[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to the John Lothian News daily Update podcast for March 1, 2024. I am your host, John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News, the home of markets wiki and markets wiki Education. Thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's JLN. Welcome to March 1 of the market issues of the moment is bitcoin having an event that occurs approximately every four years whereby bitcoin miners are rewarded half the amount they were previously rewarded for validating and adding new blocks to the blockchain. Since 2022, approximately 900 bitcoins a day have been mined after the having, the number will drop to 450 per day.
Where this gets interesting is in the intersection of the reduction of the new supply of bitcoin with the increased investor demand for the newly approved bitcoin etfs in the US. The other element is the return of FOMO, or fear of missing out as bitcoin prices climb, according to a Yahoo news story titled one reason for new bitcoin mania simply not enough supply. Since the beginning of February, the new ETF products have purchased an average of 3500 to 4300 coins each day, according to three analysts who work for crypto money managers.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: You can see the problem.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Production is 900 per day, demand is 3500 to 4300 per day and growing.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: And the production is expected to drop.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: To 450 per day sometime after tax day in April.
A Bloomberg story today said BlackRock Inc's bitcoin ETF added a record $520,000,000. And another story said that the ten bitcoin etfs took in 673,000,000 altogether, which would be 8667 bitcoins for BlackRock and 11,217 bitcoins altogether for etfs, based on a price of about $60,000 for bitcoin. Quite frankly, I don't understand why the SEC approved the etfs in the first place for a product based on something that has a limited supply of 21 million bitcoin, of which 19.6 million are already in circulation. This is not a product for which higher prices will produce increased production.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: The supply is the supply. It is capped.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Even though bitcoin is supposed to be a commodity, quote unquote, it lacks many of the economic features of other commodities that mitigate price volatility, such as true commodity substitution. It would appear that bitcoin prices were.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Designed to fly to extreme levels amid.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: The drumbeat of FOMO and the breadth of demand from ETF investors.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: However, it also appears that bitcoin is built to become even more illiquid, erratic and volatile as supplies halved and institutions.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Buy based on growing FOMO retail demand.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: And the float narrows. This has the makings of volatility that.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Is seared into the nightmares of risk managers. It is often said by Texans that everything is bigger in Texas.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Well, the Texas wildfire is the largest in state history and now covers nearly.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: 1.1 million acres, Bloomberg reports.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: But that is not all. The massive blaze, dubbed the Smokehouse Creek.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Fire, is so big, running across the.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Texas panhandle in parts of Oklahoma that it is visible from space.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: Just ask the two Martians who called.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: NASA to report the fire.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: Okay, I kid.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: But the fire's infrared thermal image was captured by the GO's 16 satellite that.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Orbits roughly 22,000 miles above the earth's surface.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: The Wall Street Green summit on March twelveth to 13th in New York City is the longest running sustainable investing event, focusing on issues like ESG strategies and.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: Reporting, carbon trading markets, renewable energy innovation.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: And advances in electric mobility.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: The summit is held at the Cornell.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Club in midtown Manhattan.
[email protected] wallstreetgreensumit.com lmeasia Week 2024 is coming on June 27 with the lmeasia Metal seminar from 09:00 a.m. To 1600 at the Hong Kong Exchange hall in Hong Kong. LME Asia Week brings together leading voices in the global commodities industry to discuss opportunities and challenges facing the industry in the region today.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: Sponsorship opportunities are available.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: The LME Asia Week dinner will take place following the seminar starting at 1800 o'clock for cocktails and 1915 for dinner and it is not to be missed. For information and to register, email
[email protected].
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Coinbase Institutional Coinbase's us regulated futures exchange.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Saw a single day record yesterday in unique end users, with over 850 accounts contributing to the second best day ever of $380,000,000 of notional volume traded in bitcoin and ETH contracts. Boris Ilyevsky shared on LinkedIn Neil Salter has joined the Urex institutional fixed income sales team. He shared on LinkedIn. Paul A. Bott is moving up that ice and is now a senior director.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Of trading solutions, he shared on LinkedIn.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: The International Energy Agency report co2 emissions 2023 found that global energy related co2 emissions increased in 2023. This was largely caused by the impact of drought on hydropower.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: The rise, however, was lower than in 2022 thanks to the expansion of technologies.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Such as solar PV, wind, nuclear power and electric cars.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: Without these clean energy technologies, the global.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Increase in co2 emissions in the last five years would have been three times larger.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Download the report with a link in.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Today'S newsletter the IEA also introduced the first edition of the Clean Energy Market Monitor, which will monitor the rapid growth of clean energy. The report found that from 2019 to 2023, clean energy investment increased nearly 50%, reaching $1.8 trillion in 2023 and growing around 10% per year across this period. Read the press release and download the.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Report with a link in today's newsletter.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN options were BlackRock's bitcoin ETF draws $520,000,000 in a day as latest rally pumps up investor enthusiasm from Markets Insider hedge fund profits after doubling bet on european gas options from Bloomberg and three trade ideas Feb 29th from Tasty live video.
Subscribe to the free JLN Options newsletter.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: With a link in today's JLN.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: Here are more stories from the first read section of today's JLN. We have a sponsored content contribution from our friends at Footsie. Russell Russell 2000 Index quarterly chart book February 2024 the Russell 2000 index provides live index tracking data with historical performance dating back to January 1984. Academic and practitioner research confirms that large cap stocks behave differently to small cap.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Stocks and performance is variable.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: There are subperiods during which the Russell 1000 outperforms the Russell 2000 and vice versa. Quarterly performance assessments provide valuable data points for understanding market sentiment and us economic activity. View the report with the link in today's newsletter.
And then here's an entry from our path to electronic trading video series in a video that was shot during FIA Asia Week by Robert Lothian, Ramaphale's path to electronic trading showed he is a good student.
Ramapole enjoyed being a student and earned three separate degrees before deciding to come to Singapore to accept a position with Simex in 1991. Studying the Florida screen migration of other exchanges and spearheading a proactive migration plan for SGX showed that palay was a good student.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: You can watch this video on johnlothiannews.com.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Then we have episode seven of Futures Discovery Futures Discovery Futures delivery versus cash settlement today we're delving into the fundamental aspect of futures versus cash settlement showdown, physical delivery versus cash settlement. In the dynamic world of futures trading, how contracts are settled is a game changer, influencing strategies and risks alike. Join me. Cortez Draper not me John Lothian explore the two primary methods that define this landscape, physical delivery and cash settlement.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: You watch this video on johnlothiannews.com. Here's a story from Crane, Chicago Business.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: The financial winners and losers of Leap.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: Day Today is Leap day, and as.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Fans of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock may tell you, real life is for March. But in the real world, Feb. 29 remains real life, and that means real work, real pay and real expenses.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Expenses.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: The quadrennial event ends largely in an economic wash. As NYU Stern School of Business professor Lawrence White puts it, the monetary consequences of leap day amount to not a whole hell of a lot. My comment professor White evidently did not read the story about the New Zealand gas pumps that stopped working on leap day to a software glitch, a kind.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Of y two k thing for a day. Here's another story from the Financial Times.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: The headline humanity loves a cup of tea. So where's the futures market? Modern day mugging, to quote an evuncular, roided out Ira, former fire nation general and tea aficionado from Avatar, the last airbender. The key to wisdom and tea is proper aging. So he would be disappointed to learn that in our world, tea has no futures market. Commodities traders champ at the bit for the latest bit of data on sugar harvests in Brazil or the precipitation figures for rice patty laden regions of Vietnam, but can largely ignore similar signs for tea, the second most popular drink on the planet after water. My comment just what we need, a futures market on hot brown water.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: Here are the top three stories from.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: Thursday's Gel N.
Our top story Thursday was the Financial Times Vladimir Putin warns of wider conflict over Ukraine subtitled Russian President makes most explicit threat to use nuclear weapons since full scale invasion. Second was ice and ip systems to launch cloud based audio solution for traders from the trade. Third was chairman Benham to deliver a keynote address and participate in Fireside chat and FIA Boca from the CFTC. Here are the top three stories from.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: The lead section of today's JLN.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: The first story is from Bloomberg. The headline hedge funds get closer to clearing repo trades directly on Eurex Eurex clearing AG plans to start clearing repo trades for hedge funds directly by the middle of the year, a key step towards improving liquidity in the market that has been constrained over the years by tighter financial regulation. The firm, one of the leading global clearinghouses, aims to have hedge funds up and running on their platform, quote, by the end of the summer, unquote, executive board member Matthias Growlick said on the sidelines of the Derivatives forum Frankfurt on Thursday. The company declined to make public how many funds would be onboarded by then.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: The next story is from Bloomberg as well.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: The headline bitcoin ETF record gets broken yet again on $612,000,000 inflow, ten bitcoin tide etfs netted 673,000,000 in Wednesday's haul. Surge in spot etfs helped spur demand for the digital asset. Another day, another record across the booming world of bitcoin etfs. Fueled by fear of missing out on the latest crypto rally, BlackRock Inc's iShare bitcoin Trust ticker Ibit netted $612,000,000 Wednesday in its biggest one session haul, breaking a record set just the day prior, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Although the new ten exchange traded funds investing directly in the world's biggest cryptocurrency took in a net 673,000,000. Even with the outflow seen by Grayscale bitcoin Trust GBTC, the cash pouring into the funds handily beat their launch day record of 655,000,000 set on January 11. And then, finally, here's another story from Bloomberg. The headline Cryptomania drives record $520,000,000 into Blackrock bitcoin ETF in single day add this eye popping statistic to the list of superlatives driving crypto's latest boom cycle. A record $520,000,000 stampeded into BlackRock's bitcoin ETF in a single day. The iShares bitcoin Trust ticker ibit saw its biggest one session haul Tuesday, marking the largest daily inflow so far among the batch of the new US exchange traded funds investing directly in the world's biggest cryptocurrency. It was also the second largest intake for any US ETF across all asset classes, data compiled by Bloomberg show. And the trading mania continued into Wednesday.
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