Stock Market Chat

Retail investors are behind this surge, as there’s no institutional trading during the Christmas holidays.

Bitcoin Price | BTC Price Index and Live Chart — CoinDesk 20

Live and 1, 12 and 24 hour charting.

 

Three of my holdings are in the top four gainers of the day. Not bad.

 

I know, I’ve been following the news on this today. The retail investors are back because of all the recent institutional buy ins. Make no mistake, this upsurge is being driven by the institutions and now the retail investors are joining the club over the holidays. The Canadian Fintech, Mogo, are one of the latest to jump on the bandwagon.

More news from today:

Unprecedented Institutional Demand for Bitcoin: Bitgo's Custodied Assets Top $16 Billion, No Paypal Deal

Bitgo’s assets under custody have surpassed $16 billion. The company says it is seeing “unprecedented interest from institutional investors,” resulting from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the recent bitcoin bull run. Paypal was also rumored to be in acquisition talks with the company.

As institutional interest in cryptocurrencies continues to surge, top investors are seeking institutional-grade security and financial infrastructure for custody, trading and lending of their digital assets.

Bitgo detailed that it currently accounts for more than 20% of all on-chain Bitcoin transactions, processing over $15 billion in monthly volume and supporting over 300 coins and tokens. The company is backed by Goldman Sachs, Craft Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Drw, Galaxy Digital Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners. Bitgo says it has over 400 clients spanning 50 countries, including Bitstamp, Nexo, and Pantera.

Once a simple cryptocurrency wallet provider, Bitgo has expanded its business into providing crypto financial services — including liquidity, custody, and security solutions — to institutional investors. In 2018, the company launched its custody service, Bitgo Trust Company. This year, it launched Prime Trading and Lending as well as Portfolio and Tax services.

 

To be honest, @Greg Sacramento, I miss the days where I only traded stocks as I could switch-off over the holidays. This thing never sleeps.

 

Polkadot is in the top 4 gainers today

 

Both Polkadot and Cardano in the top 4 this morning. I'm one away from having a full house. Happy days



I'd add here that I actually sold Stellar yesterday because of the news of the SEC and XRP (Ripple) dragging it down.

 

I've been averaging into crypto for the last three years. Holding some bags since 2018, but overall my portfolio is up 50% atm, and it seems this bull market is only getting started.

 

@Greg Sacramento Did you see the 50% jump in VistaGen Therapeutics? Price rose on announcement on offering. I thought it would have gone the other way.

Did you buy into it or are you still waiting for a reverse stock split? Thoughts?

I receive their newsletters and the medications look promising, however do you really think they (the nasal spray) would overtake Benzos?

 

Polkadot and THETA smashing it again today.

 

@Ed209 Have you seen the CRISPR stocks lately? Huge potential, but what are your thoughts on them? The market caps are in the billions with not 1 product approved.

 

I used to be big into my biotechs back in the day, Paulmanlike. I met a fair few of the CEOs of the companies I was invested in, but it all changed when I settled down. This year I started investing again, but this time around I'm mainly focusing on the crypto market.

So, in answer to your question, I know who CRISPR is, but I haven't followed them to have any insight I could share with you. @Greg Sacramento is the main man for that.

 

Thanks Ed. He did mention VistaGen Therapeutics a while ago. It's up 100% the last month.

Their pipeline is interesting and looks like they may be onto something for a new generation of mental health drugs.

Karuna Therapeutics did well with their schizophrenia medication trial.

Otonomy picking back up as well and Auris Medical was 5× bigger with their COVID-19 potential but it was short lived.

 

Yes I did buy some - but it's over bought - over 1.50.

 

I have had VistaGen Therapeutics on my mind now for a while but missed it. I bought a few shares of Ocugen but probably went in with too high of a price. I will hold them for a bit now.

 

That's why I don't like posting recommendations. All my recommendations have moved up 2X -15X, but then downside manipulation sets in. So when someone see a recommendation after price has moved 2X - 15X, price may be too high. VistaGen is now too high in price.

 

Overpriced.

Every stock mentioned on this thread is now over bought.

 

I feel exactly the same way, Greg, and I’d say most other people who dabble in the markets would agree. Once something has already risen by X amount, it feels wrong to continue recommending it, even if I’m still holding the stock myself and expecting it to go higher.

 

Does anyone have any opinions on options vs. stock when it comes to biotechs?

I'm currently holding a small amount of Frequency Therapeutics (FREQ) and Otonomy (OTIC) shares. I've only started learning about options recently, but realizing that companies like Otonomy and Frequency live or die based on the success of their drugs, it kind of seems like options would be a smarter play since there's a bigger upside and a similar downside. For example, say I wanted to invest $1000 in FREQ. I could buy ~35 shares at $35 per share. If the stock doubled after Phase 2a, I would profit $1000.

However, I could also buy a 100 $30 options for $910 for April 16. Assuming the stock doubled and went to $70 by then, I could exercise the options and net $2500. In both cases if Phase 2a fails, the stock tumbles and I lose a similar amount, but if the trial is a success the options play is a bigger win. Am I correct in my thinking here? Is there anything I'm missing?

I don't plan I buying options at this point, I'm pretty cautious about these types of things. But I am curious if I'm understanding this correctly. Also, are people here choosing to buy options or stocks in these companies (if you're investing in them at all)?

 

I agree with your agree @Ed209.

It's needed to get in low price stocks early to gain the big reward and not when the stock price has moved up. When buying on the way up, traps, manipulation will average stock returns over time to ZERO or negative numbers. On top of that, deep research is needed.

OCGN is an eye disease company and they announced a bogus COVID-19 non existing virus treatment because they were about to be delisted. So there was a play, but the play is now over as said and the price is dropping. It took big pharma a lot of hard work, knowledge and expense to come up with vaccines.

VTGN will most likely not get approval for their drugs. They were rejected by the FDA for similar before and this why it's once again a low price stock. Many large pharms have tried this treatment and failed. They have 3 researchers and can not do the neuro research and MRI study needed. This drug research and understanding is as complex as tinnitus research, discovery with successful drug treatment.

CEO's and management make good money running these small public drug companies. When they need more money, they issue more shares which dilutes stock price.

It's all about taking a position before unfounded hype takes place and then sell.

 

Do you think FREQ is now over bought?

Somebody mentioned earlier about the fluctuations 25% each way and how people were making money out of it - that's what I have been doing and I have more than doubled my investment and reinvested profits to buy over twice as many shares.

What are your thoughts on FREQ from an investor point of view @Greg Sacramento?

Also, why don't you think VistaGen will get their drugs approved?

 

Every stock in the US is over bought.

 

If you consider yourself cautious, I would stay clear of options unless you have money you are totally OK setting fire to. I see people blow up their account (lose it all) with options on a daily basis, and not only to autists either, retards, too.

Think of it this way, stocks are investing and options are gambling. If you are looking for gains like over 100% in a month with reasonable risk, there are plenty of stock plays out there now. 2 off the top of my head are $MMEDF which is a biotech shroom company and is currently an OTC stock that supposedly will be listed on the NYSE this month, which makes most stocks moon. They filed for it already and met the qualifications last month. $PSTH is another which is a SPAC waiting to buy soon. Again, both with more risk than an average stock, but they won't blow up your account in a day like options can.

Or consider IPOs. I got in the Corsair IPO 2 months ago because I'm a PC gamer and like their components and that shit ended up being a mission to Mars.

 

Add me too.

 

Most of my money is in ETFs, though I've set aside around 10% for speculative plays, which are OTIC and FREQ. However, knowing that these companies will crash or rocket up based on their study results is what got me thinking of options. Right now my plan is to see how OTIC does with OTIVIDEX, and if that succeeds I'll hold my FREQ shares through its Phase 2a results. If OTIVIDEX fails, then I'll sell half of my FREQ shares in the run-up to the Phase 2a results (I'm already up almost 100% on FREQ, and I'm assuming it'll go higher as the Phase 2a results approach).

 

These are 5 of my buys of OCGN of 100 - copied and pasted from trust account brokerage. Money that I cannot spend. Sold all at high. I mention OCGN here on this thread at 29 cents. I posted OCGN as a play, not a keeper. OCGN is now half of where I sold. OCGN is a fraud - they announced bogus COVID-19 drug development because the SEC noted delisting in writing, so holders had to vote on a reverse split to stop a delisting. I made trades in 50 other small companies in 2020, not mentioned and sold at the top. My total return this year is over 6000% with no losers. Had one stock return 14,000% and another 20,000%. I fear posting stocks here, because some may buy after move has been made and then price drops.

VTGN will not get approval because their neuro treatment is more complex than that of tinnitus, where no drug presently exist. VTGN has been rejected before for same treatment and price dropped 85% in weeks and then to almost 0%. 12 different large pharmas with hundreds of neuro researchers' stopped trials on same compound treatment. Compounds are now stored in vaults with only a number for identification - no name. VTGN only has 2 researchers. They don't really know if their compound doesn't have a benzo effect and that will take years of data use analysis to determine. CEO and management make a bundle like most that manage small bio companies. 98% of the time, small company drugs never make it to market. FREQ dropped on Friday and 30,000 of the 60,000+ shares sold - were sold on the bid price. Very unusual - maybe to buy the now over price stocks mentioned here. I noticed FREQ selling on bid every time this thread is active. I like FREQ and feel it's a keeper for longer term.

Years ago, I talked to a rep that rented medical equipment to hospitals and my hospital, including baby warmers and beds. They went public at 10 cents, I bought shares at 12 cents and four years later sold at 122 dollars. Watching what goes on in hospitals from drugs, supplies, equipment and treatment is of value for investing. Watching guidelines of WHO - World Health Organization has investment value. Visits to MIT university tech sites has investing value.

12/01/2020 16:52:36 Bought 1000 OCGN @ 0.329
-329.00 0.00 0.00
12/01/2020 15:41:09 Bought 2000 OCGN @ 0.3259
-651.80 0.00 0.00
11/17/2020 09:52:19 Bought 1000 OCGN @ 0.295
-295.00 0.00 0.00
08/10/2020 09:36:01 Bought 1000 OCGN @ 0.73
-730.00 0.00 0.00
08/07/2020 19:30:50 Bought 500 OCGN @ 0.58
-290.00 0.00 0.00

 

Wow! That's some gains!

I did well on TRACON Pharmaceuticals. It's up about 650% give or take since August and continues to rise.

 

Add me onto that list!

Nice to see your back @another sean!

Bitcoin scares me when investing haha. Just seems so volatile how it moves.

 

Nice. This is a real company. Not a trade. Familiar with company, but never owned it. Still very low in price for potential.

With one of many goings, they have a National Cancer Institute Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). TRC102 was granted orphan drug designation by the US FDA for the treatment of malignant glioma in 2020.

 

No worries, I kind of knew that I was getting in too high but it was a very minor amount so nothing to worry about. I will probably sell if it goes up Monday.

 

My friend made $75k on a single candlestick yesterday.

This is from our group chat.