Labour

by JDH on April 13, 2024

I’ll keep this short this week because not much is happening.

Bitcoin is in a holding pattern ahead of next week’s “halving,” which may or may not be a significant short-term price driver.

Gold is up, but is still short of the all-time high in 1980 in real terms.

Which brings us to labour.

Immigration has boosted the supply of labour.

Businesses used the pandemic to become more automated and digitized. This tax season, did you take your paperwork to an in-person meeting with your accountant? No, your accountant has access to your CRA account, and they download all of your slips and auto-fill your return. Then, if necessary, you have a quick video meeting to discuss it. That’s way more efficient than it was five years ago.

There is slack in the labour markets.  We’ve got lots of available labour.

So, even though the economy looks strong (there continues to be demand for stuff), the supply (labour) is growing even faster, and this divergence will lead to disinflation and lower interest rates.

Is this priced in?

I have no idea, but I’ll let you ponder it, and we can discuss again in the future.

And Now We Wait

by JDH on April 6, 2024

As I write this at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, Bitcoin is exactly flat. It is hanging around some key technical levels. It’s not breaking down, not breaking out, just hanging around.

The uptrend line that started in February was violated this week, but Bitcoin is working to reclaim it.  It’s also bouncing between the key support levels of $62,223 and the previous all-time high of just under $69,000.

Bitcoin closed on March 31 above all of the support levels, which was important because it was a weekly, monthly and quarterly close.  Since then, it’s down.

So what does all of this mean?

In the long term, nothing.  These are all just lines on a chart.  Technical analysis is “astrology for men.”  By the end of the year I expect Bitcoin to be well over $100,000 USD, probably considerably higher.  In the short term, who knows?  The halving is projected to happen on April 20, so between now and then Bitcoin may bounce around.  It may go down.  After the halving, it’s likely it will go up.

So, I’m not trying to time anything.  I have my MSTR – Microstrategy Inc. position.  I’ll hold it, and sit back and watch.

Enjoy the eclipse.  See you next week.

Microstrategy: Are the shorts winning?

March 30, 2024

This week, yes, the shorts one. On Thursday, Kerrisdale Capital Management issued a report recommending a short sale of Microstrategy.  Their thesis is simple: as of March 18, 2024 Microstrategy owns 214,246.  At a Bitcoin price of $70,000 USD, that’s a Bitcoin value of just under $15 Billion. However, MSTR – Microstrategy Inc. has an implied […]

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Have we learned anything yet?

March 23, 2024

No.  I haven’t learned anything yet. During the rocket ride up for MSTR – Microstrategy Inc.  I sold covered calls, significantly reducing my potential profits. Then, from March 15 to March 19 MSTR crashed 32%, but assuming the rocket ride up would continue, I was not covered, so I suffered the downside and lost the […]

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Microstrategy – The MSTR Story Continues

March 16, 2024

Let me bring you up to speed: I wanted a leveraged, highly risky way to play the Bitcoin pump, so I bought MSTR – Microstrategy Inc.  I’m not completely crazy, so I decided to mitigate the risk by writing covered calls against my position.  I give up some of the upside, but I get some […]

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Bitcoin and Microstrategy: My Unbounded Idiocy

March 9, 2024

The saga continues.  As I reported last week in How NOT to do covered writes on MSTR – MicroStrategy, I own MicroStrategy, and to “juice” my returns I’ve done covered writes (selling out of the money call options on my MSTR shares). The strategy has been a dismal failure. The theory is simple enough.  The […]

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How NOT to do covered writes on MSTR – MicroStrategy

March 2, 2024

I have no idea what will happen, but here’s how I’m playing it: As I noted last week in my post two weeks ago, Not Even Close: Thoughts on Bitcoin and Microstrategy, I own a small MSTR – Microstrategy Inc. position, and to “juice the returns,” I’m doing covered writes against it. The theory is simple.  […]

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Bitcoin: Sideways, Then Up or Down

February 24, 2024

Here’s the current Bitcoin chart, with the uptrend channel starting in mid-October: As I write this at 7:00 am on Saturday, Bitcoin is just over USD 51,000, exactly where it traded on Wednesday.  The $49,000 level is of interest, which represents either significant support or resistance, depending on which side of the line we are […]

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Not Even Close: Thoughts on Bitcoin and Microstrategy

February 17, 2024

Last week, I said: Bitcoin: The (Temporary) Top is In.  When I wrote that, Bitcoin was trading at around $47,000 USD.  Bitcoin hit just under $52,900 USD on Thursday. Apparently, the top was not in.  Here’s the five-year chart: As I write this at 6:30 am Saturday morning, February 17, 2024, Bitcoin is trading at […]

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Bitcoin: The (Temporary) Top is In

February 10, 2024

Today, a deeper dive into Bitcoin.  Let’s start with the five-year chart: I’ve drawn the long-term trend line, starting with the peak in 2019, and then pivot points in 2021, 2022, and 2024.  I’ve also drawn in a shorter-term trend line starting at the October 2022 peak.  I’ve circled the pivot points: Keep the big […]

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