Article: Is Elon Musk’s Toxic Reign Coming to an End?

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Is Elon Musk’s Toxic Reign Coming to an End?

Tim Fries, 10 July 2021

Afew years ago, no one would have expected for one man to introduce so much volatility into the crypto space. Elon Musk filled that ignoble role, but everything has its expiry date.

What Did Elon Musk Do to Deserve 58 Million Followers?
Elon Musk got his first major financial breakthrough when he sold his Zip2 company to Compaq in 1999 for $307 million. Three years later, as a co-founder of PayPal, he sold it to eBay for $1.5 billion. Established business pedigree and these two financial injections were sufficient for him to focus on more concrete projects: Continue reading “Article: Is Elon Musk’s Toxic Reign Coming to an End?”

Article: Amazon Got Some Warrants

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Amazon Got Some Warrants

Matt Levine, 30 June 2021

A recurring theme of this column is that if you have the power to make the price of a financial asset go up, you should (1) do that but (2) buy a lot of it first. So for instance Tesla Inc. is a big company and its chief executive officer, Elon Musk, is a famous influential guy with a lot of Twitter followers. So when Tesla announced that it would start accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars, the price of Bitcoin went up. This was very predictable. So what did Tesla do? It bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin before announcing the news, and then Bitcoin went up and it had an immediate gain. 1

I am a simple man and to me this seems good. Buy a thing, create good news for the thing, announce that news, watch the price of the thing go up. In general I think it is under-utilized, as a strategy. You don’t hear stories about, like, Moderna Inc. running a successful trial of its coronavirus vaccine and buying a ton of call options on cruise lines and airlines before announcing the news. That would have been a good trade! Continue reading “Article: Amazon Got Some Warrants”

Article: Reddit trading is leading to ‘massive market manipulation,’ top investor warns. How to protect your portfolio

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Reddit trading is leading to ‘massive market manipulation,’ top investor warns. How to protect your portfolio

Lizzy Gurdus, 24 June 2021

The Reddit-fueled trading frenzy is getting out of hand, according to the country’s top investment advisor.

Ric Edelman, the No. 1 registered investment advisor in the United States and founder of Edelman Financial Engines, said Monday that he’s “very concerned” about what he sees as a sweeping “pump-and-dump scheme” roiling markets. Continue reading “Article: Reddit trading is leading to ‘massive market manipulation,’ top investor warns. How to protect your portfolio”

Article: Cryptocurrency : Can Elon Musk Go To Jail For Manipulating Prices And Shilling Shitcoins?

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Cryptocurrency : Can Elon Musk Go To Jail For Manipulating Prices And Shilling Shitcoins?

Explica .co, 22 June 2021

Elon Musk’s tweets have been a bone of contention for a while now. Every time the billionaire tweeted about a coin, the price of that coin skyrockets. The Tesla CEO has been promoting coins affectionately referred to as “shitcoins” on Twitter.

Musk started with Doge in February when he tweeted Doge. Then followed by Doge is people’s crypto. This immediately caused the price of the coin to skyrocket when people started buying the coin. Elon would continue to do so with other altcoins. Continue reading “Article: Cryptocurrency : Can Elon Musk Go To Jail For Manipulating Prices And Shilling Shitcoins?”

Article: U.S. Futures Gain, Bond Rally Pauses as Fed Eyed: Markets Wrap

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U.S. Futures Gain, Bond Rally Pauses as Fed Eyed: Markets Wrap

Cecile Gutscher and Joanna Ossinger, 14 June 2021

U.S. equity futures and stocks posted modest gains Monday as investors prepared for a key Federal Reserve meeting later in the week. The rally in bond markets lost steam.

S&P 500 futures signaled the gauge was poised to add to Friday’s fresh record. An advance in European equities was led by shares in energy firms. The Treasury 10-year yield rose to 1.46% after hitting three-month lows on Thursday amid the biggest weekly slide since December. French and German government bond peers also reversed course with yields turning higher. Continue reading “Article: U.S. Futures Gain, Bond Rally Pauses as Fed Eyed: Markets Wrap”

Article: Musk Denies Bitcoin ‘Pump And Dump’—And Says Tesla Will Resume Transactions Once This Mining Goal Is Reached

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Musk Denies Bitcoin ‘Pump And Dump’—And Says Tesla Will Resume Transactions Once This Mining Goal Is Reached

Jonathan Ponciano, 13 June 2021

As the cryptocurrency market’s weeks-long rout continues, Tesla’s billionaire CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter Sunday afternoon to refute claims that he engaged in a bitcoin pump-and-dump scheme earlier this year and said the electric-vehicle company would once again invest in the world’s largest cryptocurrency once its mining operations constitute a “reasonable” amount of clean energy usage. Continue reading “Article: Musk Denies Bitcoin ‘Pump And Dump’—And Says Tesla Will Resume Transactions Once This Mining Goal Is Reached”

Article: Sygnia CEO criticizes Elon Musk for alleged Bitcoin pump and dump

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Sygnia CEO criticizes Elon Musk for alleged Bitcoin pump and dump

SoTURNER WRIGHT, 11 June 2021

Magda Wierzycka, one of the richest women in South Africa and CEO of financial services company Sygnia, said Tesla CEO Elon Musk would likely have been investigated by authorities regarding recent allegations over his manipulation of crypto prices — if his target had been almost anything other than Bitcoin.

In an interview with Bruce Whitfield at the Money Show this week, Wierzycka said Musk’s recent social media activity on the price of Bitcoin (BTC) should have made him the subject of investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, if Bitcoin were more of a traditional company. The SEC previously accused the Tesla CEO of fraud for issuing false and misleading tweets in 2018, and was rumored to be investigating him for his pro-Dogecoin (DOGE) tweets earlier this year. Continue reading “Article: Sygnia CEO criticizes Elon Musk for alleged Bitcoin pump and dump”

Article: SEC plans to go after market manipulation on social media, executive insider trading, Gensler says

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SEC plans to go after market manipulation on social media, executive insider trading, Gensler says

Chris Matthews, 07 June 2021

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said Monday that his agency is focused on adopting new rules to guard against company executives using private information to opportunistically sell shares of companies they oversee, while acknowledging that the SEC must come up with new strategies to guard against market manipulation on social media.

The SEC adopted regulations about 20 years ago, called 10b5-1 plans, that enable company insiders to buy and sell securities in their own company if those transactions are made by a third party who is not aware of material, non-public information.

“In my view, these plans have led to real cracks in our insider trading regime,” Gensler said at the Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network Summit Monday.

One concern Gensler has is that there is no “cooling off period” mandated by the SEC for when a 10b5-1 plan is adopted and when it can start trading, though research shows that 40% of such plans begin trading within just two months after they are opened, while 14% start trading within a month.

Futhermore, there is no limitation as to how many 10b5-1 plans insiders can open, making it easier for an insider to shut down one or many plans if he has public information that suggests that it would be profitable to do so.

“Insiders can cancel a plan when they do have material non-public information. This seems upside-down to me. It also may undermine investor confidence,” Gensler said. “In my view, canceling a plan may be as economically significant as carrying out an actual transaction,” he added. “Thus, I’ve asked staff to consider limitations on when and how plans can be canceled.”

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Article: ‘Stopelon’ Group Protests Elon Musk’s Cryptocurrency ‘Market Manipulation’ Outside Tesla Fremont Factory

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‘Stopelon’ Group Protests Elon Musk’s Cryptocurrency ‘Market Manipulation’ Outside Tesla Fremont Factory

Madhukumar Warrier, 07 June 2021

Supporters of a new cryptocurrency named “StopElon” on Sunday protested outside Tesla Inc.’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Fremont factory over CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in the cryptocurrency market, according to a report by NBC Bay Area News.

What Happened: Activists of the “Stopelon” group alleged that Musk has far too much power over the cryptocurrency market. The group also wants Musk to be removed from the social media company Twitter Inc.’s (NYSE:TWTR) platform. Continue reading “Article: ‘Stopelon’ Group Protests Elon Musk’s Cryptocurrency ‘Market Manipulation’ Outside Tesla Fremont Factory”

Article: The Wheels Are Coming Off Tesla

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The Wheels Are Coming Off Tesla

JIM COLLINS, 04 June 2021

After today’s brutal miss on the jobs number — 559,000 actual vs. a 671,000 estimate was a 16.7% miss — the normal feedback loop commenced. Economy not that hot = interest rates down (the yield on the 10-year UST has ticked down today to 1.58%) = Nasdaq up. This has been the state of affairs in 2021. Is what it is. I don’t fight it, I just use these mindless bounces to reset my short positions.

Without entering into a long-winded diatribe about Elon Musk, Bitcoin, self-driving, etc., let me just note one key point that has become increasingly apparent to those of us who actually analyze fundamentals this week: the wheels are coming off Tesla (TSLA) . That is true both literally – Tesla has announced two separate recalls this week, the first covering 5,974 Models 3/Y in the U.S. and 734 in China over potentially loose brake caliper bolts and the second covering 7,696 3/Ys in the U.S. owing to potentially loose seatbelt fastener connections – and figuratively. Continue reading “Article: The Wheels Are Coming Off Tesla”

Article: Elon Musk is still facing SEC acting as Twitter police over his Tesla (TSLA) tweets

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Elon Musk is still facing SEC acting as Twitter police over his Tesla (TSLA) tweets

Fred Lambert, 01 June 2021

ew information is revealing that Elon Musk still has the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on his behind acting like Twitter police over his tweets about Tesla.

Tesla, Elon Musk, and the SEC
Musk and the SEC have had a few run-ins with each other, and it was rarely with a good outcome. Most famously, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk over his infamous “funding secured” comment regarding his failed attempt to take Tesla private back in 2018. The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) judged that Musk exaggerated when saying that the funding was “secured”: Continue reading “Article: Elon Musk is still facing SEC acting as Twitter police over his Tesla (TSLA) tweets”

Article: Investors accuse Elon Musk of market manipulation, launches a new meme cryptocurrency – $STOPELON

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Investors accuse Elon Musk of market manipulation, launches a new meme cryptocurrency – $STOPELON

Afroz Ahmad, 25 May 2021

On his social media pages, billionaire Elon Musk has repeatedly endorsed cryptocurrencies. However, he seems divided regarding whether he is actually a supporter, especially after the recent market crash.

Many have appreciated his support for digital assets like Dogecoin and bitcoin. On the other hand, many people have accused him of manipulating the crypto market using his position and his huge following. Some crypto enthusiasts want Elon to stop tweeting about the subject, and focus more on building cars instead. As they are running a somewhat campaign against the CEO of Tesla. Continue reading “Article: Investors accuse Elon Musk of market manipulation, launches a new meme cryptocurrency – $STOPELON”

Article: China reiterates warning against cryptocurrency use in transactions

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China reiterates warning against cryptocurrency use in transactions

Eileen Yu, 19 May 2021

Three state-backed financial groups in China have issued a joint statement warning against the use of cryptocurrencies as payment, citing their volatility as a high risk. They further remind industry players that digital currencies cannot be used in any financial activities in the country.

National Internet Finance Association of China, China Banking Association, and Payment and Clearing Association of China said Tuesday that its members should not be involved in transactions dealing with cryptocurrencies. These included activities encompassing intermediary services that facilitate trading as well as the exchange of fiat money. Continue reading “Article: China reiterates warning against cryptocurrency use in transactions”

Article: Crypto Liquidations Top $2.4 Billion in 24 Hours

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Crypto Liquidations Top $2.4 Billion in 24 Hours

Martin Young, 17 May 2021

According to data from ByBit, there has been $2.38 billion in total liquidations over the past 24 hours. Over half of that total, or $1.26 billion, has been from bitcoin positions as the asset has continued its free fall.

The largest day for Bitcoin long position liquidations was on April 17, 2021, a few days after its all-time high when over $9 billion disappeared. April 22 and May 12 also saw large Bitcoin liquidation figures according to derivatives exchanges.

Datamish has revealed that $34 million in longs have been liquidated on BitMEX over the past 24 hours and 417 BTC was liquidated on Bitfinex. Continue reading “Article: Crypto Liquidations Top $2.4 Billion in 24 Hours”

Article: Is There A Huge Naked Short on Helium Explorer Avanti Energy?

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Is There A Huge Naked Short on Helium Explorer Avanti Energy?

Editor OilPrice.com, 12 May 2021

Aggressive short sellers, now being targeted by Canadian regulators, are believed to have shorted a shocking 11 million shares of helium miner Avanti Energy in Canada since 2019, most of it in the past two months alone.

That makes Avanti Energy a large target of short-sellers seeking to enrich themselves by destroying companies, even as Canadian regulators are about to tighten the screws on these out-of-control—and naked—shorts. Continue reading “Article: Is There A Huge Naked Short on Helium Explorer Avanti Energy?”

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