TraderMerlin

Crypto is changing—and the next phase may look very different from the one that got us here. Today on TraderMerlin , I'm joined by Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise Asset Management , for a deep dive into the current state of cryptocurrency and digital assets—and where this rapidly evolving market may be headed next. Matt brings a particularly interesting perspective to this convers...

How confident is Nvidia in Nvidia? Apparently...$150 BILLION confident. Nvidia just announced a massive $150 billion increase to its share-repurchase authorization, bringing its remaining buyback authorization to roughly $235 billion. That makes this one of the biggest share-buyback stories we've ever seen. But before you automatically assume that's bullish, there's a much more interesting questio...

Another week in the books—and there was definitely no shortage of market-moving headlines. Interest rates are moving higher. Treasury yields are hitting levels we haven't seen in years. Economic data continues to challenge the idea that the economy is slowing dramatically. Tesla has fresh news out of Europe. And after all the anticipation surrounding the Trump-Xi meeting, the United States and Chi...

We've seen this movie before...or have we? A viewer recently sent me an interesting comparison between the 2022 stock-market top and what we're seeing in the market today. At first glance, there are some similarities that are difficult to ignore. Stocks have enjoyed a powerful run. Valuations are elevated. Inflation is creating problems again. Treasury yields are surging. And perhaps most importan...

The bond market is flashing another warning—and stocks are starting to pay attention. Treasury yields surged again today, with the 10-year yield climbing above 5.1% to its highest level since 2007, while shorter-term yields also pushed higher as traders increased their expectations for additional Federal Reserve rate hikes. On today's TraderMerlin, we're digging into the bond selloff and asking a...

Greenland isn't becoming the 51st state—but something very significant just changed in the Arctic. President Trump announced a new agreement between the United States, Denmark and Greenland that would dramatically expand America's long-term security role on the world's largest island. Trump says the agreement gives the United States "permanent control" over Greenland's security, while Denmark and...

What a week. The Federal Reserve is hiking rates again, inflation remains stubborn, Washington is rewriting the rules for digital assets, Bitcoin is moving, and the Magnificent Seven are starting to tell very different technical stories. On today's TraderMerlin, we're wrapping up one of the more consequential trading weeks we've seen recently and connecting the dots between monetary policy, inflat...

The digital-asset world is moving fast—and this week gave us plenty to talk about. The CLARITY Act may have stalled in Congress, but regulators aren't exactly sitting around waiting. On today's TraderMerlin, we're doing a full Digital Asset Debrief, breaking down several major developments that could reshape cryptocurrency, tokenization, stablecoins and the broader financial system. Perhaps the bi...

The Fed is hiking again. For the first time in more than three years, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates today, pushing the Fed Funds target range up 25 basis points to 3.75%–4.00%. But the bigger story isn't today's quarter-point move. It's what comes NEXT. On today's TraderMerlin, I'm joined by longtime bond trader Bill Addiss to break down today's Fed decision and what it means for the b...

After more than a year of negotiations, hundreds of pages of legislation and enormous pressure from the crypto industry... The CLARITY Act just hit a wall in Washington. Today, the U.S. Senate failed to advance the landmark digital-asset market structure bill, falling short of the 60 votes needed to move forward. And with Congress preparing to leave Washington ahead of the November midterm electio...

Artificial Intelligence promises to transform medicine, productivity, education, science and nearly every industry on the planet. There's just one small problem... Some of the people building the most powerful AI systems in the world are starting to worry about what they're creating. On today's TraderMerlin, we're looking at an extraordinary development in the AI race. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei,...

The bond market is sending Washington a message—and the Treasury is fighting back. Long-term Treasury yields have been climbing sharply, pushing borrowing costs higher and putting pressure on everything from mortgages and corporate debt to stock-market valuations. Now the U.S. Treasury is stepping in. On today's TraderMerlin, we'll look at what I'm calling Operation "Treasury Twist"—the Treasury's...

Oil is surging again—and geopolitical risk is back in the driver's seat. Over the weekend, U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers after Iran launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships. Now tensions are escalating around the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important energy chokepoints in the world. On today's TraderMerlin, we'll look at what this means fo...

The latest U.S. jobs numbers are out—and apparently the labor market didn't get the memo that it was supposed to be slowing down! The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, well above expectations, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. Even better, June and July payrolls were revised higher by a combined 55,000 jobs. So...good news, right? Well, this is Wall Street, where good econo...

No steering wheel. No pedals. No driver. Welcome to Tesla's vision of the future! 🚕🤖 On today's episode of TraderMerlin, we're heading to Austin, Texas, where Tesla is generating a massive wave of publicity around its Robotaxi network and purpose-built Cybercab. Tesla has already been operating autonomous Model Y Robotaxis in several cities, but today's Austin event puts the spotlight on somethi...

The Federal Reserve just released one of the most overlooked—and potentially revealing—reports on the U.S. economy. It's called the Beige Book. No, it's probably not going to make anyone's bestseller list. 📖 But if you're trying to figure out what the Fed might do next with interest rates, it's definitely worth paying attention to. On today's episode of TraderMerlin, we're digging into the latest...

Crude oil is surging again... And suddenly $100 oil doesn't seem so far away. Renewed fighting between the United States and Iran has sent another shock through the energy markets. U.S. forces launched fresh strikes against Iranian targets, two oil tankers were reportedly attacked while leaving the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns are once again growing about the security of one of the world's most...

August is officially in the books! And after another month of AI enthusiasm, strong corporate earnings, stubborn inflation, rising oil prices, geopolitical uncertainty, Fed drama and some major market breakouts, it's time to step back from the daily noise and see where the money actually went. On today's episode of TraderMerlin, we're pulling up the charts and reviewing the performance of our Top...

Another trading week is in the books... And today, we may have gotten our clearest look yet at how Kevin Warsh intends to run the Federal Reserve. In his first Jackson Hole keynote as Fed Chairman, Warsh delivered a message Wall Street had been waiting for—giving investors important insight into how he views inflation, interest rates, employment, artificial intelligence and the future direction of...

Just when the bears thought they had an opening... The bulls came roaring back! 🐂 After weeks of questions about stretched valuations, AI spending, inflation, interest rates and whether technology stocks were finally running out of steam, today's market delivered a pretty convincing response: Not yet! In today's episode, we'll break down the latest round of corporate earnings and the technical br...

If there were any doubts about who's wearing the crown in the AI revolution... Nvidia just delivered another monster quarter. In today's episode, we're breaking down the latest earnings from Nvidia—and these aren't numbers that matter only to NVDA shareholders. Nvidia reported $96.2 BILLION in quarterly revenue, up an incredible 106% from a year ago. Even more impressive, its Data Center business...

Walmart beat earnings expectations. Walmart beat revenue expectations. Walmart raised its full-year outlook. And then the stock got CRUSHED! So what happened? In today's episode, we're diving into a great viewer question about Walmart and whether the recent selloff was justified. But to really answer that question, we need to look beyond Walmart's earnings report and ask a much bigger question: Is...

Just when Wall Street thought the trade war was fading into the rearview mirror... TARIFFS ARE BACK! The latest escalation between the United States and Canada has suddenly injected another major dose of uncertainty into the financial markets. After trade negotiations broke down, the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods, while Canada announced plans for dollar-for-doll...

What a week! Crypto surged. Bond yields jumped. Technology stocks got hit. Economic data kept traders guessing. And now Wall Street is preparing for one of the biggest earnings reports of the quarter. In today's Trading Week Wrap Up!, we'll connect the dots between the biggest market-moving stories of the week and, more importantly, discuss what they could mean as we head into a potentially HUGE w...

The SEC Crypto Playbook - 08/20/26 After a brutal stretch for cryptocurrencies, Washington may finally be giving the digital asset market something it has been asking for for years... CLARITY. The SEC just unveiled a major new proposal called "Regulation Crypto Assets," designed to create clearer rules for how crypto projects can raise capital, issue tokens, and potentially transition away from be...