Bitcoin’s record-breaking rally past $100,000 on Thursday underscored a day of mixed performance across Asia-Pacific markets, as investors balanced optimism over potential US interest rate cuts with uncertainties from political upheavals in South Korea and France.

Wall Street’s record highs earlier in the week further buoyed sentiment in some regions, while lingering concerns over global economic and political developments tempered gains elsewhere.

The cryptocurrency surged to an intraday high of $103,844, fueled by growing institutional interest and optimism over a friendlier regulatory environment in the US Exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows have played a significant role in Bitcoin’s ascent, according to Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered.

“The $100,000 mark is symbolic but reflects the increasing institutionalization of the industry,” Kendrick said.

Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific markets delivered a mixed performance.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.6% to reach a three-week high, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.21% higher.

In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped more than 1%, weighed down by selling pressure, and mainland China’s CSI 300 shed 0.1%.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.44%, while the Kosdaq rose slightly, as investors grappled with escalating political tensions.

Political upheaval

In South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration and subsequent reversal of martial law sparked a motion to impeach him, further destabilizing markets.

The Bank of Korea and the finance ministry stepped in with liquidity support measures, but analysts warn of long-term risks.

“Political uncertainty could raise South Korea’s risk premium and weigh on investor confidence,” Alex Smith, head of equities at abrdn, told CNBC.

In France, a historic no-confidence vote led to the collapse of Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government, adding another layer of uncertainty in European markets.

Political instability has also kept the euro under pressure, trading near $1.0520.

Wall Street’s highs and US rate cut expectations

In the US, all three major indexes—Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq—closed at record highs on Wednesday.

The Dow crossed the 45,000 threshold for the first time, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.3% to finish at 19,735.12.

Investors are increasingly optimistic about a potential U.S. interest rate cut, with markets pricing in a 78% chance of a December rate reduction, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s balanced remarks on Wednesday, highlighting the economy’s resilience, further fueled hopes of policy easing.

Market attention now turns to Friday’s US unemployment report, which could offer fresh insights into the Federal Reserve’s next move.

Commodities and currency movements

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil inched up 0.2% to $72.42 a barrel ahead of an OPEC+ meeting, where production cuts are expected to be extended.

Gold prices held steady at $2,649 an ounce.

The US dollar tracked lower alongside falling Treasury yields.

The yen gained slightly, trading at 150.31 per dollar, while the Australian dollar nursed losses after disappointing GDP data earlier in the week.

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Coinbase stock and the YieldMax COIN Option Income Strategy (CONY) ETF will be in the spotlight after Bitcoin surged above the key resistance level at $100,000. CONY was trading at $18 on Wednesday, down by 37% this year, while COIN was at $330, up by 90% this year. 

Bitcoin price hits $100,000

The main catalyst for the Coinbase and CONY ETF will be the ongoing Bitcoin price surge as it crossed the important resistance level at $100,000. It then quickly jumped to $103,000, a trend that could continue in the coming months.

Coinbase and other crypto-related companies do well when Bitcoin is in a strong uptrend because of the impact on volumes. Ideally, when Bitcoin rises, other altcoins rise as well. The market cap of all cryptocurrencies has jumped to over $3.8 trillion. 

Recent data shows that centralized and decentralized exchanges have seen higher volumes, a move that will benefit Coinbase.  

Data by The Block shows that the volume traded in CEX exchanges rose to the highest level this year in November. Coinbase handled over $175 billion in transactions, a big increase from the $62 billion it processed a month earlier.

Most importantly, Coinbase’s Base Blockchain has also become the fourth-biggest chain in the crypto industry. Its 24-hour volume stood at $1.69 billion, while its seven-day volume was $12.2 billion. Base Blockchain has handled almost $50 billion in volume since its inception. 

Coinbase is growing

A key challenge for Coinbase is that its business has lost market share to companies like Bybit and Crypto.com.

Still, the most recent results showed that its business was doing well. Its revenue rose to $1.2 billion, while its net income was about $75 million. 

The company is also expanding its business in other areas. In addition to transaction revenue, which stood at $572 million last quarter, it has become a large player in the subscription business. Its stablecoin revenue rose to $246 million, while its total subscription and services revenue jumped to $556 million. Its custody business, which houses its ETFs made over$31 million. 

Coinbase is also benefiting from its Bitcoin holdings. Data by BitcoinTreasuries shows that the company has 9,480 Bitcoins in its balance sheet. These coins are now worth over $976 million. 

Coinbase stock vs CONY ETF

For an investor interested in Coinase, there are two main ways to go about it. They can invest directly in the stock and benefit as it rises. The other option is where they invest in the CONY ETF, which generates dividends. 

Coinbase stock is a straightforward way to invest in the company. CONY, on the other hand, uses covered calls to invest in the company. In this, it invests in the stock and then sells call options. A call option gives an investor a right but not the obligation to buy an asset. 

After selling the call option, the fund receives a premium, which it distributes to shareholders as a dividend. Data by SeekingAlpha shows that the yield now stands at 124%. 

Data shows that the Coinbase stock price has jumped by 134% in the last 12 months, while the CONY ETF has dropped by 30.5%. However, with dividends included, the CONY ETF has had a total return of 94%, still lower than COIN’s 134%.

Therefore, using this data, it makes sense to invest in the 0%-yielding Coinbase than the 125%-yielding CONY ETF. The same is true with other covered call ETF funds like the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) and JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income (JEPQ), which often underperform the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices.

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PayPal stock price has crawled back and jumped to its highest level since November 2022 as its turnaround strategy continued. It was trading at $89.3, up by over 78% from its lowest level in 2023, giving it a market cap of over $85 billion.

PayPal turnaround is continuing

PayPal, one of the best-known tech companies in the US, has been under pressure in the past few years as its growth trajectory faded.

Its main challenge is that the fintech sector has become highly crowded. Its eponymous wallet business is seeing strong competition from the likes of Google and Apple Pay.

At the same time, its unbranded business is seeing robust competition from companies like Affirm, Adyen, and Stripe.

PayPal is also having a hard time adapting to the new normal after its business saw strong growth during the pandemic. At the time, its business added millions of users, which pushed its annual revenue from $17 billion in 2019 to $21 billion in 2020. 

There are hopes that PayPal’s turnaround under Alex Chriss is working. The most recent financial results showed that its transaction revenue rose by 6% in the third quarter, helped by Braintree and Venmo. 

Total revenue rose to over $7.8 billion, while the transaction margin rose to $3.6 billion. PayPal has also become a highly profitable company, as its non-GAAP EPS rose by 22% to $1.2 in the last quarter. 

The company expects its business to do well this quarter, with revenue growing in the low digits. 

According to Yahoo Finance, the average revenue guidance for the fourth quarter is $8.27 billion, a 3% increase from the same period last year. Its annual revenue is expected to come in at $31.71 billion, a 6% increase from the last financial year. 

The company is then expected to make over $33 billion in 2025, a 5.8% YoY increase. PayPal will likely do much better than this since it has a long track record of beating analysts estimates.

The case for the PYPL stock

There are a few reasons why PayPal stock price has more upside even as it continues to experience single-digit growth rate.

First, the company is fairly valued. It has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.6, which is much lower than the forward S&P 500 multiple of 21. Its valuation metric is also lower than other fintech companies like Visa, Mastercard, and Block. It is also lower than the five-year average of 30.

Second, the company has millions of users, which it can monetize well. Its active accounts rose by 1% in the last quarter to 432 million. This is good progress since the company was shedding customers for several consecutive quarters. 

Third, PayPal is still a strong brand that owns some of the best-known companies in the industry. It owns Braintree that handles billions of transactions each month, Venmo and PayPal’s main business. 

Read more: ​​PayPal stock price forecast: PYPL comeback could be epic

PayPal stock price forecast

PYPL chart by TradingView

The weekly chart shows that the PYPL share price formed an inverse head and shoulders pattern. It has now moved above the 100-week and 50-week moving averages, a sign that it is gaining attention.

The stock is also approaching the 23.6% Fibonacci Retracement level at $110, which is about 23% above the current level. Also, oscillators like the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the MACD have continued rising. 

Therefore, there are rising odds that the stock will continue rising as bulls target the 50% retracement point at $180, which is about 101% above the current level. A drop below the support at $71 will invalidate the bullish view.

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MicroStrategy stock price has done well this year, helped by the ongoing Bitcoin price rally. MSTR has jumped by 542% this year, beating the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices, which are up by less than 30%.

MicroStrategy stock to do well as Bitcoin soars

MicroStrategy shares will likely continue soaring on Thursday now that Bitcoin has cleared the important resistance level at $100,000.

This is notable since the company has continued buying more Bitcoins and adding them to its balance sheet. The company now has over 402,000 coins in its balance sheet worth over $41 billion. And the management hopes to continue buying these coins in the near future. .

MicroStrategy trades at a significant premium since its market cap now stands at $80 billion, a figure that will continue growing in the near term.

There are rising odds that the MSTR stock price will continue thriving now that Bitcoin is rising. 

We believe that Bitcoin will continue soaring in the next few years. Besides, it has already jumped from less than zero in 2009 to over $103,000 today. It took about 15 yeas to get to that level.

Historically, assets take less time to move from a key milestone after hitting the initial one. For example, the Dow Jones index rose to $10,000 for the first time in 2010 and then moved to $20,000 in 2017. It then moved to $30,000 in 2021. Therefore, in the same way, Bitcoin will likely jump to $200,000 in a shorter period than it moved from $1 to $100,000.

This price action will benefit MicroStrategy stock because of its large Bitcoin holdings, which the management has pledged to continue holding.

Read more: Coinbase stock vs CONY ETF: Better buy as Bitcoin hits $100k?

MSTU and MSTX ETFs are better buys

Therefore, if you are bullish on MicroStrategy stock, a better way to go all in is to buy the T-Rex 2X Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (MSTU) or the Defiance Daily Target 2X Long MSTR ETF (MSTX), which have accumulated over $2.5 billion and $1.6 billion.

The MSTU and MSTX ETFs are leveraged funds that seek to provide better returns than MicroStrategy’s shares. Ideally, when the MSTR stock rises by 1% in a day, the two funds will rise by 2%. At the same time, if the stock drops by 1%, the MSTU and MSTX funds drop by 2%. 

MSTU and MSTX ETFs aim to mirror other leveraged ETFs that have done well over the years. A good example of this is ProShares UltraPro QQQ ETF (TQQQ), which provides a leveraged exposure to the Nasdaq 100 index. 

The TQQQ ETF has done much better than the Nasdaq 100 index. It has jumped by 377% in the past five years, while the Invesco QQQ has jumped by 167% in the same period. 

MSTU and MSTX ETFs may have a similar performance as long as Bitcoin continues rising. For example, the MicroStrategy stock has risen by 82% in the last 30 days, while the MSTX and MSTU have risen by 150% and 162%

Therefore, if you are long MicroStategy stock, it makes sense to invest in the two funds instead. 

The post Avoid MicroStrategy stock and buy MSTX and MSTU ETFs instead appeared first on Invezz

Roku stock price has bounced back in the past few weeks, reaching a high of $86, its highest level since February. It has jumped by about 38% from its lowest level in November and 71% above the year-to-date low. It remains about 83% from its all-time high.

Roku’s business is still growing

The most recent financial results showed that Roku’s business was doing well. The numbers revealed that the number of streaming households jumped to 85.5 million in the last quarter, up from 75.8 million in the same period last year. 

Roku’s streaming hours have also continued rising in the past few months. Its streaming hours rose from 26.7 billion in Q3’23 to 32 billion, a 20% increase. 

Its business has continued growing across its platform and devices. Its platform revenue rose by 15% to $908 million, while its devices rose by 23% to $154 million. 

Roku’s devices revenue comes from selling its devices, while its platform one comes from its subscription and advertising. Its devices are the streaming player, television and other products.

Analysts expect that Roku’s business will continue doing well. The average revenue estimate for the quarter is $1.14 billion, a 15% increase from the same period last year. 

For the year, Roku is expected to make $4.05 billion, a 16.2% annualized increase. It is also expected to make $4.6 billion in 2025, a 13% annualized increase. There are signs that its business will do well even as competition rises. 

Roku has a 27% market share in the connected TV business, followed by Samsung, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, LG, and Xiaomi. 

Analysts believe that Roku can be a good acquisition target because of the challenges of going it alone. One of the potential tie-up is The Trade Desk, a company that offers advertising solutions. Trade Desk is also working on TV OS, which analysts believe will take years to be more competitive.

In a statement on Wednesday, analysts at Needham noted that data was its most undervalued asset. The analyst also expects that it can become a good takeover asset in 2025.

Analysts believe that the company is highly undervalued as its annual revenue has risen from $1.128 billion in 2019 to over $3.48 billion last year. Its trailing twelve-month revenue was $3.8 billion.

Roku will also become a highly profitable company because of its high-margin approach to marketing. Assuming that its net profit margin rises to 8%, it means that its profit will be about $368 million. Given that it has a market cap of $10 billion, it has a hypothetical P/E ratio of 27.

Roku stock price forecast

ROKU chart by TradingView

The weekly chart shows that the Roku share price formed a slanted double-bottom pattern around the $50 level. It is approaching the important resistance at $108.53, its highest level in December last year. 

Roku shares have moved above the 50-week Exponential Moving Average (EMA). The Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the MACD indicators have also pointed upwards in the past few weeks. 

The stock has formed an inverse head and shoulders chart pattern. Therefore, the short-term outlook for the stock is bullish, with the next point to watch being at $108.53, its highest level in January. A move above that level will point to more gains, possibly to the 23.6% retracement point at $144.42, which is about 76% above the current level. 

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