Category: Financial News

In this category, Latest Financial News visitors can find everything that Traders-Paradise finds it is related to the educational material existing here. As the name suggests it is news but ONLY related to Traders-Paradise’s tutorials, courses, guides about trading, and investing.

Here the readers can find posts and articles about recession and how to overcome it. Many trading or investing strategies are explained here. For example, why to use open interest strategy when investing, or growth stock investing strategy.
Here, our experts and journalist are taking examples from the real-life. it is usually breaking news, and use them to explain what is the best solution for traders and investors over a given time or related to the particular event.
Also in Latest Financial News readers can find an explanation of, for example, ratios useful to measure the particular market conditions.

Also, Traders-Paradise gives you some clues on how to react to changes in the markets, no matter if it is the stock market, the Forex market, or any other.
The main aim of the Latest Financial Market News is to connect the real events with the theory. Traders-Paradise uses real-life examples to explain the theoretical rules of investing and trading.
Also, when some breaking out news appear Traders-paradise will write about it but at the same time, the visitors will have a comprehensive analysis of what caused that event and how to overcome it.
Traders-Paradise hopes that this category will be very useful for its visitors and that they will find it helpful.

Tesla Shares are Rising on the New Plans

2 min read

Tesla shares are rising. After Tesla (TSLA) reported a record second-quarter car delivers, Jerome Guillen, its automotive president, announced the firm has a plan to make a big jump in production of electric cars. They are opening new hirings.

Bloomberg revealed Guillen’s email to employees: “The electric-car maker is “making preparations” to raise output at its factory in Fremont, California, Jerome Guillen, Tesla’s automotive president, wrote Tuesday. “While we can’t be too specific in this email, I know you will be delighted with the upcoming developments.”

“As we continue to ramp up production, please tell your friends and neighbors that we have lots of exciting new positions open, both in Fremont and at Giga,” Guillen wrote in the email to employees.

According to Guillen’s email, the previous problems with Tesla cars are fixed. In this email, he wrote the Tesla: “hit new records in all production lines for output and efficiency,” and added that “quality is also reaching record highs.”

In the first six months of this year, Tesla sold more than 67,500 new Model 3 in the US market. Tesla’s rivals sold at the same time from 3,500 to 8,500 units of their hybrids.

This new email can be a terrifying moment for them.

As a consequence, Tesla shares are rising on that Guillen’s report that it will boost production.

In the last trading day, Friday, last week Tesla’s shares rose to $245,06 from Thursday’s close of $238,60 a share.

But nothing is so easy with Tesla.

Tesla Inc. and Apple Inc. both assume they were betrayed by an engineer who defected to the same Chinese startup. They both accused an engineer who operated on its Autopilot program of taking the extremely secret files when he quit and start to work for.

XMotors.ai is the U.S. research unit of Guangzhou-based Xpeng.

A few days ago, Tesla asked for Apple’s cooperation in a prosecute. Tesla sued the mentioned engineer.

The lawsuit is filed to a court last week.

Tesla requires insight into the engineer’s emails and forensic examination on his electronic devices. The company revealed that it has also assisted the iPhone maker with a subpoena.

The documents Tesla asks from Apple aren’t specified in the filing, it is obvious that they have a mutual opponent in Xpeng.

Last July, one of Apple’s hardware engineers was prosecuted for similar reasons, he shifted to work for this Chinese company and took the secret data with him. The engineer has declared not guilty.

Guangzhi Cao, the former Tesla engineer, confirmed in a court filing that he downloaded Tesla’s Autopilot-related source code to his private iCloud account, but rejected wrongdoing.

Elon Musk’s automaker overcame Wall Street expectations. Tesla is expected to report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 7.

“While we can’t be too specific in this email, I know you will be delighted with the upcoming developments,” Guillen said.

Tesla Motors increased 2.72% in the last trading day, Friday, 12th Jul 2019. The share price rose from $238.60 to $245.08.

Moreover, the share price increased at 9.98% in the last 2 weeks.

Along with the price, the volume has grown too. In total, 1.62 million more shares were traded in comparison wit the day before.

This exactly means, 9.08 million shares were traded for almost $2 224.42 million.

The bottom line

Tesla shares are rising and Traders-Paradise opinion about Tesla as an investment is positive. Yes, we know, Tesla had some problems.

If you are seeing the stocks with a solid return, Tesla can be a valuable investment choice. Based on their plans we anticipate a long-term gain. For five year investment, your return can be almost 13%, meaning if you invest $100 now, after 5 years your investment will be about $113 worth.

Billionaire investor Ron Baron predicted that Tesla’s stock will touch $1,000 by 2020.

This means that Tesla’s stock could be traded between $500 and $600 next year. This indicates that there is an upside potential of at least 35%.

As we wrote about a month ago Tesla shares drop but it could a 50% grow within a month

14th July 2019
Bitcoin price, Trump or How Do You Understand All of This

3 min read

Bitcoin has been growing of the new week after a drowsy weekend. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve revealed the chance of Bitcoin becoming the globally dominant currency. Hence, the current reserve assets could be worthless, admitted Fed.

Let’s see first how Bitcoin performed in the past days. The Bitcoin price showed bullish signs this past week. But why now seems all of that real energy has vanished once again. What can we expect in the following days?

Take the quiz at the end!!!

Bitcoin made a drastic turnaround from where it was six months ago. At that time the prices pined around $3,500. But enthusiasm over broader mainstream approval has increased the hum about cryptocurrencies. The result was: the prices have the flight.

John McAfee made a bet on July 17th, 2017: One single Bitcoin would be worth $ 500,000.00 in three years. Later he made some corrections and foretold $ 1 million by the end of 2020.

Is that prediction really reasonable?

Bitcoin price is about $11,300. To gain $1 million by the end of 2020, BTC should have a permanent-growth rate of almost $ 0,5 per day starting from the price level $2, 250 how much it was in 2017. on McAfee’s date of prediction.

Yes, Bitcoin price so often changes the value so the 0,5% doesn’t sound too much. The charm of exponential increase.

Bitcoin is limited. There is 21 Million BTC. Period. You see, we have more millionaires on this planet. There are not enough Bitcoins for each of them.

The principle of how Bitcoin rise is simple.

The more people are buying it, the price is higher.

The market capitalization of bitcoin is still small. Of course, if we make a comparison to the stock market or gold for example.

There is no need to buy one Bitcoin as a whole. You can buy a part of a bitcoin, so-called bits. And what will happen? The more people are buying, the price will grow more.

There is no need to buy one Bitcoin as a whole.

You can buy a part of a bitcoin, so-called bits. And what will happen? The more people are buying, the price will grow more. Moreover, the popular fiat banking system is too complicated and you will find that bitcoin is a lot more practical. The price will jump again.

Bitcoin against the politicians

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he’s “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies. Moreover, he recommended that Facebook may need a banking license if the company wants to launch Libra. Sic!

May any president have an influence on crypto?

Well, Bitcoin doesn’t care about their opinions.

Anyway, Mr. Trump tweeted:

Take the quiz at the end of the post!!!

… and about Facebook’s Libra

In the past 24 hours, the price of Bitcoin rose 7,9%.

The other cryptocurrencies recorded even higher increases. Ethereum rose nearly 8% and Monero more than 13%.

And BTC against the dollar marked changes that should cause the upsets. According to CoinDesk: it touched an unusual of $12,033.74 and a low of $11,142.79. Who won’t be worried?

Bitcoin did not respect Trump’s anti-crypto comments.

We saw the last trading! After Trump’s tweets, the BTC price was higher for 1% in one day, the price was $11,447.

Even more, crypto doesn’t care about the Fed’s opinion.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell talked largely about Facebook’s Libra.

Powell accented that before proceeding, Facebook needs to address “serious concerns” in regards to “privacy, money laundering, consumer protection, and financial stability.”

Same old words!

The bottom line

What we can say about the future of Bitcoin price is that there are some chances to drop below $11,000. The crypto market is well-known as volatile. But it can rise to $16,000 also to the end of July.

This old guy is smarter than we think and no one should underestimate a possibility to surprise us. Moreover, many traders expect exactly that. The price to go up.

12th July 2019
Christine Lagarde as an EBC head: Good or bad for cryptocurrencies future?

2 min read

Christine Lagarde, a new ECB head is remarkably pro-crypto.

Investors and advocates of Bitcoin and the crypto markets have long held that the zenith of adoption the crypto would come when authorities and central banks started becoming friendly towards the new technologies.

The new head of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde is pro-crypto. Can it be good or bad for cryptocurrencies?

Previously, she has shown a huge interest in crypto and how the new tech can help develop tomorrow’s overall economy.

Will this help to promote acceptance of cryptocurrencies?

Christine Lagarde has promoted for state-backed digital currencies.

She said it could improve the capability of such state’s economy.

“I believe we should consider the possibility to issue digital currency. There may be a role for the state to supply money to the digital economy,” she told at the Singapore Fintech Festival Nov. 14.

If done correctly, central bank-issued digital currencies could “could satisfy public policy goals,” she noticed, specifically “financial inclusion,” “security and consumer protection,” and “privacy in payments.”

During the speech in Singapore, Lagarde meantime persisted on the “downsides” of CBDCs, too

“I would also like to highlight the risks of stifling innovation — the last thing you want. My main point will be that we should face these risks creatively.”

We must be honest, the new ECB boss is more open to centralized crypto selections than to decentralized ones, like Bitcoin. She has supported already for state-backed cryptocurrencies and tokens like XRP and JPM coin. Maybe, she just needs more encouragement. We will see. It isn’t possible for any traditional bank to support the crypto, but to embrace its existence and allow using in transactions would be very useful, both for the bankers and crypto-owners.

Lagarde supports

Last year, in February, Lagarde in an interview for CNNMoney said that “the trend showed a “herd mentality” of those looking for high yield products as well as an element of speculation.”

Lagarde continued that this trend was also fired by “dark activity.” That was explained by the potential for cryptocurrencies to be “used for money laundering and other illegal online activities due to their anonymous nature.”

We can’t argue with this opinion because it is true. But, also, the regulation would be helpful. The difficult part, someone can think, is how to provide for crypto to remain anonymous and regulated. Well, it isn’t too hard. The hard part is how to avoid dark activity. Fiat showed less capability.

Lagarde has said that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could develop financial markets. She especially pointed to the speed and security of transactions.

We are sure that Lagarde’s main interest will not be the adoption of cryptocurrencies. She will have some bigger difficulties in the EU monetary system and economy. But, also, we have to notice that Lagarde is opened toward new technologies such as blockchain and it is very good. It can be promising for the crypto in the future. Christine Lagarde on the head of the ECB can have a very positive influence on the crypto industry and market in whole.

For now, for those of us who truly believe that the future for cryptos is coming, it is good news that Christine Lagarde’s opinions about Bitcoin are positive.

8th July 2019
Pixel trackers: Invisible e-mail tool tracks you

3 min read

Is it sure that an app named Superhuman allows me to spy on people using their email?

Yes, it is true. If you have this app, meaning you pay that $30 per month, your new app automatically tracked every single recipient to whom you send an email. Moreover, you can see the recipient’s location. Superhuman uses invisible pixel trackers, revealed Mike Davidson, former VP of design at Twitter, on his blog.

You’ve been spied too if your sender uses the same app.

What Superhuman was doing with email trackers is despite your intention. It did it thanks to tracking pixel.

What are the Pixel trackers?

Let’s explain! Every image across the internet is stored on the server. While you browse, your computer automatically downloads them. Well, some artist found that automatically downloads can let the same servers to track you and follow you all over the web. Whatever you do, your downloads, your browsings. And emails are not excluded. These trackers provide your sender to see when you open the received message by stealing in an image.

It’s so simple when you open a received email you practically open the image and download it. At the same moment, the server knows what are you doing and provide that information to the sender. You cannot lie you didn’t have time to open their messages. They know you did. That is exactly what tracking pixels do to you.

That is one problem. The other is how to spot them.

Tracking pixels could be found under the names: a web-beacon, web bug, tracking bug, tag, web tag, page tag, tracking pixel, pixel tag, said Wikipedia.

You will probably never see the tracking pixel with your eyes because they can really be an only 1 x 1-pixel image.

Usually, it is hidden someplace in an email or webpage. Moreover, they are transparent, so we can say they are totally invisible. And where to look for them? They can be anywhere from the sender’s name to the font they use.

Anything that delivers a request to a faraway server can be recognized as a tracking tool.

Are there additional sorts of pixels tracking us?

Maybe your phone via Google Pixel?

This was years old, we said that. So why to be upset about this old technology now?

Somewhat because a lot of people don’t understand that tracking pixels breathe. It’s okay, there is nothing wrong with that.

But when Twitter VP wrote a blog post he spotted that Superhuman was giving users information about people’s locations. And this tool did it just by transferring them an email by default.

So, what’s wrong to know if people have viewed your emails? You send them with such purpose, right?

All messaging apps have read receipts and they are helpful.

Messenger has something similar to tracking pixels. This means you and the recipient can certainly see whether your messages are being read or ignored. That’s okay, too.

But using Superhuman, we are allowing a complete stranger to have the ability to send us an email and force us to reveal our location every time we open that email. Moreover, without our permission and knowing. This sounds reasonably bad.

How do pixel trackers operate? How they can recognize our location?

Via IP addresses, probably. That tracking pixel from a server registers your IP address, that is how the internet knows where your computer is situated materially and digitally. And it isn’t so complicated for someone to find your home address by using your IP. Creepy, indeed.

There is a potential danger.

For example, if it is so easy to reveal are you at home or not, you might become a victim of thefts.

Spamming and phishing can utilize the system to know which email subjects force you to click. Do you really want to let some random character on the internet tracking your moves by sending some emails?

There is no need for triangulation the data. Your browser cookies can apparently pass along your online profile. Sounds scary, really.

Superhuman isn’t the only company practicing pixel trackers.

Gmail users are pretty safe because Google reroutes everything through its own proxy servers.

Tracking pixels will still know when you’ve read an email, but they will not be able to see your location or your profile because they can’t see your IP or cookies. All they can see is Google’s IP.

TP found some good instruction on how to protect your privacy. Yes, you can always use browser extensions like Ugly Email and PixelBlock. They will find pixel trackers before you open your email. Moreover, they will eliminate them completely.

But, also, you can use this instruction How to Stop Email Tracking.

Meanwhile, Superhuman has issued an excuse, states it will no more track location, and will turn read receipts off by default, active immediately.

Keep your eyes on them, anyway.

4th July 2019
Slack Technologies Inc rose 48% on Thursday after its Wall Street debut

2 min read

This start-up company started in a direct listing rather than an initial public offering.

The company decided to appear on a direct listing on the stock market, refusing the use of conventional advisers to manage the price of new stocks.

That initiated the chance of wild swings in the price. The traders always try to estimate where the shares force settle.

This increase in the share price placed the value of the company at $25bn.

In an interview on CNBC, Slack chief executive officer Stewart Butterfield said:

“The big thing for us was in the traditional IPO, it’s the company that’s offering shares, you might raise, you know, a billion dollars or something like that. When you raise a billion dollars, you dilute existing shareholders, by issuing new shares. So, we are not doing that. We’re just opening it up for trading.”

This approach takes some risk

We must say that listing shares straight brings some risks. For example, Slack chose not to engage underwriters to hold shares that a company is incapable to sell through its IPO to guarantee a triumphant debut.

Shares of Slack began trading above the $26 reference price. The price was settled by the NYSE. As of 1:23 p.m. ET, the shares were higher by 60.15% and jumped to $41.62. Still, the stock reversed to close the session with up $12.62, or 48.54% to $38.62 a share.

Slack is not the first company that chose this method. It is the second big tech firm to go the shortest path. Spotify used this way to appear to the market last year.

Slack is the unicorn

Slack is one of the unicorns that surpassed market expectations on their first day of trading. Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND), Chewy (NYSE: CHWY), CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD), Fiverr (NYSE: FVRR), Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), and software company Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) also went public in past several weeks and had solid debuts.

Following the example of many tech companies, Slack debuted with a dual-class structure. Class B shares holding 10 votes per share to consolidate voting power among its top shareholders. According to Slack’s prospectus, Accel is the largest shareholder at 24%. The other is Andreessen Horowitz with a 13.3% stake and Social Capital at 10.2%. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield holds an 8.6% stake and SoftBank holds 7.3%.

Slack has never made a profit.

Although revenue rose 80% to $400m in 2018, losses were $144m.

Slack announced a net loss of $138.9 million on the income of $400.55 million for the last year. From the beginning of this year, Slack told it had over 10 million daily active users and that number of paid clients increase 49% year over year. Slack also has large growth from its highest-paying customers. Their customers pay over $100,000. The number of customers in that class increased 93% last year in comparison with fiscal 2018, according to the prospectus.

Slack’s profile

Slack Technologies Inc is a business technology company. Its offer is Slack app that supports people, devices, and data to cooperate and run the businesses.

Slack is useful to overcome communication and coordination works in order to manage the company’s activity. It provides to diversified industries: Engineering, IT, Customer Support, Project Management, Sales, Marketing and Human Resources.

Slack started as an in-house tool for Butterfield’s company Tiny Speck through the development of Glitch, an expired online game.

risk disclosure

21st June 2019
Forex market today: Mario Draghi has guts

4 min read

EU Forex market

Mario Draghi, the ECB President, declared that the asset purchase program still has significant capacity. Draghi is well-known as a man who talks down the euro even when Interest rates could drop more. The euro is dropping a 1/3 of 1% against the dollar which is around 50 pips. The stock markets are moving healthily into the green.

On the 4-hour chart from Wednesday, 19/6/2019, we can see a break of the 61.8 fib level. This may submit the downtrend continues but after this a downturn, it wouldn’t be surprising that an early reversal correction may hit the 78.6 fibs, around 1.1150.

Symptoms of trend exhaustion could be attractive.

The bond yield is falling, and the German 10-year running record is low. This trend is continuing from early October last year.

Mario Draghi said that the Eurozone economy would need new expansionary actions if its future growth and inflation forecasts turned out to be just as weak. The ECB is ready to reduce interest rates and resume asset purchases.

UK market

The British pound is still suffering due to the possibility of “hard” Brexit. The attitude of financial markets will depend on upcoming economic events. Today, the Bank of England will decide on the interest rate.

US Forex market

The US dollar dropped lightly against the basket of major currencies. It is expected the regulator to hold the interest rate at the current level of 2.25-2.5%. Yet, it is likely that in July the Fed will decrease the interest rate due to the situation in the global economy which shows all signs of weakness. The US dollar index was closed in the negative zone (-0.25) on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump accused the ECB, and the Chinese government, for the effort to reduce their national currencies to obtain a rival advantage over the US.

Many people are asking themselves is Forex market a scam. We provide you the answer from a professional trader.

The Forex market isn’t a scam it is an important part of our lives

by Hans Stam

Many people are asking if Forex is a scam, so it might be a good thing to take a look at this Question.

Currency Trading in itself is not a scam, however, that answer really is too short.

There are some things you really should know.

Forex trading is a way to trade currencies against each other and that in itself is Legit.

This is just a matter of Trading Currency value against each other.

Then there are Brokers who offer you the Platforms to actually Trade.

All I really like to say about that in public is that there really is a reason the FCA regulations are in place.

Once you have opened and funded an account, you are ready to go

Then why?

… do people think it is a scam.

Many, many Traders lose a lot of money and I do know why.

Most of the time you will get answers like, you really need to work hard, or you have to study until you drop.

But really, where are their credentials?!

And once they are starting to make some money, most blow it by becoming too confident and greedy.

You do not have to be one of them.

As you may have read in the previous post about mentorship, you can skip all the nonsense and go right for the profit.

Unfortunately not many are actually prepared to do what needs to be done and rather stay ignorant and keep on trying to let others think for them.

It’s a waste of your time and money!

Action!

There is an incredible amount of information about Trading Forex, but it all starts with you taking action.

What do you want to do, and how would that influence your life?

Will you set up a plan of action? Who will you contact, and what are you prepared to do to reach your goals?

In previous articles, there are already a lot of tips on how to start, and it would take you less than a day to read and understand it.

It will change your life if you take yourself seriously and take action.

I advise you to look for the best info you can gather and make a decision, is this for you or not?

If it’s not, then don’t do anything, but if it is, start making contact and go from there.

Help!

There are good people here willing to help you, so why not take advantage of the opportunity presented to you?

You can always decide later if this is a golden opportunity for you or that you have lost faith in the jungle of opinions.

Right now, all the articles you can read here are free, all it takes is a bit of your focus and time to help yourself.

Will you become one of the few percents of people who have read this information, and actually took the help that’s here for you?

Most of you don’t so, let this be a very personal question to you.

Are you the one?

Are you the one of the very few that is ready to go for it?

Are you ready to spend the next 20 years creating something amazing?

Time will pass no matter if you do or don’t. So it really is a matter of you choosing today what you will be tomorrow.

If Forex is not for you, are you already satisfied with the research you have done to base your opinion on?

Will you join the crowd that thinks Forex is a Scam or will you start your plan to change?

I do realize this will take you out of your comfort zone, and not many have the courage to do that, but if you want to change, that’s exactly what you will need to do.

Educate yourself, read the articles, take action.

The bottom line

The forex market is the biggest, most liquid global market with an average daily trading volume exceeding $5 trillion. All the world’s stock markets together can’t even come close to this. The tremendous number of $5 trillion covers the complete global foreign exchange market. But daily trading volume from retail traders makes up between 5-6% of overall volume, or between $300-400 billion. So, you see, there are so many spaces for new traders.

Bookmark Traders Paradise for new articles, contact whoever can help you, start today or put it back on the shelf to forget about it. And don’t forget to follow the Educational series by Hans Stam

To your success!

20th June 2019
Facebook’s Libra – Is it Cryptocurrency at all?

The doubts due to Facebook “Project Libra” are understandable because it looks Libra won’t be decentralized as a regular cryptocurrency.

Facebook’s Libra could be the new digital currency. Facebook finally announced its cryptocurrency plans. “Project Libra,” a new variety of digital money created for Facebook’s apps and social network users. That means we would be able to make purchasing and send the currency Libra on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Also, MasterCard, Uber, and Spotify should give such a possibility.

Some other merchants are involved too.

But, Libra isn’t as decentralized as a regular cryptocurrency. Hence we can talk about trust in new crypto. We all know that crypto is all about trust.

Satoshi Nakamoto wrote about the Bitcoin system. “The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust.”

The basic sense of using crypto is that we don’t trust financial authority.

Libra is a totally Facebook project. Facebook experts created the blockchain and selected the associates that will handle it. Libra wallets will be installed in Facebook apps.

What does it mean?

The trust in Facebook’s Libra

After all, we experienced it? Don’t we? Facebook has a lot of problems with trust. But let’s stay with Libra.

Libra is announced as crypto, which should mean full decentralization. That is the power of cryptocurrencies. But Libra will be under Facebook’s control, under the control of one of the most powerful companies in the world. Can we still talk about the essence of crypto nature if Libra scores success in the future? From our point of view, it may be the end of one of the most important characteristics of cryptocurrencies – decentralization.

Further, this new crypto operates via licensed blockchain which will cause that the right to mine Libra will have only companies included in Libra Association. So, what we have there? Libra Association as a central bank? The developers tried to explain that as an intention to avoid Libra to use so much power needed for bitcoin mining. The nice intention, but at the same time, it will provide the Libra Association in controlling the currency’s stability supported by a reserve of bonds and liquid money.

The implementation of blockchain technology has sense. It will provide clear transactions fast.

But, here is the point where the matter of trust in Facebook’s Libra arises.

If you don’t trust your local central banks, why should you trust Mastercard?

Libra will change its nature. It will not be permissioned forever, says the separated document, where the further plans are revealed. Libra Association will be open to more members. After five years, Libra would switch to the permissionless mode. That would happen after some problems with scalability have been solved. Can you point any example that blockchain has ever gone from permissioned to permissionless? This explanation looks more like buying time to solve the problem in the hope that the future will bring new solutions in technical improvements. That promise seems like a trick. Why?

When you start using the centrally managed blockchain you must face that users will not trust you.

This promise is actually selling the fog

Why? Unlike Bitcoin and other public blockchains, only foundation members will be permitted to run a node.

Facebook’s ambitious plan to bring cryptocurrency to the masses is recognized, and we don’t have a problem with that. But we have plenty of reasons to be skeptical. Why they are launching this crypto knowing that the problem of trust will arise? On what they are counting? Yes, they promise that the problem with centralized crypto will be solved later. So, if they are aware of it and know how to solve, why this rush? Guys, fix it, you already have a trustworthy model, just implement it.

Facebook did not present specifics regarding when and how users will get ahold of the currency. All we have is the executive’s confirmation it will first be shared on Messenger and WhatsApp in 2020.

The company also said something about a new digital wallet called Calibra. The digital wallet will be managed by Facebook as a separate subsidiary. It will have the possibility for users to store and spend Libra.

Calibra won’t be accessible to the people for months

Moreover, this digital wallet will not show you the value in Libra currency, the value will be displayed in your local fiat. The design will be similar to Venmo.

According to David Marcus, who is on the head of Project Libra for Facebook, one of the main goals is to approach to 1.7 billion people globally who don’t have access to the banking system.

“It’s an anomaly that the Internet has no protocol for money,” Marcus said.

“You’ll see banks on this between now and next year, because if we bring on another billion people, they’ll need savings accounts, loans, and things banks are very good at,” Marcus says. Facebook also plans to reduce money transfer fees and transaction fees through Calibra.

As a conclusion, it is very questionable if the Libra is cryptocurrency at all. It will have a very strong connection with the fiat. Moreover, it is backed by a reserve of low-risk assets to avoid volatility, as Facebook’s representatives explained. These “low-risk assets” are actually fiat: dollar, euro, Swiss coin.

The point is that we can transfer our dollars or whatever to Libra, but the amount will ever be shown in given fiat, never in Libra. So we couldn’t talk about true crypto. It is digital money only because it is not tangible.

And there is a wallet named Calibra where the Libra is supposed to be stored.

Behind this, according to some experts, this system could provide Facebook access to extremely large financial information. Having Facebook’s reputation on our mind, can we trust that such information will not be misused? With very strong reason we have some doubts.

On the other hand, we are dealing with the most powerful company in the world.

Is it worth to take part?

Libra can be useful for purchasing via FB apps and associates. We all can expect some discounts or something similar for users in order to promote the new digital money. And the other powerful participants are in play, as we mentioned above. So, for short term or periodical used, Libra is useful. As a long-term investment, we are not sure. But we are very sure that Facebook’s Libra is a manifestation of banks’ blemishes.

Images Credit: Libra Association official website

19th June 2019
Clients are Fleeing Neil Woodford Amidst Scramble for Liquidity

2 min read

Neil Woodford has frozen his flagship fund, the Equity Income Fund after it shrunk by £600m during May and the Kent County Council attempted to pull out its £263m investment

Since May 3, when Neil Woodford has decided to suspend his flagship equity income fund, shares of the sister fund, the Patient Capital Trust Fund, have dropped for 25%. This underperformance of the stock market-listed fund was caused by concerns over bad market bets of the suspended equity income fund. Bad performance of Woodford’s healthcare investment, combined with more than £187m in redemptions, has shrunk the value of the fund’s portfolio from £4.3bn to £3.7bn. To those familiar with health-care investments records of once-lauded UK investor this may seem as expected. But for the general public, it comes as surprise news about the fund which was valued at one point in 2017 as much as £10.2bn.

Surprising news

According to regulatory fillings Woodford has found himself under mounting pressure to cash in investments in a scramble for liquidity. But already underperforming stocks see their prices pushed downward by these sales, which in turn forces Woodford to sell more. In the 6 months before the suspension of equity income fund, companies in which Woodford has positions have performed abysmally. E-Therapeutics has fallen 75%, Circassia 69%, Autolus 54%, Theravance 41%, IP Group 30%.

And there are indications that other investors in these entities have planned to cut their positions in them even before Woodford’s sale pushed prices down. Market participants seem to be expecting a wave of forced sales from Woodford, with reports of some hedge fund managers taking short positions against his investments. Troubles for Woodford are very likely to get worse before it gets better.

Troubles for Neil Woodford

And those troubles are spilling over to the patient capital trust fund, FTSE 250-listed fund, in which at least three UK local government pension funds have investments. Around £10m in investments which contribute to funding retirement benefits for former local government employees, such as school teachers, councilors, and so on. While the investments of council pension funds of Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, and Dyfed; are small compared to the overall size of their pension schemes, £21.7bn, there is a considerable risk of posting a loss if the councils decide to sell before the price recovers. This risk is raising public concern over whether the local councils should be making decisions concerning large, risky investments. The concern which is in large informed by the experience of more than £1bn lost in investments by local councils into Iceland banks in 2008.

The Woodford’s reputation is questionable

The suspension of equity income fund means that, for at least 28 days, the retail investors will be unable to cash out their investments. This development has prompted the stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown to remove Woodford’s fund from their Wealth 50 list of suggested funds. This move is a considerable blow to Woodford’s reputation as Hargreaves Lansdown only six months ago owned around 30% of fund’s shares.

Many industry experts say that two reasons are to be blamed for Woodford’s malaise. First being the bad bets on UK stocks, which have taken a hit after the Brexit vote. One such is the investment in outsourcer Kier, whose stock fell by 41% on June 3 causing Woodford’s equity income fund £37m loss. The second cited reason is an investment in illiquid stocks. A situation which Woodford is attempting to rectify. According to the Reuters analysis of Woodford’s firm has already sold or transferred at least £808m in the UK listed companies.

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18th June 2019
Bitcoin rose and hit One-Year High

2 min read

Bitcoin rose and hit over $9,000. This is its highest since May 2018.

This new high is perhaps caused by Facebook’s reveals to launch its crypto. Such an event added more optimism and confidence about the future of cryptocurrencies in general because it showed that digital money is going to be adopted by big companies.

The biggest cryptocurrency climbed as much as 9.4%. Other crypto coins also rose: Litecoin for 4.4% and Ethereum for 4%.

Cryptocurrencies price chart

Let’s stay with Bitcoin.

Bitcoin rose more than 130% in 2019 and has almost doubled in value. How did it happen?

The big companies like Facebook expanded or revealed that have plans, to their offering of cryptocurrency services.

It seems that Facebook’s plan to launch a digital currency is pushing people toward Bitcoin.

June 18th is tomorrow ( the date that Facebook planned to reveal more details about new digital asset) and we will have full public information. Previously, Facebook announced the plan to release a white paper for “Libra” or “Globalcoin”. This should be on June 18th as they said.

FOMO effect

Jeremy Allaire, the chief executive of Circle, tweeted the launch of Libra (whitepaper) will be a “massive inflection point in the global adoption of cryptocurrency.”

This entrepreneur said that by June 21st, he expects for Bitcoin to be valued at $10,000, “marking [the] start of Crypto Summer.”

Yes, $10,000 is a fine number, but many see it as a pivotal level for the Bitcoin price.

When Bitcoin rose to this level, and that time isn’t so far, FOMO will favor the crypto market.

Bitcoin chart

If you can recall the time when BTC went over $4,500 you know what we are talking about. This means that the price of Bitcoin and other cryptos will go higher, more above $10,000 and they will do it very fast.

For proponents, this is great news and event worth waiting for. There are so many emotions in the game. Just try to read everything on Twitter. Bitcoiners will be glad to see the opponents frustrated and to see FOMO from those who celebrated when BTC dropped about 90 %.

What will they feel about those who believed that Bitcoin is dead forever?

The Wall Street analysts stated that once $10,000 is broken trough, there will be a “fast and furious” progress to $20,000. Taking that new value as the new position, it looks more obvious that Bitcoin can double the price in the following several months.

The price of $40,000 sounds pretty good, don’t you think?

Some have a different opinion

However, there are some that deny this pleasant emotion about Libra and bright influence on Bitcoin.

Peter Schiff, investor, and libertarian-leaning economist speculated that Facebook’s Libra project will be “bad news” for Bitcoin.

This famous cryptocurrency critic, who claims that BTC has no intrinsic value and thus is not better than hard gold (Schiff is a prominent gold investor), calculates that Libra will be much stabler, cheaper, and more easy-to-use than Bitcoin.

And yes, that is exactly what Facebook promised about Libra,

low fees, fast transfer and a level of stability not seen with Bitcoin.

Behind this promise is the idea that the new cryptocurrency will be secured with traditional currencies and other ‘steady’ assets.

The bottom line

All is math. Bitcoin was $2,634 on June 16, 2017. Say you bought some BTC at that time. Now, you have an almost tripled return after 2 years. Bad investment? Never dare to say that. Sudden and fast ups and downs, yes. That’s the nature of Bitcoin and any other cryptocurrency.

And speaking about Bitcoin’s future, as Nelson Mandela said: “It always seems impossible until is done.”

risk disclosure

17th June 2019
Project Libra: Facebook’s new currency based on a blockchain

3 min read

Project Libra is the internal name for Facebook’s plan to launch its own cryptocurrency. For now, it is known that it should be a stablecoin backed by government currency.

Facebook has still to state those plans about Project Libra openly. But media news about its crypto aims has risen over the past half year or so. Now, since the information is secret, we have part of them. The very well-known part is that Facebook has been planning ways of how to capitalize on blockchain technology.

Did you update your WhatsApp? Do it now!

Former PayPal president David Marcus is on the head of the team that has to build this asset-backed crypto. As far as we know, that crypto will be made to operate within Facebook’s messaging infrastructure such as WhatsApp, FB Messenger, and Instagram.

Facebook has planned blockchain long time ago

Facebook will represent plans about Libra this summer, as it is assumed. Mark Zuckerberg has already talked to Bank of England governor Mark Carney.

The discussion was about the potentialities and risks involved in launching a crypto-currency.

Facebook has also asked details and advice on regulatory issues from the US Treasury.

Facebook’s plan is to launch a full payments network including Visa, Mastercard, payments processors such as First Data as well as large e-commerce merchants. This social network asked them to support the launch with $1 billion in investments collectively.

Facebook is trying to involve these firms in order to provide support and strengthen a stablecoin that will be connected with the payments network.

The main goal is to eliminate credit card fees for merchants. Also, to avoid the volatility of bitcoin and ether.

Facebook is also in consultations with money transfer firms like Western Union because it tries to find cheaper and faster alternatives for people who don’t have bank accounts.

How will Facebook’s Libra work?

Will we have a new icon after Project Libra finished?

Facebook aspires to design a cryptocurrency that gives secure ways of making payments, notwithstanding users have or not have a bank account.

They are expecting to upset the other networks by cutting financial limits. The new Libra is good for competing with banks and decreasing user’s costs. The point is that this project will provide people to change dollars and other foreign currencies into its stablecoin. That’s why the arrangement with other banks is necessary.

In the next several weeks a group of co-founders would launch the Swiss-based association in the coming weeks, as it is expected.

Meanwhile, Facebook bans all cryptocurrency ads.

According to the Financial Times, it is still unclear how Facebook’s cryptocurrency will be issued, stored, and transferred.

Libra will be valued on a fiat

Geneva’s commercial register displays Libra Networks was registered on May 2 with Facebook Global Holdings as a stakeholder. Reuters first reported the development.

You would like to know which money app to use in 2019

The LLC is attempting to develop software and infrastructure connected with investment activities and data analysis. Among other services, there are some relating to finance and technology, according to the register.

Facebook has not yet confirmed the foundation of Libra Networks.

What we know is Facebook Global Holdings is a stockholder in the new company and it will, according to Reuters, “provide financial and technology services and develop related hardware and software, plans submitted on the Swiss register reveal.”

More about Project Libra

Facebook’s shift to crypto has been gradual and constant. Facebook’s latest move, was the hiring of two Coinbase compliance managers. That happened on May 14.

Blockchain expert David Gerard said that Facebook would get access to important spending data by creating its own payment system.

The question is why Facebook needs that, instead to use some conventional payment platform.

Garrick Hileman, a researcher at the London School of Economics, said the Libra project could be one of the most important developments in the short history of cryptocurrencies.

He estimated that around 30 million people use cryptocurrencies. And Facebook has 2.4 billion monthly users. So, just count!

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risk disclosure

6th June 2019