• support@madhedgefundtrader.com
  • Member Login
Mad Hedge Fund Trader
  • Home
  • About
  • Store
  • Luncheons
  • Testimonials
  • Contact Us
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu

Tag Archive for: (LYFT)

Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Uber's Dark Future

Tech Letter

Autonomous or bankrupt; that is the ultimate fate of Uber (UBER).

In the short-term, Uber is a master at moving the goalposts in order to breathe life in the stock.

CEO of Uber Dara Khosrowshahi can only pray that the Fed will continue to pump cheap money into the market because without artificially low-interest loans, tech firms like Uber would implode.

Is it really time to give Uber the benefit of the doubt?

No more hype, just profits? Is the calculus to profits legitimate?

That's what we call a bubble. Bubbles always burst. Here's the scary part.

Many people are counting on the continued existence of Uber and Lyft to provide "cheap transportation."

Commuters will have to get suddenly unused to it.

There are many companies today that are running the same scheme as Uber in the “gig economy.”

It’s true that management loves to use a lot of flowery language to disguise a lack of profitability.

But as the conditions are ripe for a leg up in tech, the tide rises, and even Uber’s boat rises with it.

I have yet to see even one realistic analysis of how Uber or Lyft is going to become profitable - not even basic math!

I have met a plethora of drivers for both companies, and hope they do well, but there is only so long that one can put lipstick on a pig.

So here we are, Uber in the green everyday because they moved the goalposts yet again and promise us earlier than expected profitability but still losing billions of dollars.

Lyft and Uber have apparently increased revenues somewhat by reducing promotional discounts to riders, but that does not project to even a breakeven point and the unit economics tell me no even if my heart says yes.

The only trick up their sleeve seems to be fare increases, but where is the roadmap detailing this treacherous path?

Once we get to the point in time when Uber is supposed to be profitable, I bet that management will call in another trick play and move the goal posts yet again.

It is quite laughable when so called “tech experts” want Uber to join the ranks of Facebook Inc. (FB), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Netflix Inc. (NFLX), and Alphabet Inc.’s Google (GOOGL) as part of a FANGU acronym.

Reasons for this new bundle is thought to be because of the ability to take advantage of its massive scale while working toward profitability.

Uber is the global ridesharing leader and is becoming the global food delivery leader, but do they really add value?

What if the local government finally got their finger out and built a proper transport system?

They are merely taking advantage of a broken system and passing on the costs of paying drivers to the drivers themselves by designating them as hourly workers.

Are we supposed to celebrate when Uber becomes more “rational?”

Meaning that players have limited their attempts to undercut one another with the sorts of pricing and big discounts that had at one time suggested the business might be a race to the bottom.

Uber projected a lower loss than analysts were expecting for 2020, does less loss mean profits in 2020?

And I do agree that it is encouraging that the company is finally disclosing more data, but shouldn’t they be doing that in the first place?

Love it or hate it, there is a “war” going on between profitability and growth at Uber as the company manages the trade-offs.

Uber had previously talked up that it would become Ebitda profitability by the end of 2021, but Khosrowshahi now forecasts profitability for the fourth quarter of this year.

He says it is possible because Uber initiated a “belt-tightening program” in the last half of 2019, exiting unprofitable ventures and laying off about 1,000 employees.

For instance, Uber sold its food-delivery business in India to a local startup, Zomato, in return for a 9.9% stake in that company.

I do believe that they haven’t done enough to build credibility with investors and the stock’s price action is behaving as we should trust Uber’s management with whatever comes out of their mouths.

The lack of visibility and uncertainty around trends in ridesharing and Eats outside the U.S. continue to be hard to quantify.

So that sounds great! Uber is more serious than ever about becoming profitable and investors have backed them up with the stock flying to the moon.

The trend is your friend and I would suggest readers to get out of the way of this one because you could get trampled on just like the Tesla bears.

And I do support Uber in making steps in the right direction and it also can be said that stocks appreciate the fastest when they transform from a horrible company to a less horrible company.

But there is no way that I am giving Khosrowshahi a pass for Uber’s current situation and no chance I am praising him to the hills.

It is what it is, and Uber is less bad than before, and if they don’t meet their targets, I don’t think investors will believe Khosrowshahi version of a spin doctor forecast anymore.

Uber will rise in the foreseeable future and if they fail to become profitable by 4th quarter, expect a massive drawdown.

If they succeed, expect a vigorous wave of new players to buy into Uber shares.

The stakes have never been higher for Uber and Khosrowshahi.

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2020-02-12 05:02:052020-05-11 13:12:40Uber's Dark Future
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

January 13, 2020

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
January 13, 2020
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(THE DEATH OF THE GIG ECONOMY)
(GRUB), (OYO), (LYFT), (UBER), (RAPPI)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2020-01-13 08:04:102020-01-13 08:46:35January 13, 2020
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

The Death of the Gig Economy

Tech Letter

The demise of the gig economy is upon us.

That is the latest takeaway from a slew of negative news overflowing the news wires lately.

As many of you know, I hate this niche of tech with a passion, and it has been discovered as nothing more than a marginal fly-by-night sub-sector passing off the cost of employees and their wages to the investor.

They also contribute no meaningful technology that moves the needle.

When the hammer fell on Adam Neumann’s WeWork, the hammer fell equally as hard on the gig economy business model that brought public markets the likes of Uber and Lyft.

The path to venture capitalist’s cashing in abruptly closed off was the end development to all this mayhem.

So I was not surprised when online food deliverer Grubhub (GRUB) had a dead cat bounce after rumors of them looking for a sale to their badly run company.

Then last Friday was the day the chickens came home to roost with Grubhub shares cratering over 8%.

If there is a sale, at what heavily discounted price will it go for?

We could see a marked down shell of its former self.

Grubhub naturally came out and rejected the notion that they are about to be sold off.

Where there is smoke – there is fire.

They did, however, admit they are in the process of “consulting” about certain acquisitions which could mean purchasing inorganic growth to juice up their numbers ahead of a sale.

There are four market leaders who control roughly 80% of the food delivery service business.

But the food war is far from over as competitors undercut each other time after time.

Competition in the food delivery market is driving down the unit economics of online food delivery to a nadir at a time when they can least afford it.

The other three involved are Uber Eats division of Uber (UBER) as well as Postmates and DoorDash.

Grubhub mentioned that there will likely be opportunities to acquire market share, but at what cost?

Acquiring inorganic revenue is at peak cost in 2020.

Cost per unit matters more now than any other time in the past 10 years boding ill for Grubhub and its competition.

And until they adequately address the unit economics in detail, readers must assume that Grubhub is on a suicide mission and you won’t know how close they are to the end until there is a dramatic announcement describing it.

The big takeaway here is that conditions are ripe for consolidation in the online delivery business.

As we go further out on the risk curve, private unicorns are in dire straits too.

Taking a barometer of this subsector allows investors to digest the level of risk premium in the overall markets that can be applied to safer parts of the tech ecosphere through extrapolation techniques.

Venture capitalist Masayoshi Son is infamous for overpaying a slew of tech growth firms and in 2020, so far, it has not been kind to him.

Oyo allows customers to book hotel rooms in more than 80 countries through its app.

It even converts struggling local hotels into Oyo franchises, puts up some money to remodel the interior, and takes commission on every booking.

The startup is dumping 5% of its staff in China and another 12% of employees in India, as part of a reorganization.

Oyo is the third company in SoftBank's portfolio to shed jobs in a week, following the layoffs at robotic pizza startup Zume and car rental company Getaround.

Oyo has sucked in more than $3 billion in capital and the last insane tranche of investment values the company at more than $10 billion.

SoftBank has been throwing money at the company since 2015.

The firm is otherwise known as the "SoftBank's jewel in India" for being one of the country's most valuable private companies.

However, there has been a recent barrage of sub-optimal reports suggesting they have accelerated sales by underhanded business practices.

A peek into the firm showed explicit evidence that Oyo rented thousands of rooms at unlicensed hotels and guesthouses then allowing police and other officials use the service for free to avoid trouble with the authorities.

The pain for Softbank doesn’t just stop at Oyo, Rappi has been dragged down as well.

The Latin American delivery startup is laying off 6% of its workforce, less than a year after Japan’s SoftBank Group pumped in nearly $1 billion in the company.

Softbank is putting pressure on local management to trim the fat off their models and forcing them to become profitable now.

Rappi has expanded to nine countries since its founding in 2015.

It plans to be the swiss army knife of online deliveries by getting into groceries, restaurant meals, medication, furniture, and has even foolishly branched out into scooter rental, travel, and basic banking services.

Softbank plans to pour another $4 billion into South American startups but one must beg to ask, are they throwing good money on top of bad money?

Certainly seems so.

When asked how soon Rappi would turn in a profit, co-founder Sebastian Mejia was adamant that his sole priority was to grow fast, and that investors were on board with the plan.

This is code name for NEVER!

Softbank and its vision fund are set for more death by a thousand cuts in 2020, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time aggravates the mess they find themselves in.

Short all companies reliant on gig economy workers in the public markets and prepare for a gloomy IPO pipeline that will last through the end of 2020.

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/oyo-jan13-e1578921112729.png 250 450 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2020-01-13 08:02:552020-05-11 13:07:57The Death of the Gig Economy
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

November 6, 2019

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
November 6, 2019
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(THE NIGHTMARE THAT IS UBER),
(UBER), (LYFT)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2019-11-06 09:04:002019-11-06 08:56:28November 6, 2019
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

The Nightmare That is Uber

Tech Letter

As I stare at my trading screen, Uber (UBER) is down over 10% intraday after a better than horrendous earnings report.

I thought share prices go up if companies beat consensus estimates?

In most cases – yes.

But the market is telling us that they do not believe in Uber’s story.

Just because a company loses $1.2 billion which bettered last quarter’s loss of $5.2 billion doesn’t mean investors will handpick the stock and save it from falling through the cracks.

Parsing through the rest of the earnings report, there is not much to really hang your hat on.

First, Lyft (LYFT), its smaller and more targeted competitor, turned up the pressure on Uber claiming they will become profitable on an adjusted earnings basis at the end of 2021, which is a year ahead of its original projection.

This forced Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to hesitantly explain on a call that Uber’s management “hasn’t finalized planning” but is targeting being profitable for financial year 2021.

The claim is farfetched bordering on disingenuous and forcibly made because growth companies are effectively dead if they say it will take three years or more to become profitable.

The investing climate has changed that quickly thanks to Adam Neumann and the fallout at The We Company.

I would be more inclined to say that if Uber has a string of miraculous years with no adverse regulation against them, then there is a fractional chance they might become profitable by 2021.

Honestly, there was nothing that Uber showed me to make me think that I should consider investing in the company.

Momentum keeps slipping as we head into the day when 1.7 billion shares will become eligible for sale, roughly 90% of the total, and my guess is that investors will cut their losses.

Uber will have to gut many parts of the model to get to profitability and they have started the process by slashing employee costs cutting over 1,000 employees over the last quarter, or 2% of its entire workforce.

They will have to slash another 30% to get numbers on their side.

They might have to kill the parts of the business that aren’t delivering enough like Uber Freight and the autonomous driving unit.

The company still hasn’t found a solution for competing with taxi drivers without subsidizing each ride at a loss.

No matter how you dress it up, if the company can’t create solutions for this fundamental barrier to profits, investors will stay away.

It’s also a good reason for you and your money to stay away no matter how cheap Uber becomes.

It’s easy to envision if the state of California rebuffs the online food delivery firms' desire to put a cap on driver costs, that the stock could drop into the high teens.

Dara Khosrowshahi’s thesis of the scale and brand power working in Uber’s favor is flat out false.

Scale can be technology companies’ friend and savior, but when your company is literally a loss-making chauffeur service with zero competitive advantage, what is great about scaling that?

Sure, Uber is great for consumers especially in cities which have horrid public transport which is most of America.

I get that.

But Uber will either be forced to raise prices because they will pay the drivers more due to California law or because they lose too much money.

Who wants to hold a stock with these two crappy options on the near-term horizon?

If a gunman put a pistol to my head and asked me to invest in one, Lyft is the better option, it’s the lesser of two evils.

Yes, sadly we are at this point with these types of companies.

 

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2019-11-06 09:02:592020-05-11 12:22:49The Nightmare That is Uber
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

October 30, 2019

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
October 30, 2019
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(GRUBHUB'S TOXIC MEAL),
(GRUB), (UBER), (LYFT)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2019-10-30 10:44:002019-10-30 10:42:56October 30, 2019
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

GrubHub's Toxic Meal

Tech Letter

It took me precisely 28 days and not a day more.

That’s how long it took for my bearish call on desperate online food delivery company, GrubHub (GRUB) to come to fruition.

I wrote an overly negative report on the company which was published on October 2nd explaining why this company and its terrible unit economics were set for a rude awakening.

I usually don’t revisit the same company within the same month in this newsletter, but when I looked at the price this morning, it took me a few minutes to wrap my head around the 44% daily decline.

I will go one more step now and profusely recommend that nobody in their right mind should currently take any bullish positions on any company reliant on employing the gig economy.

The gig economy has been found out for what it is – an elaborate scheme enriching tech stakeholders while shorting American blue-collar labor.

Instead of proper wages flowing to the Uber driver or in this case the GrubHub driver, management has maneuvered its way through some nifty alternative classifications enabling companies to divert a chunk of capital back into the business model.

If these companies can’t make money with skimping on driver pay, how will they make money when American law mandates them to cover sick leave, paid vacations, health insurance, and overtime pay which could soon be coming?

And on top of the subsidies which add to the overall unit cost, how on earth will they piece together a solution that would satisfy shareholders?

Then mix the unworkable unit economics and fuse it with a boatload of competition and my conclusion is clear - profitability is a pipedream.

Buttressing my claims of unprofitability and market stagnation in a note to shareholders, the company admitted, “supply innovations in online takeout have been played out.”

The pitiful food delivery company slashed fourth-quarter revenue projections to between $315 million and $335 million making a mockery of the $387.3 million consensus.

The house of cards is finally collapsing.

Who is the competition?

There are three fierce contestants in UberEats, DoorDash and PostMates.

And to add even more spice inside the fajita, PostMates has recently shelved a planned 2019 IPO because of “market conditions,” a testament to the poor growth prospects for online food deliveries.

I believe no food delivery stock will ever go public again unless they revalue themselves 65% lower from today’s prices.

Much of the value in these companies is a mirage.  

To give GrubHub credit, they didn’t put up Chinese walls in their guidance and mentioned that competition is wreaking havoc detailing that their customers are not “extremely loyal.”

They should expect investors to not be extremely loyal either.

Existing customers are now price-shopping by surfing around different apps to take advantage of price promotions proving my point that these gig economy companies contribute minimal incremental value to the end user.

Their secret sauces are hardly secret.

These apps are commodities and yes, there is value in their proprietary algorithms, but by no means are the barriers of entry so colossal that it would take North Korean engineers 10 years to reverse-engineer these same algos.

And with wielding low-grade tech and resigned to “low double-digit” growth, the bullish case behind this stock and the industry as a whole becomes almost laughable.

Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight!

If Uber can perform miracles and reach $40 or if Lyft can snake its way up to $55, these would be the perfect entry points to scale into these cash burn disasters from the short side.

As for GrubHub, don’t buy the dead cat bounce.

 

 

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2019-10-30 10:42:572020-05-11 13:27:29GrubHub's Toxic Meal
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

September 6, 2019

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
September 6, 2019
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(SEPTEMBER 4 BIWEEKLY STRATEGY WEBINAR Q&A),
(INDU), (FXY), (FXB), (USO), (XLE), (TLT), (TBT),
(FB), (AMZN), (MSFT), (DIS), (WMT), (IWM), (TSLA), (ROKU), (UBER), (LYFT), (SLV), (SIL)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2019-09-06 04:04:392019-09-06 03:28:40September 6, 2019
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

September 4 Biweekly Strategy Webinar Q&A

Diary, Newsletter

Below please find subscribers’ Q&A for the Mad Hedge Fund Trader September 4 Global Strategy Webinar broadcast from Silicon Valley with my guest and co-host Bill Davis of the Mad Day Trader. Keep those questions coming!

 

Q: If Trump figures out the trade war will lose him the election; will he stop it?

A: Yes, and that is a risk that hovers over all short positions in the market at all times these days because stocks will soar (INDU) when the trade war ends. We now have 18 months of share appreciation that has been frustrated or deferred by the dispute with China. The problem is that the US economy is already sliding into recession and it may already be too late to turn it around.

Q: Do you see the British pound (FXB) dropping more on the Brexit turmoil? Do you think the UK will stay in the EU?

A: If the UK ends Brexit through an election, then the pound should recover from $1.19 all the way back up to $1.65 where it was before Brexit happened four years ago. If that does happen, it will be one of the biggest trades of the year anywhere in the world, going long the British pound. This is how I always anticipated it would end. I was in England for the Brexit vote and I was convinced that if they held the election the next day, it would have lost. The only reason it won was because nobody thought it would— a lot like our own 2016 election. That brings Britain back into the EEC, saves Europe, and has a positive impact on markets globally. So, this is a big deal. Not to do so would be economic suicide for Britain, and I think wiser heads will prevail.

Q: Do you think it’s a good idea for Saudi ARAMCO to go public in Japan as reports suggest?

A: When the Arabs want to get out of the oil business (USO), (XLE), you want to also. That’s what the sale of ARAMCO is all about. They’re going to get a $1 trillion or more valuation, raising $100 billion in cash. And guess who the biggest investors in alternative energy in California are? It’s Saudi Arabia. They see no future in oil, nor should you. This is why we’ve been negative on the sector all year. By the way, bankruptcies by frackers in the U.S. are at an all-time high, another indicator that low oil prices can’t be tolerated by the US industry for long.

Q: Is it time to buy the ProShares Ultra Short 20 year Plus Treasury Bond Fund (TBT)?

A: No, not yet; I think we’re going to break 1.33% — the all-time low yield for the (TLT) will probably be somewhere just below 1.00%. We probably won’t go to absolute zero because we still have a growing economy. The countries that already have negative interest rates have shrinking economies or are already in recession, like Germany or Great Britain can justify zero rates.

Q: Are you going to run all your existing positions into expiration?

A: I’m going to try to—it’s only 12 days to expiration, and we get to keep the full profit if we do. As long as the market is dead in the middle here, there are no other positions to put on, no extreme low to buy into or extreme high to sell into. It’s a question of letting this sort of nowhere-trend play out, but also there's nothing else to buy, so there is no need to raise cash. So, we’re 60% invested now and we’re going to try running as many of those into expiration as we can. Looks like all the long technology positions are safe (FB), (AMZN), (MSFT), (DIS). The only thing we’re pressing here are the shorts in Walmart (WMT) and Russell 2000 (IWM).

Q: Do you think it’s a good idea for Tesla (TSLA) to build another Gigafactory in Shanghai, China during a trade war? Will this blow up in Elon’s face?

A: I don’t think so because the Chinese are desperate for the Tesla technology and they just gave Tesla an exemption on import duties on all parts that need to go there to build the cars. So, that’s a very positive development for Tesla and I believe the stock is up about $10 since that news came out.

Q: Will Roku (ROKU) ever pull back? Would you buy it up here?

A: No, we recommended this thing last year at $40; it’s now up to $165, and up here it’s just wildly overbought, in chase territory. Of course, the reason that’s happening is that the big concern last year was Amazon wiping out Roku, yet they ultimately ended up partnering with Roku, and that’s worth about a 400% gain in the stock. You know the second you get into this, it’s over. There are just too many better fish to fry in the technology area.

Q: What happens if our existing Russell 2000 (IWM) September 2019 $153-$156 in-the-money vertical BEAR PUT spread Russell 2000 position closes between $156 and $153?

A: You lose money. You will get the Russell 2000 shares put to you, or sold to you at $153.00, which means you now own them, and you’ll get a big margin call from your broker for owning the extra shares. If ever it looks like we’re getting close to the strike price going into expiration, I come out precisely because of that risk. You don’t want random chance dictating whether you’re going to make money in your position or not going into expiration. If you’re worried about that, I would get out now and you can still come out with a nice profit. Or, you can always wait for another down day tomorrow.

Q: Is it time to get super aggressive shorting Lyft (LYFT) or Uber (UBER) when they openly admit that they won’t make a profit anytime in the near future?

A: The time to short Uber (UBER) and Lyft was at the IPO when the shares became available to sell. Down here I don’t really want to do very much. It’s late in the game and Uber’s down about one third from its IPO price. We begged people to stay away from this. It’s another example where they waited for the company to go ex-growth before it went public, but it didn’t leave anything for the public. It was a very badly mishandled IPO—it’s now at $31 against a $45 IPO price and was at a new all-time low just 2 days ago. You knew when they offered the drivers shares, the thing was in trouble. Sometime this will be a buy, but not yet. Go take a long nap first.

Q: Is the fact that rich people are hoarding cash a good indicator that a recession is approaching?

A: Yes, absolutely. Bonds yielding 1.45% is also an indication that the wealthy are hoarding cash from other investment and parking it in US treasury bonds. I went to the Pebble Beach Concourse d’ Elegance vintage car show a few weeks ago and all of the $10 million plus cars didn’t sell, only those priced below $100,000. That is always a good indicator that the wealthy are bailing ahead of a recession. If you can’t get a premium price for your vintage Ferrari, trouble is coming.

Q: Argentina just implemented currency controls; is this the start of a rolling currency crisis among emerging nations?

A: No, I believe the problems are unique to Argentina. They’ve adopted what is known as Modern Momentary Theory—i.e. borrowing and printing money like crazy. Unfortunately, this is unsustainable and results in a devalued currency, general instability, and the eventual hanging of their leaders from the nearest lamppost. This is exactly the same monetary policy that the Trump administration has been pursuing since he came into office. Eventually, it will lead to tears, ours, not his.

Q: Is the new all-electric Porsche Taycan a threat to Tesla?

A: No, it’s not. Their cheapest car is $150,000 and it gets one third less range than Tesla does. It’s really aimed at Porsche fanatics, and I doubt they will get outside their core market. In the meantime, Tesla has taken over the middle part of the electric market with the Model 3 at $37,000 a car. That’s where the money is, and Porsche will never get there.

Q: How will the US pull out of recession if the interest rates are at or below zero?

A: It won’t—that’s what a lot of economists are concerned about these days. With interest rates below zero, the Fed has lost its primary means to stimulate the economy. The only thing left to do is use creative means like feeding the economy with currency, which Europe has been doing for 10 years, and Japan for 30, with no results. That’s another reason to not allow rates to get back to zero—so we have tools to use when we go into a recession 12-24 months from now.

Q: What’s the best way to buy silver?

A: The ETF iShares Silver Trust (SLV) and, if you want to be aggressive, the silver miners with the Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL).

Q: Have global central banks ruined the western economic system as we know it for future generations?

A: They may have—mostly by printing too much money in the last 10 years in order to get us out of recession. This hasn’t really worked for Europe or Japan, mind you, though who knows how much worse off they would be if they hadn’t. What it did do here is head off a Great Depression. If we go back to money printing in a big way, however, and it doesn’t work, we will not have prevented a Great Depression so much as pushed it back 10 or 15 years. That’s the great debate ongoing among economists, and it will eventually be settled by the marketplace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/JT-with-snorkel-story-1-image-6-e1535059927176.jpg 267 350 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2019-09-06 04:02:202019-10-14 09:46:34September 4 Biweekly Strategy Webinar Q&A
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

August 9, 2019

Tech Letter

Mad Hedge Technology Letter
August 9, 2019
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(HIGH-RISK LYFT)
(LYFT), (UBER)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2019-08-09 01:04:092019-09-06 16:50:19August 9, 2019
Page 5 of 8«‹34567›»

tastytrade, Inc. (“tastytrade”) has entered into a Marketing Agreement with Mad Hedge Fund Trader (“Marketing Agent”) whereby tastytrade pays compensation to Marketing Agent to recommend tastytrade’s brokerage services. The existence of this Marketing Agreement should not be deemed as an endorsement or recommendation of Marketing Agent by tastytrade and/or any of its affiliated companies. Neither tastytrade nor any of its affiliated companies is responsible for the privacy practices of Marketing Agent or this website. tastytrade does not warrant the accuracy or content of the products or services offered by Marketing Agent or this website. Marketing Agent is independent and is not an affiliate of tastytrade. 

Legal Disclaimer

There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading. Past results are not indicative of future returns. MadHedgeFundTrader.com and all individuals affiliated with this site assume no responsibilities for your trading and investment results. The indicators, strategies, columns, articles and all other features are for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Information for futures trading observations are obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy, or warrant any results from the use of the information. Your use of the trading observations is entirely at your own risk and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of the information. You must assess the risk of any trade with your broker and make your own independent decisions regarding any securities mentioned herein. Affiliates of MadHedgeFundTrader.com may have a position or effect transactions in the securities described herein (or options thereon) and/or otherwise employ trading strategies that may be consistent or inconsistent with the provided strategies.

Copyright © 2025. Mad Hedge Fund Trader. All Rights Reserved. support@madhedgefundtrader.com
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • FAQ
Scroll to top