Fintech Focus For February 1, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: The value of the cold email is so underrated.

Source: Michael Gruen

One Big Thing In Fintech: When Robinhood, a startup that promises to make finance accessible for all, temporarily limited trading on GameStop, AMC, and other memestocks, many retail investors were pissed that the fintech darling suddenly didn’t live up to its name. The specific reasons may have been short-term and technical, but the choice looked corrupt to the average person.

What can other startups learn? Here are some lessons:

First, the push for decentralized systems will become more aggressive, positioning startups in the cryptocurrency and overall DeFi space well. On Thursday, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian spoke to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on a Twitch stream about the GameStop saga.

“No one’s gonna wake up in a week and be like let’s all go back to how it was. The collective public cannot unsee this, and so I think that there’s going to be more and more energy to find decentralized solutions. There is so much energy to rally behind something that isn’t capable of having the game rigged,” Ohanian said.

Source: TechCrunch

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• Unpacking Robinhood’s challenges.
• Fidelity is in talks to stake Starling.
• Walmart expands financial services.
• State of fintech - investment trends.
• Challenger banks outlook for 2021.
• Barclays welcomes NY accelerator.
• FCA calls on banks to halt closures.
• TradeZero sees applications surge.
• Plaid intros a tool for direct deposit.
• City National, Extend intro solution.
• LSE, AllianceBlock eye agreement.

Watch Out For This: On day one, U.S. President Joe Biden rolled back a handful of Trump-era measures targeting undocumented immigrants. But less than a week later, a lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has temporarily hamstrung a key piece of the new administration’s immigration agenda: its 100-day moratorium on deportations.

Source: CityLab

Interesting Reads:

• Mt. Gox demise as told by an insider.
• 10-20x revenue multiples to remain.
• BlackRock, Vanguard fuel GME rise.
• Cybertruck, Roadster, Semi delayed.
• Silver spiking on the weekend open.
• Unpacking historical VIX explosions.

Market Moving Headline: After extending the S&P 500’s rally, as well as establishing acceptance near the $3,850.00 price extension, an upside target, and excess (i.e., a proper end to price discovery), participants auctioned back into range, repairing poor structures left in the wake of initiative buying.

The action found acceptance below the $3,824.00 – $3,763.75 balance-area, invalidating the prior week’s break-out to new highs.

Key Takeaways:

- Trend broke, growth downgraded, a top is in.

- De-leveraging amid hot sentiment, panicking.

- VIX term structure inverts, outlier risk is on.

- Dips will present a favorable buy opportunity.

In light of the technical breakdown, U.S. stock indexes are best positioned for downside discovery.

As a result, participants ought to zoom out, and look for valuable areas to transact.

In the best case, the S&P 500 takes back Friday’s liquidation and auctions above the $3,727.75 high-volume area (HVNode). Expectations thereafter include continued balance.

Any break that finds increased involvement (i.e., supportive flows and delta) below the $3,689.50 HVNode, would favor continuation as low as the $3,611.50 and $3,556.00 HVNodes.

Source: Physik Invest