WEEKEND WRAP: Circus and Clown Show Continues; Price Suppression, Fake Money, and Holiday Goodness

Look at it this way. Wall Street is a big circus, full of high-wire acts, dancing elephants, lion tamers, and trampoline gymnasts with a casino attached. Washington, D.C. is the clown show, led by the carnival barker on truth social.

On Wall Street, you buy your tickets, cotton candy, popcorn, and the rest. Washington doesn't move Wall Street. It's exactly the other way around. All the best grifters in the world are located in the capital. The real money is made behind the scenes, in back offices within skyscrapers and low-rise buildings in lower Manhattan and New Jersey.

In just the last two days of trading last week - Thursday and Friday - was witness to the complete fraud of AI investments (Thursday) and the comic cosmic power of the central bank (Friday), when New York Fed President John Williams, who was attending a conference sponsored by the central bank of Chile (really, Chile?) casually mentioned that interest rates could fall in the near term.

This wasn't an official speech by Williams, who just so happens to be a permanent voter and Vice Chairman of the FOMC, the committee that sets interest rate policy at the Fed. His remarks carried sufficient weight to boost markets on Friday, a counterweight to Thursday's massive selloff.

In Washington, Republican House member from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Trump and MAGA supporter, abruptly resigned her seat after weeks of disagreements with President Trump.

In the dysfunction that is the U.S. federal government, political alliances are disregarded. Elected officials who stand up for Americans and against foreign entanglements are disposed of or "primaried." Those who support foreign governments and enthusiastically applaud leaders who commit crimes and genocide are elevated. That's just how the irrelevant clown show rolls.

Here's a link to her video statement and resignation announcement. The video is posted at the conclusion of the WEEKEND WRAP.

Stocks

Even with Friday's Fed-induced dead cat bounce, stocks were hit hard again this week, marking the third straight weekly decline on the NASDAQ, home to most of the speculative tech names.

Markets have been under siege since the government re-opened, and while that is probably merely coincidence, the effects are beginning to strike home. Just since November 12, the Dow has dropped 2,000 points, about four percent. The S&P is off nearly 300 points from its all-time high on October 29, and the NASDAQ is off by more than 1700 points since the end of October, a full seven percent decline.

With the holidays approaching, there's a split of opinion on whether stocks will regain the high ground or continue to fall for the remainder of the year. Increasingly, it appears to be the latter. Liquidity and the AI circular trading scheme continue to be the main issues in the market. The AI trade may have seen its top after Nvidia's results, under scrutiny, caused Thursday's massive decline. While there was some dip-buying on Friday, it was largely without conviction, and also came on the third Friday of the month, usually the largest options expiration date. Thus, whatever gains were made in the big tech names were probably the results of various options trades being closed out.

There doesn't seem to be a catalyst going forward, though the general mood of the markets during the holidays is upbeat, although that certainly wasn't the case in 2018, and similar issues could cause another waterfall event, as opposed to a Santa laus rally. Of course, there is the FOMC meeting on December 9-10 to consider. After Williams' suggestion the odds of another 25 basis point cut in December rose from around 33% to over 60%. If the Fed does not cut, markets will likely tank. There's always a way out for Wall Street, however. In this instance, howls of "oversold conditions" will be loud.

Prior to that, on Wednesday of next week, the PCE, the Fed's favored inflation gauge will be announced, which will have influence regarding inflation in the context of rate cuts.

Treasury Yield Curve Rates

Date	1 Mo	1.5 mo	2 Mo	3 Mo	4 Mo	6 Mo	1 Yr
10/17/2025	4.18	4.15	4.08	4.00	3.95	3.79	3.56
10/24/2025	4.11	4.06	4.02	3.93	3.89	3.76	3.58
10/31/2025	4.06	4.02	4.04	3.89	3.87	3.79	3.70
11/07/2025	4.01	3.96	3.98	3.92	3.83	3.76	3.63
11/14/2025	4.04	4.02	4.01	3.95	3.88	3.80	3.70
11/21/2025	4.03	4.01	4.00	3.90	3.84	3.75	3.62

Date	2 Yr	3 Yr	5 Yr	7 Yr	10 Yr	20 Yr	30 Yr
10/17/2025	3.46	3.47	3.59	3.78	4.02	4.58	4.60
10/24/2025	3.48	3.49	3.61	3.79	4.02	4.56	4.59
10/31/2025	3.60	3.60	3.71	3.89	4.11	4.65	4.67
11/07/2025	3.55	3.57	3.67	3.87	4.11	4.68	4.70
11/14/2025	3.62	3.61	3.74	3.92	4.14	4.73	4.74
11/21/2025	3.51	3.50	3.62	3.82	4.06	4.67	4.71

Spreads remain wide. Fed speakers are about to go into "quiet mode" prior to the next FOMC meeting, so there will be slight chance that they'll be leaking anything important. Otherwise, the treasury market is functioning, though there is crowding due to excessive issuance by the U.S. Treasury, with more than $1 trillion in refunding ongoing.

Spreads:

2s-10s
2025
1/3: +32
1/10: +37
1/17: +34
1/24: +36
1/31: +36
2/7: +20
2/14: +21
2/21: +23
2/28: +25
3/7: +33
3/14: +29
3/21: +31
3/28: +38
4/4: +33
4/11: +52
4/17: +53
4/25: +55
5/2: +50
5/9: +49
5/16: +45
5/23: +51
5/30: +52
6/6: +48
6/13: +45
6/20: +48
6/27: +56
7/3: +47
7/11: +53
7/18: +56
7/25: +49
8/1: +54
8/8: +51
8/15: +58
8/22: +58
8/29: +64
9/5: +59
9/12: +50
9/19: +57
9/26: +57
10/3: +45
10/10: +53
10/17: +56
10/24: +54
10/31: +51
11/7: +56
11/14: +52
11/21: +55

Full Spectrum (30-days - 30-years)
2025
1/3: +38
1/10: +54
1/17: +41
1/24: +40
1/31: +36
2/7: +32
2/14: +32
2/21: +31
2/28: +13
3/7: +24
3/14: +25
3/21: +23
3/28: +26
4/4: +5
4/11: +38
4/17: +44
4/25: +40
5/2: +41
5/9: +46
5/16: +52
5/23: +68
5/30: +59
6/6: +69
6/13: +67
6/20: +69
6/27: +66
7/3: +51
7/11: +59
7/18: +65
7/25: +55
8/1: +32
8/8: +37
8/15: +44
8/22: +41
8/29: +51
9/5: +49
9/12: +40
9/19: +54
9/26: +55
10/3: +47
10/10: +43
10/17: +42
10/24: +48
10/31: +61
11/7: +69
11/14: +70
11/21: +68

Oil/Gas

WTI crude closed out the week at $57.98, down sharply from last week's close of $59.81. The price of oil should continue to fall. There's slack demand and a huge glut, despite the "sanctions" on Russia, which do next-to-nothing.

The U.S. national average for gas at the pump remained the same for now three straight weeks, $3.07, according to Gasbuddy.com. Gas prices should continue to decline over the near term and through winter.

California remains the priciest, at $4.60 per gallon, down six cents, followed by Washington ($4.17), up a penny on the week. Oregon ($3.77), was up four cents. The lowest prices remain in the Southeast, with Oklahoma checking in near the lowest price in about a year, $2.46. Mississippi is next at $2.53. Louisiana ($2.55), Tennessee ($2.60) and Texas ($2.63) follow. The remaining Southeast states are all below $2.80 with the exception of Florida ($3.11) up 20 cents from last week.

In the Northeast, prices were higher. Only New Hampshire ($2.94) was under $3.00, with Pennsylvania ($3.28) easily the highest. Vermont ($3.15) and New York ($3.14) were the next.

In the midwest region, Illinois ($3.24) and Michigan ($3.12) were the only states above $3.00. At the low end were Colorado ($2.61) and Kansas ($2.67).

Sub-$3.00 gas was reported in 28 states, a gain of two from last week.

Bitcoin

This week: $87,373.34
Last week: $95,387.89
2 weeks ago: $103,678.70
6 months ago: $108,333.40
One year ago: $97,811.99
Five years ago: $17,734.38

Bitcoin fell to a low below $81,000 this week. The gains through Sunday morning is nothing but froth, occurring in thinly-traded hours, similar to how the gold and silver suppressors operate in the GLOBEX between midnight and early morning hours. There's really nothing there at all. Most people who bought bitcoin in the past year are losing money.

Nakamoto in Japanese means "Central" or middle. Satoshi in Japanese means "Intelligence" or wise. Draw your own conclusions.

Bitcoin and crypto is dead money at this point. Thank Wall Street for that.

Precious Metals

Gold:Silver Ratio: 81.33; last week: 80.79

Futures, per COMEX continuous contracts:

Gold price 10/24: $4,126.90
Gold price 10/31: $4,013.40
Gold price 11/7: $4,007.80
Gold price 11/14: $4,084.40
Gold price 11/21: $4,099.20

Silver price 10/24: $48.41
Silver price 10/31: $48.25
Silver price 11/7: $48.22
Silver price 11/14: $50.40
Silver price 11/21: $50.33

SPOT:
(stockcharts.com)
Gold 10/24: $4110.63
Gold 10/31: $3997.10
Gold 11/7: $3999.89
Gold 11/14: $4,080.00
Gold 11/21: $4,063.98

Silver 10/24: $48.59
Silver 10/31: $48.65
Silver 11/7: $48.33
Silver 11/14: $50.50
Silver 11/21: $49.97

Gold and silver were generally rangebound throughout the week. The ongoing struggle for price discovery continues between the futures and fix pricing mechanism of the Western COMEX and LBMA and the BRICS-focused Shanghai Gold Exchange in China and Russia's plans to begin trading in precious metals by the end of the year on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX), which will be open to traders from around the world.

Cracks in the Western-dominated markets have begun to show signs of cracking, with the recent shortfall of silver in London vaults and the impressive gains in both gold and silver over the past two years. Additionally, dealers continue to add high premia to precious metals. A recent offering by one prominent online dealer promoted one ounce silver at $7.95 over spot, pretty much aligning with Money Daily's SOSMBP.

There may be some impetus for gold and silver to rise this coming week, as nearby futures contracts expire.

Here are the most recent prices for common one ounce gold and silver items sold on eBay (free shipping included, numismatics excluded):

Item/Price	Low	High	Average	Median
1 oz silver coin:	54.00	65.00	57.85	57.00
1 oz silver bar:	51.00	64.95	58.33	59.01
1 oz gold coin:	4,206.00	4,481.95	4,303.16	4,287.24
1 oz gold bar:	4,232.64	4,380.84	4,291.48	4,281.10

The Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) made a modest gain for the week, to $58.05, up 51 cents from the November 16 price of $57.54 per troy ounce. The small-denomination, physical market continues to add premia to, and depart from, spot and derivative markets.

WEEKEND WRAP

Next week is Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a half-day session which almost always is positive. This year should be no different. If you're looking for holiday cash, buy on Wednesday, sell on Friday, as that shortened session will be the last of November, so, in keeping with the holiday spirit, there is likely to be plenty of window dressing. The stock markets close at 1:00 pm ET, so don't sleep too late.

At the CLose, Friday, November 21, 2025:
Dow: 46,245.41, +493.15 (+1.08%)
NASDAQ: 22,273.08, +195.03 (+0.88%)
S&P 500: 6,602.99, +64.23 (+0.98%)
NYSE Composite: 21,176.98, +264.10 (+1.26%)

For the Week:
Dow: -902.07 (-1.91%)
NASDAQ: -627.51 (-2.74%)
S&P 500: -131.12 (-1.95%)
NYSE Composite: -293.28 (-1.37%)
Dow Transports: -58.66 (-0.36%)

Disclaimer: Information disseminated on this site should not be construed as investment advice. Downtown Magazine Inc., Money Daily and it's owners, affiliates and/or employees are not investment advisors and do not offer specific investment advice. All investments have risk. You should consult a professional investment advisor or stock broker or use your individual judgement when making investment decisions. By viewing this site, you hold harmless Downtown Magazine Inc., Money Daily, its owners, affiliates and employees against any and all liability. Copyright 2025, Downtown Magazine Inc., all rights reserved.

U.S. Stock Market, AI Fraud Exposed as Stocks Tank on Fake Nvidia Results; Algos Uncover Circular Cheats Involving Tech Giants

Ready for some fireworks?

Following Thursday's massive meltdown, markets are getting ready for the second round of bubble bursting as tech stocks and the entire Wall Street facade is about to be deflated.

The post and article linked below is required reading for anybody who is serious about the future of finance and global markets.

This brilliant post on X - and the detailed article on substack, linked below - by Shanaka Anslem Perera tells what happened on Thursday when the entire U.S. stock market basically got flushed:

BREAKING: The $610 Billion AI Ponzi Scheme Just Collapsed

Last night at 4pm EST, something unprecedented happened. Nvidia stock rallied 5% on earnings, then crashed into negative territory within 18 hours. Wall Street algorithms detected what humans couldn’t: the numbers don’t… pic.twitter.com/uW4UL5eQ8F

— Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡ (@shanaka86) November 20, 2025

Link to article on Substack.

The level of fraud exposed on Thursday is absolutely stunning and brings into play all aspects of the completely rigged U.S. and global trading markets. Money Daily has long been skeptical of bitcoin, crypto, and heavy-handed practices in the U.S. in particular, and Thursday's rout seems to point in that same general direction. Markets are controlled by big-monied interests and governments who wish to keep their populations satiated with an "all good" narrative.

Obvious to many thinking people, this kind of fake news leads to an eventual reckoning, which appears now to be underway in earnest.

Overnight and into the early morning hours in the U.S., bitcoin has continued to tank, hitting a low of $80,935, down another $6,000 from Thursday.

This morning Shanaka Anslem Perera has another article on substack: The Liquidity Singularity: How Bitcoin’s $2 Billion Cascade Revealed The Mathematical End of Free Market Capitalism

Even if Perera's claims are only partially true, the idea that U.S. markets ar free, fair, and functional is being severely tested and the trading reveals not just cracks in the facade, but deep holes in the $215 trillion black hole of the U.S. financial system.

If you're on the sidelines where you should be, sit back and enjoy the show. It's about to get very, very ugly.

At the Close, Thursday, November 20, 2025:
Dow: 45,752.26, -386.51 (-0.84%)
NASDAQ: 22,078.05, -486.18 (-2.15%)
S&P 500: 6,538.76, -103.40 (-1.56%)
NYSE Composite: 20,912.89, -255.39 (-1.21%)

Stocks Down? Crypto Dying? Money Tight? No Problem. Nvidia To the Rescue; September Payrolls: +119,000

Just as the demise of one company - think Xerox during the ascendancy of the internet or Eastman Kodak as digital photography emerged - would not take down the entire stock market, one company's success should not determine the upward direction of it either.

But, that's exactly what's being suggested by the fanbois and Wall Street snake-oil-selling slugs of Nvidia (NVDA), the company at the heart of the AI and Magnificent 7 trade. The company announced blowout third quarter results after the bell Wednesday, and analysts were falling over each other to praise the company and announce the end of the vicious selling that's been taking place the past few weeks.

It's utter rubbish. Nvidia may have had a great quarter and so too, the other members of the cool kids' Mag7 gang, but how's that going to affect Christmas shopping, the real estate market, pharma, manufacturing, etc.? Sure, there will be extra big bucks floating around lower Manhattan and Silicon Valley, but, overall, the company selling chips to other companies that use those chips - and also invest in each other - isn't going to lower the price of coffee, increase occupancy in commercial buildings, or make more people shop at Target. It's just not a one-to-one relationship.

None the less, Wall Street has found its darling and will run with it, until the whole AI story blows completely apart, because, in the end, AI is about as fake and gay as Hollywood. It robs content from real providers, distributes what is often erroneous information, and, as an added bonus, threatens to shrink the available job market globally.

That last part, about jobs, dovetails directly into the other big event this Thursday morning, the delayed release of September Non-farm payrolls by the BLS, which certainly will be fake, and maybe gay, so there's that to consider as well. September NFP was delayed because of the government shutdown, which may or may not have been fake, but absolutely was gay. The usual suspect experts are looking for job gains of 50,000 or so, which will satisfy the othr horde of cheerleaders, those hoping the Fed will lower interest rates when they meet on December 9 and 10.

It all adds up to a massive buy-the-dip "because we told you so" rally today and probably on Friday as well, because stocks always go up on Friday. It's in the exchange rules, or so it's said.

All this news has been beneficial to the crypto crowd as well, or so it seems, since bitcoin and the other popular fake and... well, you know, "coins" and tokens and their associated ETFs and other derivatives were boosted on the Nvidia news. Bitcoin galloped off lows below $89,000 to as high as $92,777, though it has pulled back a bit since then.

And, apparently, AI and chip-world is bad for precious metals, though that's hardly a surprise, since any kind of news, good or bad, seems to be bad for gold and silver.

Yes, this is cynicism writ large. And, yes, Money Daily doesn't care.

At 8:30 am ET the BLS released September Non-farm Payrolls, which showed job gains of 119,000 for the month. The unemployment rate jumped to its highest in three years, at 4.4%.

For what it's worth, Nvidia (NVDA) was 5.46% higher in pre-market trading.

Just prior to the BLS NFP release, Dow futures: +257; NASDAQ futures: +457; S&P futures: +81.50.

Just after the release: Dow futures: +365; NASDAQ futures: +508; S&P futures: +100.

So, a nice boost. Strap yourself in. The takeoff is likely to be jarring.

At the Close, Wednesday, November 19, 2025:
Dow: 46,138.77, +47.03 (+0.10%)
NASDAQ: 22,564.23, +131.38 (+0.59%)
S&P 500: 6,642.16, +24.84 (+0.38%)
NYSE Composite: 21,168.28, -4.32 (-0.02%)

Bitcoin Continues to Struggle Along with Stocks; Dow, S&P Down Four Straight Sessions; Target Sees Troubling Holiday Season

As market participants anticipate solid earnings from Nvidia after the close Wednesday, carnage in bitcoin continues, with the favorite coin dropping to just above 90,000 overnight before bouncing back early morning to just below 92,000. On Tuesday, bitcoin fell to as low as $89,549.

Bitcoin isn't the only asset (if one can call it that) under pressure. The major averages were rocked again on Tuesday, the fourth straight decline for the Dow and S&P, and the fourth in the past five session for the NASDAQ, which popped 30 points on Friday.

From all appearances, not everybody is sold on tech. Beyond the bitcoin breakdown, the AI investment carousel is raising eyebrows across the investment world, as companies involved in the great hyperscaling race are found to be investing capital in each other, raising stock prices for all. Nvidia has investments in many of its own customers, and those customers - including names like Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft - and have invested in Nvidia and other companies like Tuesday's revelation of a partnership in Anthropic.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella mentioned the quiet part out loud, saying, “We will use Anthropic models, they will use our infrastructure, and we’ll go to market together.”

Tech companies investing money in each other as they buy goods and services from the same, evokes claims of interlocking directorships from the 70s and 80s, when high-ranking executives and CEOs sat on each others boards of directors, creating a collusion of interests.

Considering the dull nature of regulation and oversight by the SEC and other bodies charged with keeping markets "fair and free", the circular carousel of investments is likely to continue unchecked until an ultimate disaster strikes one and all.

Before teeing up Nvidia's earnings, the market was treated to a trio of retailers announcing thrid quarter earnings. Two of them, TJX Companies (TJX), owners of Marshall's and TJ Maxx stores, and home improvement giant, Lowe's (LOW) delivered reports that exceeded expectations. On the troubling side, Target (TGT), which has been under pressure for the better part of the past five years, delivered distressing numbers once again.

Roughly, Target showed:

• Net sales: -1.5% year over year
• Gross profit margin: 28.2% vs. 28.3% a year ago
• Diluted earnings per share: -3.9% year over year to $1.78, vs. estimate of $1.73
• Comparable sales: -2.7% year over year, vs. +0.3% estimate

While the overall numbers were not absolutely brutal, the company's forecast for the holiday season and beyond was Grinch and Scrooge-worthy. "Guests are choiceful, stretching budgets and prioritizing value. They're spending where it matters most, especially in food, essentials, and beauty," Target chief commercial officer Rick Gomez said.

Target shares are down three to four percent in pre-market trading. The stock hit a high of 261 in July, 2021 and will likely open trading on Wednesday at 85 to 86.

Elsewhere, gold and silver were bid up overnight, with gold topping out at $4,120 and silver above $52 per ounce. WTI crude oil dropped below $59/barrel just after 8:00 am ET.

As earnings reports dwindle, Nvidia is one of the last few that will have real market impact. Stocks will need another catalyst moving forward through the holiday season, which is predicted to be somewhat choppy. There's still lots of money sloshing around, though at the lower end of the economic ladder, rents, food, and higher prices due to tariffs are reasons for concern.

Stocks seem to have crested and a technical correction may be near at hand. A recession is almost certain in early 2026.

At the Close, Tuesday, November 18, 2025:
Dow: 46,091.74, -498.50 (-1.07%)
NASDAQ: 22,432.85, -275.23 (-1.21%)
S&P 500: 6,617.32, -55.09 (-0.83%)
NYSE Composite: 21,172.59, -40.82 (-0.19%)

Bitcoin Breakdown Is Helping Accelerate Stock Market Crash

Bitcoin took another hit on Monday, dropping another $2,500 to a low of $91,482. The drawdown left the world's largest crypto-currency down nearly two percent for the year-to-date.

Some of the issues that plague bitcoin in its billing as "digital gold" and a store of value are wild swings up and down and the number of "whales" who own large stakes in the 21 million bitcoins that will eventually be mined.

As of today, only about five percent of the available bitcoin is left to be mined, a little more than one million "coins", which puts the mining business in a tough spot. At $100,000 per bitcoin, it's a trillion dollars of bitcoin to be mined, a tidy sum, though it is split up among a group of tough competitors, making that business model something of a moot point over time despite the last bitcoin to be mined will be in 2140. That's if it lasts that long. Mining bitcoins for $100,000 a pop is one thing. If the price continues to decline, spending millions on high speed computers, energy, and equipment to cash in on multiple $50,000 or $40,000 awards might not be such a tempting concept.

With about one million bitcoins remaining to be mined over the next 115 years (2025 through 2140), it breaks down, linearly, to about 8700 bitcoins a year. At $100,000 each, that's $870,000,000 a year. Not bad, if one company mined all the bitcoin. But, if there are 10 miners, that's only $87 million each. Some of the companies mining bitcoin are very highly valued. 11 of them have market capitalizations of more than $1 billion. Over 115 years, mining all the remaining bitcoin at a price of $100,000 comes to $100,050,000,000, or, just over $100 billion dollars. In today's world, that's chump change and draws into question the valuations of companies mining bitcoin like Iris Energy (IREN), Cipher Mining (CIFR), and Riot Blockchain (RIOT). The combined market cap of the top 22 bitcoin miners is $53 billion. That math does not add up.

What happens to these companies when they're mining bitcoin at $50,000, $30,000, or even $20,000. Most will go out of business, costing investors millions. The founders and executives won't care. They've made their money in salaries and bonuses, but, billions of dollars will have been eviscerated, gone with the wind.

This is the point at which bitcoiners become aggressive and defensive, arguing that the math implies a higher bitcoin price due to scarcity and the difficulty and cost of mining those remaining bitcoins. Those arguments put the cart before the horse, so to speak. Just because there aren't many Joe Nuxhall rookie baseball cards, doesn't make them particularly valuable (Nuxhall was a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1950s and 60s). So too, the value, or price of 21 million bitcoins - not extremely rare in any sense - is tied to the desirability of ownership. Who wants to own bitcoins? And why? The obvious reason for the past decade or so has been price appreciation. Not utility. Not value. It is a pure speculation. And, if the price is going down, fewer and fewer people will want it. BlackRock and Michael Saylor could end up owning most of it. Then what?

Bitcoin needs massive adoption in order to achieve scale and utility as a medium of exchange. It hasn't happened, despite being available for buying, selling, and some payments on platforms as diverse as Stripe, PayPal, and Square. In the U.S. and Australia, for instance, less than two percent of the population uses bitcoin to transact. That's not going to cut it.

Then there's the issue of the number of large holders of bitcoin. In an ecosystem that was supposed ot be built on fairness, trustlessness, and anonymity, having large shares of the currency acts as a detriment. Who wants to hold "money" that's controlled by a small number of "whales" who could conceivably move the price of bitcoin up or down alone or in collusion? While that construct may be similar to stock ownership, it's a different situation. Stocks are assets. Bitcoin is supposed ot be "money."

Here's a short list of the estimated top 10 bitcoin holders (or "hodlers", if you prefer):

• Satoshi Nakamoto (founder of bitcoin): 1.1 million bitcoins
• BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT): 800,000
• MicroStrategy (now, Strategy): 640,000
• Binance-coldwallet: 248,598
• United States of America: 207,000
• Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (CBOE:FBTC): 205,000
• China: 194,000
• Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC): 173,502
• Robinhood-coldwallet: 140,575
• Bitfinex-coldwallet: 130,010
• Winklevoss twins: 70,000

All told, this top 10 holds about 4 million bitcoins, or, nearly 20%. Should any one of them decide to cash out, or, worse, yet, a few panic at once, bitcoin could fall precipitously.

General ownership of bitcoin is quite top-heavy. Motley Fool estimates that 0.03% of all Bitcoin addresses hold more than 100 BTC, but those wallets control more than 60% of all Bitcoin in circulation.

That doesn't leave much for Joe and Jane Sixpack. Again, it's akin to stocks, where institutions hold most of the shares and the best individuals can hope for is to go along for the ride, which, hopefully, is to the upside.

What's been happening lately is probably mostly retail speculators cashing out as the big gains for 2025 have already been made. In fact, bitcoin's price today is right around where it was this time last year. On November 19, 2024, one bitcoin was worth $91,546. So much for getting rich quick. Bear in mind, this "digital gold" compares to actual gold, up more than 50% this year, and actual silver, up 70%.

Bitcoin might as well be called "digital hopium." Other crypto-currencies, alt-coins, etc. are doing even worse. Etheruem, or Ether, as the cool kids call it, is down nine percent year-to-date. Solana is down 30%, Cardano, down 45%; Dogecoin, down 52%.

It's all speculation, and, right now, the long specs are losing. Add in the amounts lost in various ETFs and other derivative crypto plays and you have the crypto ecosystem imploding in real time. This has happened before, and, if human nature plays out as it usually does, it will happen again. Michael Saylor will proclaim bitcoin a bargain at $35,000. Many morons will follow where fools dare to tread and buy it. They may profit. They may lose. The best thing would be for bitcoin to go to zero along with all the other fakes.

One has to wonder, if bitcoin is so awesome, why doesn't Mr. Saylor or BlackRock or the other institutional players invest in some of the other offerings? Probably because, they, like most sane people, realize that a world of crypto-currencies is a fantasy. Suppose you went to a restaurant for dinner and found out when the check came that they didn't accept bitcoin, ether, solana, dogecoin, or even fartcoin, even though you had plenty of each in your virtual wallet. The maitre'd informs you that the establishment prefers cash, as in U.S. dollars, Visa or Mastercard.

Well, there you go. Explains why crypto is "crap-to" for lack of a better term. It's numbers on a ledger, and, while it shares some similarities to dollars, yen, euros, or pounds, it's not accepted at the millions of locations that take cash or cards.

Crypto is trash. It may not have been in its infancy, but, as soon as Wall Street stuck its claws into it, it became un-ownable. Essentially, there are a lot of people in the world who don't own any and an equally large number of people who feel, "if BlackRock owns it, I'd rather not."

In real terms, 0.01 bitcoin was worth $1,243 on October 7. Today, $910, and falling. Overnight, it was a low as $89,500. That's a screaming SELL. Beware of big waves caused by whales flopping on the water. It's all been a very nice speculation. Let BlackRock and Michael Saylor eat the losses. Enough is enough. Let's move on.

The trillions of dollars being pumped into bitcoin, crypto, and all the derivatives are fueling a massively-building liquidity crisis. Paraphrasing a quote often ascribed to 1950s-60s Senator Everett Dirkson, "a trillion here, a trillion there, soon enough you're talking real money." A couple of trillion dollars suddenly vanishing from the bizarre crypto bazaar has its share of ripple effects (no pun intended), and the stock market has been exhibiting obvious signs of pain.

Monday was another day for taking chips off the table, and futures are looking very promising. Just before 9:00 am, Dow futures were off 390 points, NASDAQ futures had shed 150, and S&P futures were down 31.

Since its peak on October 7, bitcoin is down more than 26%. The slide has accelerated recently, however. In just the past week, since November 11, bitcoin is down $15,000, or about 14%. Between falling prices in general, margin calls, and forced liquidations, the amount of money leaving crypto-land is staggering. In just the past 24 hours, nearly $1 billion in forced liquidations have taken place. The outward effects are being reflected in the general markets, which are themselves wildly overvalued.

From all appearances, bitcoin is adding to the dumpster fire on Wall Street in a big way. If there's a general collapse in stocks, bitcoin's losses are likely to be even more severe. With the major stock exchanges set to open in less than half an hour, the condition appears dire.

At the Close, Monday, November 17, 2025:
Dow: 46,590.24, -557.24 (-1.18%)
NASDAQ: 22,708.07, -192.51 (-0.84%)
S&P 500: 6,672.41, -61.70 (-0.92%)
NYSE Composite: 21,213.42, -256.84 (-1.20%)