Happy Hump Day!

Its a sunny but partly cloudy day here in the Far East Colonial Office.

I havent written about crypto in a while and thought I should catch you up.

Here we go...

First Things First

We haven't talked about Bitcoin in a while, but many other things in the world are pressing.

Im sure yesterdays tribute to the Titans of Wall Street irritated some, and I understand why.

But some people pushed the boundaries forward in finance. We should salute them every once in a while.

Not all are good or moral, of course, and some people are positively criminal on Wall Street, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I still believe governments should not bail out banks, so dont think I went all soft!

Bitcoin TTM!

Let me turn my attention to crypto for a bit because Bitcoin has rallied very hard. Bitcoin reached a recent high of $57,800ish.

You might be thinking if you hadnt looked at it in a while, When did this happen?

Because the last time we looked, BTC was trading at $32,000, and that was in July.

Bitcoin had fallen hard because the Chinese authorities ruled it illegal. Thats something the CCP did for - Ive lost count - the 10th time, and it was a steep sell-off.

From there, it rose until September, which was rough.

But after a bit of head-bumping $50,000, Bitcoin thrust and is heading straight towards its all-time high again.

We're currently trading around $56,000 at the time of writing.

The bands you see around the candlesticks are called Keltner Channels.

From stockcharts.com:

Keltner Channels are volatility-based envelopes set above and below an exponential moving average. This indicator is similar to Bollinger Bands, which uses the standard deviation to set the bands. Instead of using the standard deviation, Keltner Channels use the Average True Range (ATR) to set channel distance.

I use them to see if a security may be over- or undercooked, so to speak. BTC looks a bit excited, but nothing outrageous. It already fell a bit off the overbought levels.

But what's interesting about this rally is that Ethereum and the other altcoins have had a rough time of it lately.

ETH Lags; Bitcoin Maximalists Look Strong

Ethereum had followed Bitcoin for a while but has hit a stumbling block at $3,500.

Now, if you watch the crypto channels on YouTube like BitBoy Crypto and others, they call for a $10,000 Ethereum coin.

Price action does not support that thesis at this moment.

Now, anything could change in crypto at any time, but right now, it looks like Ethereum is having a challenging time getting up and through that all-time hike.

Its, in fact, a full $900 away from its all-time high.

So right now, it looks like Bitcoin is the field leader, and this is one of the reasons why Bitcoin maximalists really like Bitcoin.

Usually, if we have a rally, it's generally Bitcoin and maybe a couple of the altcoins following.

We generally don't see the altcoins having a big rally and Bitcoin lagging.

The crypto world just doesn't seem to work like that.

Jamie Talks His Book Again

With that said, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has just blasted Bitcoin as worthless.

I find that hilarious since most big banks are looking very hard at integrating crypto in their setups and services.

We've already talked about how Ethereum smart contracts are starting to be implemented in the big banks, which is one of the reasons why I like Ethereum so much.

But you're going to have bankers talking their books, and let's face it, for the US banks, the USD is the most crucial part of their books.

It's the worlds reserve currency that effortlessly winds up in their account, thanks to Fed money printing.

El Salvador Takes Their Winnings and Builds a Hospital For Animals

If you recall, El Salvador allowed Bitcoin to become legal tender.

Now, its using some of the surplus to build a veterinary hospital.

I could think of a million things that would be of better use in the worlds 103rd largest economy, but hey, it's their money. They could do what they want with it.

Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?

One of the things noted about the recent Bitcoin price rises is that retail investors seem not to be taking part in this rally.

I suppose its understandable because retail investors get whipsawed around in Bitcoin like nobodys business.

But psychology is different for a retail investor than it is for a high net worth individual. High net worth individuals, first, have a lot of money to speculate with. They can also leave that money in crypto for years on end.

HNWIs don't need Bitcoin to produce immediate returns. Whereas with retail investors, when they buy a few satoshis while only having 500 bucks in their savings account, they cannot withstand the volatility that Bitcoin brings with it.

Heres my thought: if you're going to buy Bitcoin - and I've said this before - don't stick all your money in it.

Stick only a tiny percentage of your portfolio in Bitcoin or Ether or the other cryptos that you might prefer having done your research.

Given the political outlook in the West and the fact that inflation looks to be rampant and not transitory, especially going into Christmas, where awful government policy will exacerbate supply chain problems, its a smart bet to own some crypto.

Until next time.

All the best,

Sean