To paraphrase Milton Friedman, if you print a lot of money, inflation goes up.
The money supply (M2) growth in Canada peaked at 14.3% in February 2021 and steadily dropped until it hit a growth rate of “only” 1.6% in June 2023. Since then, M2 has increased, and in June 2024, the annual growth rate hit 4.2%, the highest growth rate in 21 months.
But here’s the thing: money printing does not immediately lead to inflation.
There’s a time lag of around 16 months, give or take.
If these trends continue, CPI will continue to fall, and could hit zero by early 2025. However, as you can see from the blue line, M2 has already started to increase.
The brakes were on, but now they are pushing the gas pedal, so higher inflation will return in late 2025 and beyond.
The play, then, is to buy bonds now to take advantage of lower interest (to “quell” inflation) but those bonds are not a long term hold. You hold for six months, perhaps a year, pocket the interest, and then make a capital gain when you sell.
And as the increase in the money supply kicks in, liquidity rises, and assets (like gold and Bitcoin) will be good investments.
Or not.
We shall see.
Enjoy the long holiday weekend, the fall will be interesting.
Bitcoin Melt Up or Crash?
by JDH on October 5, 2024
The price of Bitcoin today (depending on when you are reading this) is the same as it was at the end of February 2024. Bitcoin was up 180% from the middle of October 2023 to the middle of March 2024, but after that massive bull run, nothing.
Flat.
There are two interpretations of that performance:
First, Bitcoin is dead. If, after six months of trading sideways, it’s not going up, it’s run out of gas, and a crash is imminent.
The second interpretation is that the sideways consolidation is a “bull flag,” a bullish pattern. See for yourself:
The rally at the start of the year is the “flagpole,” and the sideways movement since then is the flag. It’s a bullish pattern.
On the chart, you can see the line drawn on April 20, the “halving,” when the supply of new Bitcoin mined is cut in half. It is very common for players to “buy the news” and drive Bitcoin up in advance of the halving, and then a six-month period of consolidation follows.
So, are we approaching the breakout, or will the pattern of the slightly downward-sloping flag continue?
I have no idea.
But, if you want to invest in Bitcoin or a proxy like MSTR—Miscrostrategy Inc. , now is likely a good time to take a “punt.”
Of course with the US election only five weeks away, anything can happen, so I recommend you don’t “bet the farm” on any particular outcome.
Good luck.