Bitcoin (GBTC) Update | Coming Soon: Splunk (SPLK) | Capri (CPRI) | Reddit (RDDT)

 

Investing In Yourself – Using Pillars to Build Your Core	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/urbanomics-pillars-path-set-for.html
Setting Budgets + Saving for Black Swans	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2013/02/personal-finance-budget-101-free-credit.html
	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2019/11/hey-henry-high-earner-not-yet-rich.html
How to Open My First Brokerage Account	https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2015/04/personal-finance-101-starting.html
Diversify your Life (Mind, Body, Soul, + Investments) Use the "SEARCH" bar to see if I've written about a topic you are interested in.	Get Updates to Your Email When I Create A New Post: Use the "Subscription" feature to receive free updates to your device.

Hello everyone, out there. 2024 has been a blur so far! Wait isn't that the name of Drake's current tour? All I know is the first three months of this year, I have been skating by like Tyla's hit single --- "Water". So, for my first post I want to revisit some trades that have been at the top of my investment playlist. Some have worked, others are clearly on vacation.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC) (GBTC) Update

Bitcoin! I've been called many things but don't call me a flip flopper. I recently had someone say, "See I told you about Bitcoin and now you like the investment". My response was as follows "You clearly didn't read my previous post, What? Am I Investing in Bitcoin:  https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2023/11/what-am-i-investing-grayscale-bitcoin.html "

What I have been called over time is a penny pincher, miser, or as I like to call myself -- a Value Trader. I love to find value. My cryptocurrency friends don't like to tell you about the lumps they absorbed if they bought Bitcoin when it was trading at roughly $60K over a year ago and then precipitously saw it drop to roughly under $20K. The 'Day 1' crypto lovers probably held on to their investment but your average investor may have seen their investment fall almost 100% (...if they bought at the highs) and sold out of fear.

I have to admit, I was triggered into investing in Bitcoin. I watched this Bitcoin drop for over a year and felt for those crypto investors that bought at the highs. But more importantly from my post last November, I was triggered by the fact that crypto industry was suing the SEC to allow them to create and offer Exchange Traded Funds (ETF). ETFs are investment vehicles that allow an investor like me to easily buy and sell, say a commodity (like corn, wheat, gold, crypto, etc.) without having to take ownership of the actual good. I did not want to buy crypto outright because as a cyber professional I've seen the supposed crypto exchanges get hacked (remember Mt. Gox). I have seen crypto influencers post on social media about their wealth only to have crypto robbers (usually friends) beat them up and force them to give up their passwords to their crypto accounts or cold storage devices. Even worse, I saw how FTX and the saga Sam Bankman Friedman played out and the pain it caused many of FTX's crypto investors. An ETF means, no crpto exchange needed, no cold storage required, and no hassle. The VALUE logic I believed was when Bitcoin hit the lower end of $20K there was much more upside than when it was trading at highs of $60K. So, I bought GBTC back in November 2023 at roughly $20 a share. because of the value but more importantly because of the catalyst of the SEC losing this all-important court case. So, I remind my fellow value traders who read my posts on Urbanomics the path that got us here: Value (investment trading at a perceived reasonable discount) + Catalyst (positive legal decision in this case) = great trade even for an investment you may not like or plan to hold forever.

Splunk (SPLK) Update - Deal Close, Trade Done

Stay tuned for my new post of how Splunk is no longer...congrats to Cisco on this hook up. It went down in the DMs and this was a profitable trade for me.

Read my previous post, here: https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2023/11/lets-go-splunking-splunk-inc-nasdaq-splk.html

Capri (CPRI) - Trade Underwater

Next, I'll visit my failing trade in Capri. The FTC has stepped in like a thoughtful parent and put this discovered hook up on ice so far. Is this hook up in danger, like my failed Tegna trade.

Read my previous post, here: https://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2023/08/savage-over-avid-technology-nasdaq-avid.html

Pay It Forward - Reddit (RDDT)

Stay tuned for a post on Reddit. I have a gentleman I mentor tell me how he broke out his old Robinhood account and finally made a trade. While he said it was easy money, I reminded him it was a thoughtful trade similar to what Mansa Musa network trader Peter Lynch would do. My friend simply bought something he knew about, used, and had much more insight into that I do.

SPAC Alert: IronNet (IRNT)

SPAC Investment I Bought: N/A--  I did not buy LGL Systems Acquisition Corp

Public Company I now Own: IronNet (IRNT)

Why I May Hold This High Risk Investment: Cybersecurity (Incident Response)

How is it Doing: Quite Simply Reddit discussions are a catalyst here. I am gambling here as I did not do any research and just believe momentum can help me earn a few bucks here. I am in the Cyber field so I will do more research...but with the Reddit Boards going crazy...I am betting only what I can afford to lose here. 

Roadmap for Investing - Keep A Diary to Avoid "Whispers"

When it comes to buying stocks, you can guess or have a hunch and do just as well as I might do. But you will run into the same thing we all do eventually -- responsibility. In business, I call this the RACI model. I want to know who is Responsible | Accountable | Consulted | Informed (RACI) for your investment decisions.

When stocks are up, most people that contact me are excited to tell me they were accountable and responsible for making that great trade. Accountable because they made the decision and responsible because they executed the trade in their brokerage account. However, I often joke people don't often tell me about the trades that don't work out. Somehow, that Reddit board, website, podcast, or anonymous tip doesn't come up. You saw my Treehouse (THS) trade in my last post. Of my 9 recent trades that one, missed the mark and I have to own it. I have to go back and do the work to ask why did it not perform as I expected. I stay accountable for my losses just as much as I do for my gains. As discussed before, I should have closed my trade as it approached $52 and was very profitable but I've learned a few things about myself through investing. I could have been in the movie Tombstone...I'm Your Huckleberry and don't mind a good shoot out. So I log my trades and how they perform to gather insight into my tendencies and thinking before I buy a stock, during the trade, and to understand my rationale for why I sold. Keep a diary, get in your feelings the learn from them. A good life lesson, don't keep making the same mistakes twice whether it's dating, managing money, or investing in stocks.

No Sign Posts - Draw a Map

One of my favorite shows is "The Walking Dead". It makes you think, could you survive in a world with no sign posts or GPS? You better draw a map and try not to fall in the mud like Gabriel did in the most recent episode I watched. My map for investing is my diary and I use it to go back and repeat successful trades which trains my brain...like machine learning. If you've done your work, you don't listen to the whispers in your head telling you NOT to trade on a bad day. You trust your research and the process.

So here are a few items in the news that I'm jotting down to help me with my next set of trades:    

Real estate inventories are low and prices of homes are high. Existing home sales were up slightly in June and July and prices keep rising. Diary Note: Not excited to buy new property, but wonder if real estate companies like Zillow and Redfin are worth a look.

Data on people buying big-dollar purchases such as autos, fridges, washers, etc was up slightly. Next, I saw unemployment claims continue to decline setting a new low during the pandemic. I'm watching this close as the Delta virus continues to try and stall the economy. Diary Note: We as people are resilient so I'm watching Retail Stocks very closely. If you look back into my blog posts a year ago during the crisis, I'm searching my diary to see what I traded. Retail has been hit but it feels different this time. If we listen, like I posted last year and mask up and vaccinate...I think retail, cruise ships, restaurants and hospitality will thrive.

Extended Diary Notes:

I own Foot Locker (FL) and it just reported earnings (or it's quarterly health check). I think this trend will continue for retail, cruise ships, restaurants and hospitality stocks if we can all come together and do the right thing. Mask up and protect yourselves because it's the right thing for you, your family, and believe it or not...the economy. 

GAMESTOP (GME) - Why Reddit Users Are Rallying Behind My Pick

#MansaMusaMentality

#HuntinPacks - designates investments I made alongside someone in my network

#BreakfastClubforStocks - get your Sherlock Holmes on with news, reports, and data for stock investments ideas

This post is a part of #MansaMusaMentality series and how I use my extended network to invest. Almost like case studies (known as "Details"), I'll highlight how these contacts guide me on investments such as buying real estate, stocks, precious metals, cryptocurrencies, etc. And I want to foster a community culture, so I'll show you how I learn from them and maybe in the future we can crowdsource or here we call it #tribesource investment ideas for the future.

"Detail" - A Breakdown of my GameStop (GME) Investment

Year: 2020/21

Throwback Link: N/A (New Investment)

I think this may be the first time I've revealed my Dec 2020 position in GameStop. This "Detail" is about how I found this investment. Quite simply, I kept my ears to da streets. My life is not dedicated to stocks because it's not my main hustle but I do my research, use my network of connections, and make smart informed decisions. Because I've amassed a nice investment empire, not the size of Mansa Musa, and I'll be damned if I leave it to someone to eat all my profits. Just like how I listen to the Breakfast Club for the culture, I listen, read, and aggregate data for that stock culture. Again, if I have time for the Breakfast Club morning show with Charlamagne tha God... I can also make time for my stock version of the Breakfast Club.  What's your excuse??

I won't be putting this stock in my #MansaHallofFame because I didn't back that thang up and load up like I have with other investments but I'm very happy with how it's performed thus far. So how did I find this stock? I got my Sherlock Holmes on and did my own research. I keep a log of my research and ideas so don't test me. 

How do I get my Sherlock Holmes on? Depending on your age you might prefer: X-Files, Murder She Wrote, Columbo :)   Well I methodically research data and back in September 2020, something made me pause and want to learn more about GameStop. It also led me to a really cool dude who wasn't in my network. Here's what I found:

Stock Investment Idea: GameStop (GME)

New Squad Member: Ryan Cohen, RC Ventures, Net Worth: $600 Million to 1 Billion; made his money by co-founding Chewy which was sold to PetSmart for roughly $3.3 Billion. I won't get technical but Ryan is creeping on the doorstep on entering into my #ABilliSquad network. My research showed back in September 2020, that Ryan amassed a roughly 10% stake in GameStop. Interesting decision for a struggling company. Being a value investor, I was drawn to this stock and the idea that he might be able to turn the company in a new direction but they are so dependent on stores. Do you remember the picture of Gamestop employees having to hand games through a partially cracked door during the COVID pandemic to stay afloat...where was their internet presence??

So I hit Ryan up for more information and through a Fox article learned that he wanted to shake up the direction of the company. He was questioning why customers couldn't trade games online or have more streaming options, why weren't they a bigger e-commerce retailer, and why was management so slow to implement these obvious changes?? So it appears we agreed, handing out video games through a crack in the door isn't a sound business strategy during a pandemic when Amazon and other are open 24 x 7. More importantly he was interested in getting board seats to force the hand of the company if he had to. So I decided to start tracking GameStop like TMZ does Hollywood celebrities. I was following the stock as it's price kept slowly climbing and then another bit of research cemented my decision to invest in GameStop in December 2020.

Investment Takeaways: This pick was due to my extensive research, #BreakfastClubforStocks, which gave me a risky investment idea to consider. Also, I built my network in the process and learned about another great young investor Ryan Cohen, and yes technically I joined him... #HuntinPacks

Outcome: 

Using this chart, the Orange Star represents when my research first alerted me to the GameStop trade (Price Range is shown using the Orange Arrow). It was risky and needed more vetting (Trust But Verify)...so as my buddy says I let the trade marinate for a bit and watched it closely, TMZ style. In December, the Green Star signifies when my research brought me more information. Along with the rising stock price, this information was enough to cement my decision to make my investment. 

This image shows the trade I made on December 22, 2020. GME represents GameStop's ticker and $13 is the price where I initiated a trade. So yes, I'm very happy with this trade.

How is GameStop Corp doing today:

1/22/2021 Stock Price:

SUBSCRIBER ALERTS - are coming soon. Clearly, I've provided enough information that you can go back and source a number of the articles, videos, or interviews that helped inform me of this potential investment. I want to be apart of the process of you growing your network. Timely introductions to investments and investors is a game changer. Remember Ryan now owns 13% of GameStop, a $4+ Billion dollar company. My research gives you the catalyst you need to make an informed decision and grow your investments. MORE COMING SOON

#Tribesource -- Do you have an investment idea, back by facts that you want me to analyze further? Feel free to send them my way.

What do Reddit Day Traders Think:

Courtesy of Bloomberg: 

Reddit’s ‘Angry Mob’

A backlash against Citron by some vocal Reddit users over its views on GameStop came to a head on Friday when the short seller said it will stop commenting on the stock following the actions of “an angry mob.”

“We are investors who put safety and family first and when we believe this has been compromised, it is our duty to walk away from a stock,” Citron managing partner Andrew Left wrote in a Friday letter.