It’s been a wild week in the markets, but just when you think it can’t get any wilder, in swaggers Elon Musk and a $6k pump in little over an hour. The US isn’t even awake yet – are we just getting started today?
How did we get here? The big story this week has been the WallStreetBets drama, which appeared to reach a crescendo yesterday when brokers including Robinhood and Webull made the decision to suspend trading of GameStop, AMC and other stocks involved in the big Reddit short squeeze. The backlash has been swift and vicious from across both the political spectrum and wider society, with many quick to call it evidence of a rigged system. Whatever their reasoning, it’s been an excellent advert for cryptocurrency and decentralisation. This is one of those rare occasions when Bitcoin does, indeed, fix this.
That brings us to this morning, which has kicked off with huge rises across the board. Bitcoin rose almost $6k in little over an hour – possibly the fastest leap in its history. The total crypto market cap has leapt up almost $100 million. Is this rapid rise part of the Robinhood backlash? Is it all down to Elon Musk’s decision to make his Twitter bio simply ‘Bitcoin’? Will any coins emulate Doge’s ridiculous 200% gains over the past hour? It’s 2021, anything could happen. Hold onto your hats, and more importantly, hold onto your wallets – do your own research before investing, don't spend more than you can afford, and don’t make rash decisions, no matter how much excitement is in the air.