Bitcoin ETF Rejected

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs


Late Friday afternoon the Securities and Exchange Commission released their ruling on the proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, what would have been the first Bitcoin ETF. Bitcoin's had traded as high as $1,300 per coin on Friday prior to the announcement from the SEC, but following the ruling, the price had fallen more than 20% at one point, leveling off down 10%.

What Happened?

The Security and Exchange Commission released their ruling denying the proposed Bitcoin ETF and within the ruling, the SEC's reasoning for denying the application follows below.

"As discussed further below, the Commission is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest. The Commission believes that, in order to meet this standard, an exchange that lists and trades shares of commodity-trust exchange-traded products (“ETPs”) must, in addition to other applicable requirements, satisfy two requirements that are dispositive in this matter. First, the exchange must have surveillance-sharing agreements with significant markets for trading the underlying commodity or derivatives on that commodity. And second, those markets must be regulated."

In plain English the SEC is saying the Bitcoin ETF was rejected because the underlying commodity, in this case Bitcoin, needs to be regulated, which that’s the whole purpose of Bitcoin, it's not regulated. Bitcoin was designed to be unregulated, with no ties to banking institutions or governments. With relationships with either of those entities, the currency therefore is an unregulated form of investment. The reason this matters is because at the end of the day, the SEC is required to do its best at protecting the general investing public from fraudulent and easily manipulated investments. And because Bitcoin is unregulated in some terms, the SEC can't allow the ETF. Continue reading "Bitcoin ETF Rejected" →

Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery

Posted on by The INO.com Team

We've asked Michael Seery of SEERYFUTURES.COM to give our INO readers a weekly recap of the Futures market. He has been Senior Analyst for close to 15 years and has extensive knowledge of all of the commodity and option markets.

Michael frequently appears on multiple business networks including Bloomberg news, Fox Business, CNBC Worldwide, CNN Business, and Bloomberg TV. He is also a guest on First Business, which is a national and internationally syndicated business show.

Gold Futures

Gold futures in the April contract settled last Friday in New York at 1,226 an ounce while currently trading at 1,204 continuing its bearish momentum right near a 6-week low as the precious metals continue to move lower on a daily basis due to a strong U.S dollar. At the current time I have no trade recommendations in the precious metal sector as it looks to me that gold might even possibly retest the contract low around 1,150, but avoid this market at present & look at other trades that are beginning to trend with a better risk/reward scenario. Gold prices are now trading under their 20 and 100-day moving average telling you that the short-term trend is lower as crude oil prices have also broken out of a tight consolidation which is another negative towards all commodity prices in my opinion. Continue reading "Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery" →

Solid February Jobs Report Clears The Way For The Fed

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello MarketClub members everywhere. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said last week that the central bank was prepared to raise interest rates at the March meeting unless something unexpected happens and that hasn't happened. A solid February jobs report certainly clears the way for the Fed to raise interest rates at its meeting next week.

MarketClub's Mid-day Market Report

The U.S. economy added 235,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said, adding the unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.7 percent. Payrolls came in a bit stronger than expected and the average hourly earnings accelerated to a 2.8% rate over the past year, the Labor Department said.

Key levels to watch next week: Continue reading "Solid February Jobs Report Clears The Way For The Fed" →

Trump Admin Nothing For Cannabis Industry To Fear

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Analysis originally distributed on March 1, 2017 By: Michael Vodicka of Cannabis Stock Trades

The cannabis industry is more sensitive to political news than other industries. With cannabis still in the early stages of global legalization – when politicians make formal or informal comments about the industry – cannabis stocks respond.

That’s what we saw this weekend.

Last Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked about the conflict between state and federal cannabis laws.

The cannabis industry has been eagerly awaiting word on how the Trump administration will handle cannabis. Whatever Spicer said was going to be closely analyzed.

He started by drawing a clear line between medical and recreational cannabis – saying the Feds aren’t even legally allowed to go after medical because of a spending rider approved by congress in 2014 and 2015 that prohibits the use of federal funds to go after state medical cannabis. Continue reading "Trump Admin Nothing For Cannabis Industry To Fear" →

Gold/Silver Ratio: Extended Target Points At $3059 For S&P 500

Posted on by Aibek Burabayev

Aibek Burabayev - INO.com Contributor - Metals


Last week, both metals triggered the signal support lines described in my previous post, therefore we are now in another consolidation phase. Let’s be patient and let the market take a pause to see what shall be further. I will update the metals charts in coming posts.

Meantime, let’s refresh the gold/silver ratio chart to see what’s going on there. I prepared three charts for you, which highlight the current snapshot of the metals, the ratio’s updated outlook and the “Risk Appetite” chart for “dessert”. Bon Appetite!

Chart 1. Gold vs Silver 4-Hour: The Strength Of The Chain Is In The Weakest Link

Gold vs Silver 4-Hour
Chart courtesy of tradingview.com

This 4H chart above shows the “moment of crash” of the metals. Gold topped on the 27th of February and then started to shape lower highs with the trajectory of those highs highlighted in black dashed falling trendline. But that wasn’t a case for mighty silver, which has made another two higher closes on the chart ahead of severe drop on Thursday. It couldn’t resist the bearish pressure anymore as gold broke below the 1st of March low on the second day of March. Continue reading "Gold/Silver Ratio: Extended Target Points At $3059 For S&P 500" →