Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: NFTs are back, baby!

• 🔎 This seems important: Bitcoin hit an all time high!

• 🤝 Partner: A Gold IRA can diversify your portfolio and safeguard your retirement​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: Bitcoin (a deflationary asset) is creating inflation?

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
NFTs, Bull Cycle, Ordinals.

💅 This is cool:

NFTs Are Back Baby! And This Time, It’s Bitcoin That’s Leading the March…

In one sentence: Bitcoin NFTs just turned Magic Eden into the #1 NFT marketplace by trading volume.

Sure, Bitcoin NFTs weren’t a thing last bull cycle…

And it makes sense that they would capture collectors’ interest this time around, seeing as Bitcoin is king of the hill (re: value)…

But we’re still impressed by the shear weight Bitcoin NFTs (aka Ordinals) are throwing around right now.

Just 2 weeks ago, the #1 NFT marketplace was Blur — and if you had’ve asked us which was #2, we would’ve guessed OpenSea.

But as of this writing, neither of them hold the top spot.

Magic Eden now sits atop the throne, having pulled in $29.19M USD worth of trades in the last 24 hrs alone.

(And it’s all thanks to the platform’s embracement of Bitcoin NFTs).

It’s a cycle we’ve seen work in ETH’s favor previously, and it goes like this:

The base asset (BTC) goes up → investors make profits → some of them put some ‘play money’ aside → Bitcoin NFTs are there to absorb those funds.

It’s all very bullish!

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

Bitcoin Hit an All Time High! Then Collapsed (Taking the Market w/ it), Here’s Why We’re Not Worried...

In one sentence: A bunch of BTC positions were sold at the ATH of $69k, resulting in a quick drop back towards $59.3k (but a correction was overdue after Feb’s wild run up).

Bitcoin hit a new all time high of $69,093.28 (hoooray)!

Then promptly collapsed back down to $59,323.90, taking the rest of the market with it (booo)!

Here’s our left-curve attempt at ‘mid-curving’ it, with a guess at what happened:

The longs took profits, while the shorts loaded up.

(Look at us, talking the mid-curve talk).

Here’s what that means:

Longs taking profits = the folks that had been betting BTC’s price would go up decided to sell.

Shorts loading up = a whole bunch of folks took bets that the price would go down — by: borrowing BTC → selling it → and waiting/hoping to buy it back at lower prices → repay their loan and keep the difference.

“Cool cool cool. But how is it that they all decided to do so at the same time?”

Traders like to bolster their decisions, by looking for repeating chart patterns.

(I.e “BTC has done X around this price point in the past, so there’s Y% chance it’ll happen again.”) 

But once BTC broke its all time high, we were in uncharted territory (with no patterns to keep traders safe n’ warm) — so, many of those with long positions would’ve sold off at $69k.

Then, knowing that this would likely be a widely held practice…

Many of those same traders would’ve set up automatic short sales to trigger at the same price point — leading to a double whammy of long/short sales which (almost immediately) tanked the price.

As to why we’re not worried?

In February, Bitcoin saw the most price appreciation in a single month in its entire history. That’s a WILDLY violent new record for a ~$1T asset to set.

At those rates, a price correction was well over due (and when it rebounds — the rest of the market will likely follow).

🤝 Partner:

A Gold IRA Can Diversify Your Portfolio and Safeguard Your Retirement

Safeguarding your retirement with a Gold IRA can help you shield your wealth from market shifts, economic uncertainty, and inflation.

And with gold’s value projected to increase in 2024, now is a good time to invest.

Planning for retirement involves more than saving, so fortify your portfolio with gold today and plan for a better tomorrow.

See Money’s list of Best Gold IRA Companies to start planning a better retirement.

🔪 Let's dissect this:

Bitcoin (a Deflationary Asset) is Creating Inflation?

In one sentence: There’s a fear that BTC profits will make everyone feel wealthier → encourage unsustainable spending → and push inflation higher.

There’s a theory that Bitcoin’s latest price rally could add to US inflation…

All thanks to this snazzy lil’ phenomenon called the ‘wealth effect.’

The general basis is relatively simple:

People make more money → they spend more money → demand for goods stays high → so businesses keep their prices high.

In such a case, if people are making more and spending more (instead of making less, and spending more) — the Federal Reserve might consider the economy to be healthy, and do nothing to curb the rising prices.

Now, here’s where Bitcoin comes in: 

Bitcoin (and crypto in general) has done super well, super fast this year — and a ton of everyday people own crypto (like our neighbor, Dave).

Problem being: the Daves of the world essentially feel like they’re earning money out of thin air, allowing them to go purchase things they weren’t previously able to.

(Think: houses, luxury goods, or even just indulging in more groceries…)

In the process, tricking themselves (and the wider economy) into thinking prices are at a healthy point.

…when really this new found wealth, and the expenditure that comes with it, isn’t sustainable.

(Crypto bull runs only happen once every four years).

Will this actually play out, and have enough of an effect for everyone to feel it?

No idea — we’re not economists.

But we are painful optimists, so we’ll guess ‘no’ for now.

Ordinals, Explained.