LINK token over the past few years. After dropping by about 90% in Phase 1 (May 2021 to May 2022), the price ranged sideways for about 18 months (Phase 2). But last week, LINK finally broke above the top of that range, ending yesterday just above $10 a token. 

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  • How To Invest For Retirement: A 7-Step Guide

    Invest for retirement
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 20, 2023

    Whatever your age, it’s important to plan ahead and invest for retirement. Here’s a 7-step guide to help you retire in style.

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  • US Treasury Bonds: 3 Reasons To Consider Buying Them Now

    US treasury bond cover V2
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 18, 2023

    US treasury bonds have been under pressure lately. The iShares 20 year+ treasury bond ETF (TLT) is down about 35% since the US Federal Reserve (Fed) started raising interest rates in March of 2022. TLT tracks the price of US treasury bonds – or American government bonds that take 20 to 30 years to mature. And here are 3 reasons why now could be a good time to add them to your portfolio.

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  • Gold Price Analysis: Bear Trap In The Making?

    Gold price bear trap cover
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 13, 2023

    Gold bugs haven’t had much to celebrate this summer, with the gold price slowly bleeding out since May. But this week has (so far) seen gold up about 4%. Most of this rally happened after US inflation numbers came out Wednesday. At 3.7%, the consumer price index (CPI) number was slightly hotter than the 3.6% analysts expected. And there could now be a classic gold “bear trap” in the making. 

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  • Is The Nasdaq’s “Dip” Already Over?

    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 10, 2023

    The Nasdaq 100 index (which mostly tracks US tech stocks) rallied an impressive 50% in the first half of this year. But it’s been losing points in the second half – and is down about 5% since its peak in July. This recent “dip” has had the gloom and doom brigade shouting for much lower prices in the US tech sector. Sure, there are economic issues afoot that could make that happen. But this chart suggests the dip might already be over.

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  • Bitcoin Halving Explained: 5 Things Investors Must Know

    Halving guide cover
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 9, 2023

    The 4th Bitcoin halving will happen in April 2024. It’s a big deal for bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market. In this guide, we’ll outline 5 things investors should know about the halving. We’ll start off by explaining what the halving means for Bitcoin (the blockchain, with a big “B”). We’ll then shift the focus to what it could mean for the price of bitcoin (the digital currency, with a small “b”). Let’s jump in.

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  • The Altcoin Market Might Not Be In A Downtrend After All

    Altcoin market Total2
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 6, 2023

    The red and green bars in this chart show the week-to-week movement of the TOTAL2 Index. TOTAL2 is a general proxy for the performance of the altcoin market – i.e. crypto excluding bitcoin. After rallying 50% in the first quarter of this year, the index has slowly drifted down. It’s been in a technical downtrend since April. 

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  • How To Value Bitcoin (10 Methods Simply Explained)

    How to value bitcoin cover
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 5, 2023

    Bitcoin’s price moves around a lot. But as crypto-skeptic Warren Buffett once said: “Price is what you pay, value is what you get.” In this guide, you’ll learn how to value bitcoin using 10 different methods. These can help you decide whether bitcoin’s current price is cheap or expensive relative to its value. So, here are 10 ways to value bitcoin (in no particular order).

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  • Bitcoin Technical Analysis Update (3 Charts)

    Btcoin 21-week EMA_blog
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    October 2, 2023

    The bitcoin price jumped about 6% higher over the weekend – ending the week at just under $28,000 a coin. This level is also about 13% above its September low of around $24,800. Here are 3 bitcoin charts I’m looking at right now to see if this move is sustainable.

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  • 3 Things Every Crypto Investor Should Do Right Now

    3_Things_Every_Crypto_Investor_Should_Do_Now cover
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    September 29, 2023

    Crypto is incredibly dull right now, but this is not the time to get complacent. So, here 3 things every crypto investor should be doing.

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  • Supertrend Indicator: Good For Timing Bitcoin?

    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    September 28, 2023

    The supertrend indicator is touted as a top tool for spotting the trend of an investment. In this guide, you’ll learn what it is, how it works, and whether it’s any good for timing bitcoin’s moves. 

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  • Is Solana A Good Investment? A Plain English Guide

    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    September 21, 2023

    Investing legend Peter Lynch once said: “Know what you own, and know why you own it”. So if you’re wondering if Solana is a good investment, this guide’s got you covered. First, we’ll focus on understanding what Solana is and how it works. We’ll then explore its potential long-term investment case. So, let’s jump in.

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  • Bitcoin’s Bullish Engulfing Candle (1 Point to the Bulls)

    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    September 19, 2023

    This chart shows the weekly price movements for Bitcoin since mid-August. As you can see, “Candle 2” (which ended last week Sunday) was the first green candle of the bunch. But more interestingly, it was a bullish engulfing candle.

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  • Keeping It Simple: Ethereum Ascending Triangle

    EThereum ascending triangle
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    September 19, 2023

    When it comes to technical analysis, there’s a lot to be said about keeping things simple. And this Ethereum ascending triangle is about as simple as it gets for most crypto traders. It’s a weekly chart – meaning each red or green bar represents one week of price movement. This way, the chart cuts out the short-term noise to focus on the bigger trade. 

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  • RNDR Token Guide: 5 Things Investors Should Know

    RDNR token cover
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    September 18, 2023

    RNDR token has been one of the top-performing cryptos of 2023 so far. So if you’re considering it as a potential long-term investment, this guide has 5 things you should know.

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  • Two Reasons To Sell Nvidia (And One Reason Not To…)

    Sell Nvidia cover image
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    September 13, 2023

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that Nvidia’s been one the best investments of 2023 so far. The AI chip maker’s stock is up over 200% this year, and over 300% since it bottomed last October. But for the contrarian investor, there could be two reasons to sell Nvidia over the coming months (or at least, take some profits…).

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  • What To Do About The Bitcoin Drop

    Bitcoin drop cover scaled
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    September 11, 2023

    Bitcoin has dropped about 20% since July, when it was just under $32,000 a coin. But with the price now trading closer to $25,000, you might be asking yourself what to do. So here are three things to consider about the bitcoin drop.

    First, A closer look at bitcoin’s technicals

    Let’s break down bitcoin’s weekly chart. Each bar you see represents one week’s worth of price action. By looking at it this way, we can get a clearer view of bitcoin’s longer-term trend – minus the daily distractions.

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  • MVRV Z-Score Guide: Decoding Bitcoin’s Value

    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    May 31, 2023

    Want to know if Bitcoin is a good buy or too expensive? The MVRV Z-Score can help. It’s a useful indicator first developed by David Puell and Murad Muhmudov that uses info from Bitcoin’s public transactions on the blockchain to find its “fair value”. In this guide, we’ll learn what the MVRV Z-Score is, how it works, and how to use it to check if Bitcoin is currently a buy or not.

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  • An Investor’s Guide To Ethereum And Ether

    What Is Ethereum
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    May 10, 2023

    Ethereum is the second biggest digital asset behind bitcoin – and for good reason. In this guide, I’ll explain what Ethereum is, how it works, and why ether (ETH) belongs in most crypto portfolios. 

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  • A Bitcoin Head And Shoulders Pattern Is Forming…

    Bitcoin head and shoulders pattern
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    May 9, 2023

    There’s a bitcoin head and shoulders pattern forming. It’s a bearish technical pattern, and you can see it brewing on this chart. It first shows the left shoulder, where bitcoin peaked in late April at around $29,300. It then shows the head in the middle, where bitcoin topped at $31,000 in mid-April. And finally, there’s the right shoulder, where the price got to about $30,000 in late April before heading down to where it is now.

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  • Best Investment Books Of All Time: My Top 10 List

    best investment books
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    May 3, 2023

    Benjamin Franklin said it best: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”. And whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, reading the best investment books can pay big dividends later. So, I’ve put together a list of my top ten (in no particular order). Together, they cover everything from the basics to more advanced investing strategies. I’ve also included an interesting quote from each book that got me thinking. So without further ado, here’s the list!

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  • What The Failure of First Republic Bank Says About Bitcoin

    First republic bank
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    May 2, 2023

    First Republic Bank has failed. Its shares stopped trading before US markets opened on Monday after regulators seized the firm. It’s the second biggest regional bank failure in US history, and here’s what it says about bitcoin. 

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  • Solana Has Reclaimed Its 200-Day Moving Average

    solana 200 day SMA
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 27, 2023

    If you’re looking for a decent risk-to-reward technical setup in the crypto market, Solana seems like as good a bet as any to me.

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  • Silver’s A Bargain, According To The Gold To Silver Ratio

    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 25, 2023

    Gold’s pretty much trading at all-time highs. Silver’s only halfway there. The gold to silver ratio says silver’s a bargain. Let’s dig in.

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  • Ray Dalio And The All Weather Way Of Investing

    Ray Dalio risk parity
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 24, 2023

    Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds with over $200 billion of assets under management. Bridgewater is famous for its All Weather Fund, which it built to weather any economic season. So let’s take a closer look at how Dalio invests, and how you could do something similar in your own portfolio through a basket of ETFs.

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  • Why It Does Not Pay To Sell In May

    sell in may
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 21, 2023

    “Sell in May and go away” is a popular phrase in investing: the idea is to exit stocks in May and then buy them back in November. But even though that might work out sometimes, history suggests it isn’t the best strategy for building long-term wealth. Here’s why.

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  • They Don’t Call Them Growth Stocks For Nothing

    growth stocks vs value stocks
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 14, 2023

    If you’d invested $10,000 in the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ, blue) ten years ago, you’d be sitting on just over $50,000 right now. QQQ tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, which currently has almost 50% in the high-growth US tech sector. But if you’d put that money in the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD, yellow), you’d only have about half that. So over the past decade, value stocks have generally taken a back seat to growth stocks.

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  • Bitcoin Dominance Is Losing Steam. Altseason Coming?

    bitcoin dominance
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 14, 2023

    Bitcoin’s reigned supreme this year and almost doubled in value since its November low. For the most part, it’s outpaced the rest of the crypto market – with altcoins generally lagging behind. But this bitcoin dominance chart suggests that could be changing. Is the king finally stepping back to let the knights and nobles catch up? 

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  • An Investor’s Guide To Bitcoin

    What Is Bitcoin
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 13, 2023

    Bitcoin was the fastest investment in history to go from zero to $1 trillion in market value. And it did it without a CEO or board of well-paid executives steering the ship. So what exactly is Bitcoin and how does it work? We’ll break it down for you in this guide – and explain why you might want some in your investment portfolio. 

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  • Bitcoin’s Having A Bollinger Band Squeeze: Big Move Ahead.

    Bitcoin bollinger band squeeze
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 6, 2023

    Yesterday bitcoin didn’t do much: it finished up just 0.02% from where it started. And over the past couple of weeks, it’s mostly hovered within a narrow 5% range. But this chart shows another Bollinger Band squeeze in the works (blue circle). And that suggests bitcoin’s next big move is coming soon.

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  • Bitcoin Will Have A Big Drop At Some Point. But At What Price Level?

    bitcoin fibonacci levels
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 5, 2023

    Bitcoin is on a rally of epic proportions. But at some point, it’s going to pull back in a big way. The question is at what price level? This chart might offer some clues.

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  • Should You Ditch The 60:40 Portfolio For This Alternative?

    60 40 portfolio
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 4, 2023

    The 60:40 portfolio is a popular strategy for investors who want a good tradeoff between risk and reward. But there’s probably a better one for that – and I’ll explain it in this post.

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  • Why Now Might Be The Time To Get Into Altcoins

    altcoins
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    April 3, 2023

    Most digital assets haven’t kept up with bitcoin this year. But for contrarian crypto investors, now could be the time to spread your bets into a mix of stronger altcoins. Here’s why. 

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  • Gold or Bitcoin, Which Is The Better Investment?

    gold or bitcoin
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    March 31, 2023

    Gold or bitcoin? It’s a question you might ask yourself in this economic climate. One is a store of value from Ancient Babylonian times. The other is modern, digital, and mathematically programmed to get scarcer by the day. Both can’t be debased like fiat currencies. Gold bugs hoard gold. Bitcoiners HODL bitcoin. Both cost money to mine. Which is the better investment?

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  • Here’s What Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade Means For Ether

    ethereum shanghai upgrade
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    March 30, 2023

    The folks over at Ethereum just announced it: the Shanghai upgrade is set for 22:27:35 UTC on April 12, 2023. It’s a big deal for the No.2 blockchain that could have big implications for the price of ether. So here’s what you need to know.

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  • A Rare Buy Signal Just Flashed For US Stocks

    buy signal US stocks
    By Jonathan Hobbs, CFA
    March 29, 2023

    With so much economic uncertainty afoot, you might be wondering whether stocks can still go the distance this year. So I used ChatGPT-4 to help me program and backtest a long-term investment strategy in TradingView. And it’s just flashed a rare buy signal for US stocks. 

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