Chris Curl,
Editor
April 19, 2022
As equity markets flounder, unsure of what direction to take, cryptocurrencies hesitantly follow.
So much uncertainty is facing the world not only geopolitically but also economically.
The Federal Reserve seems intent on continuing to raise interest rates in an attempt to fight inflation. This has already led to a significant risk-off environment for stocks and cryptocurrencies and has left many people wondering what comes next.
Many younger investors have never known a time like this.
Fed policy since 2008 has more or less enabled a massive run-up in the stock market with few interruptions. All someone had to do to see great returns over the past decade was put some money in FAANG stocks.
Market conditions became so distorted after the COVID-19 pandemic that we saw the rise of “meme stocks.” These were stocks whose prices were elevated far beyond what any market fundamentals would allow, often spurred by social media interest.
The subreddit r/wallstreetbets exploded in popularity during the pandemic as many people became millionaires initiating a short squeeze on Gamestop (NYSE: GME). This bled into other heavily shorted stocks such as AMC (NYSE: AMC) and Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY).
The wallstreetbets movement became a sort of populist uprising against predatory hedge funds that targeted struggling companies – shorting them into bankruptcy and oblivion.
Gamestop was the line in the sand for the “freaks and geeks” of Reddit who had many positive memories of buying and selling video games from the retailer during their youth.
Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) was the preferred avenue for retail investors to make these trades.
Launched in 2015, Robinhood was a pioneer in retail investing services offering commission-free trades of stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies.
The company faced heavy criticism after restricting the trading of “meme stocks” at the end of January, 2021. This was allegedly in order to meet collateral requirements at their clearinghouse. They were not the only exchange to do this. Nonetheless, their CEO, Vlad Tenev, has been hard at work doing damage control ever since.
Robinhood has been an entry point for a lot of people into the world of cryptocurrencies. They initially only allowed trading of a select handful of cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. But they have recently been working on a lot more features in that department.
Key among them is the introduction of crypto wallets, which allow users to send their crypto to other exchanges and wallets. It also allows people to use it as currency, which has been really popular with Dogecoin, for instance.
This is a positive for mainstream crypto adoption as over two million people use the app to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
Last week Robinhood added four more cryptocurrencies to its platform: Solana’s SOL, Polygon’s MATIC, Compound’s COMP, and the popular meme token SHIBA INU.
This led to a significant pump in the price for all the newly listed coins with SHIBA rising the most.
With eleven cryptocurrencies listed, Robinhood is becoming an increasingly valuable instrument for mass crypto adoption.
CEO Vlad Tenev even went on a long-winded Twitter thought experiment outlining how Dogecoin could become the future currency of the internet.
Regardless of short-term price volatility, crypto is here to stay and increasingly becoming a major part of mainstream culture and finance.
We continue to build out our $50,000 Real Money Portfolio over at Crypto Cycle. And we just had our first Quarterly Call-in last week, where readers had the opportunity to ask me all their questions about this new sector, how it’s changing, and how to invest in it.
You can get access to all of that by becoming a member now.
I’d love to show you how we’re making money in the crypto space as it continues to develop.
Chris Curl
Editor, Daily Profit Cycle