If you would've told me a few months ago that we'd see a large crypto exchange (FTX) go bust and later a number of big banks become insolvent and collapse to zero, I would've laughed you out of the room if you followed up with: "...and bitcoin will rally."

I mean, there is no way I would've agreed with that sentiment.

Thankfully, I don't get paid for my opinions. Because the market couldn't care less about what I think.

The strength in Bitcoin (and crypto in general) has truly been a sight to behold in recent months and in particular over the last few weeks.

The poster child instrument to play bitcoin in the equities market is via Microstrategy $MSTR. For those with their head in the sand on all thing bitcoin, this software services company has transformed itself into essentially a bitcoin ETF, having invested all of its working capital into bitcoing, and taking loans to leverage into even more bitcoin.

We'll leave the discussion on whether or not this is crazy to another blog post. But for now, MSTR offers us a great way to participate in continued strength in bitcoin and we're going to do it with a defined risk options spread.

We had a resting GTC order filled in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

We had a resting GTC order filled at our profit target in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

The next new position in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is:

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by Bihua Chen, the CEO of Cormorant Asset Management.

Chen revealed a purchase of $16.7 million in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics $MLTX.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

We saw a swift reversal down in the indices yesterday after the Fed's rate-hike announcement.

Now we need to see if we stabilize in here to trend back up or break down.

We don't have bull markets without Financials.

Go back and check for yourself.

So this one, by definition, has to be the chart that matters the most.

Look at the Financial Sector Index currently retesting its former highs from before the Great Financial Crisis:

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

When investing in the stock market, we always want to approach it as "a market of stocks."

Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks showing leadership and trending higher.

We may have to look harder to identify them depending on current market conditions. But there are always stocks that are going up.

The same can be said for weak stocks. Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks that are going down, too. 

We already have multiple scans focusing on stocks making all-time highs, such as Hall of Famers, Minor Leaguers, and the 2 to 100 Club.

We filter these universes for stocks that are exhibiting the best momentum and relative strength characteristics. 

Clearly, we spend a lot of time identifying and writing about leading stocks every week, via multiple reports.

Now, we're also highlighting lagging stocks on a recurring basis.

Welcome to the Short Report.

We...

We had a resting GTC order filled at our profit target in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It was a sleepy morning for the market...

And, of course, that changed as the day went on.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke this afternoon after the central bank announced a 25-basis-point rate hike. 

The fed funds futures were all over the place, from pricing in a 25-basis-point increase to a double-hike. They settled in around a single hike, with a slim chance of a pause.

Exhausting!

It’s clear we can expect increased volatility going forward.

But, instead of guessing the Fed’s next step or parsing Powell's words, I’ll rather sit back, wait, and prepare to trade a decisive breakout.

When I think about the latter stages of the hiking cycle or a potential pause, my mind immediately turns to one currency in particular…

The Japanese yen.

Since the Fed began raising rates last spring, the yen has been one of the strongest trending markets. It stands to reason it could experience a significant trend reversal as the Fed changes course.

Luckily, we have a clear level to set our alerts and define risk. 

Check out the chart of yen futures:

...

The next new position in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is:

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by Steven Klinsky, a director of New Mountain Finance Corporation $NMFC.

Klinsky reported a purchase of roughly $1.1 million.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It's a big day today.

Will the Fed raise by 50 basis points or 25 basis points? Or will it do nothing? I'm thinking 25 basis points.

However it turns out, expect volatility.

This is the video recording of the March 22, 2023, Inside Scoop Weekly Strategy Session.

The shorter my timeframe, the shittier the market. ~ Brian Lund @bclund

That quote was uttered during a Twitter spaces I hosted yesterday in which we discussed the emergence of “0-DTE” options and the opportunities and challenges they are spawning.

As Brian brought...

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It was a nice day in the market overall.

We gapped up but didn't pull back into yesterday's high on the indices.

Welcome to The Buzz! 

Our mission at The Chart Report is to highlight ideas from the best traders and technicians on social media. 

Now, we’re taking this concept one step further and tapping into the madness of the crowd. 

That’s why we created The Buzz! 

Our mission at The Buzz is simple: to identify and profit from the most-talked-about stocks on the market today. 

But isn’t the crowd always wrong? 

The grandfather of contrarian investing, Humphrey B. Neil once said; 

“The public is often right during the trends, but wrong at both ends.” 

We agree with Humphrey, which is why we’ll be focusing on catching the meat of these trends, with both long and short ideas. 

The Buzz uses proprietary social media data from our partners at Likefolio. 

Every week, we compile a list of stocks that are experiencing the most momentum in terms of investor interest. Let’s take a look at which stocks are buzzing this week!

This table shows the rate...

The next new position in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is: