The ride up was a lot of fun for crypto investors, but now many of them are getting wiped out by the ride down. For a long time, people were using borrowed money to make absolutely enormous returns in the cryptocurrency market. Unfortunately, that bubble is bursting and an epic cryptocurrency crash is now upon us. The price of Bitcoin has fallen to the lowest level that we have seen in more than six months, and other major cryptocurrencies are getting slammed even harder. In many cases we are seeing forced liquidations take place, and it certainly wouldn’t take much for this panic to bleed over into the stock market. There have already been plenty of signs that the AI bubble is beginning to burst, and once investors start rushing for the exits it could easily turn into a stampede.
The amount of money that crypto investors have already lost is staggering.
On October 6th, Bitcoin had a market cap of 2.48 trillion dollars.
As I write this article, it has a market cap of 1.72 trillion dollars.
That is a loss of more than 750 billion dollars in less than two months.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Those that got in at the top of the market are getting absolutely crushed.
On August 22nd, Ethereum had a market cap of 583.2 billion dollars.
Today, it has a market cap of 341.6 billion dollars.
That is a loss of more than 241 billion dollars in less than three months.
On July 21st, XRP had a market cap of 201.4 billion dollars.
Today, it has a market cap of 120.1 billion dollars.
That is a loss of more than 81 billion dollars.
On September 18th, Solana had a market cap of 134.4 billion dollars.
Today, it has a market cap of 73.6 billion dollars.
That is a loss of more than 60 billion dollars.
This last example is my favorite.
On January 17th, Dogecoin had a market cap of 61.4 billion dollars.
Today, it has a market cap of just 22.5 billion dollars.
That is a loss of more than 38 billion dollars.
In other words, Dogecoin has lost nearly two thirds of its value since January 17th.
If you invested in Dogecoin, I hope that you got out in time.
When you total all five of the examples that I have shared above, the collective losses come to well over a trillion dollars.
There are more than 17,000 other cryptocurrencies that are being actively traded, and most of them have been getting monkey-hammered in recent months as well.
Speculative bubbles can be fun, and if you time things just right you can make a lot of money.
But if your timing stinks, you can end up being the one holding the bag when the wheel stops spinning.
In the days ahead, a lot more bubbles are going to burst because the real economy is steadily deteriorating.
Earlier today, CNBC posted an article that declared that we are in “a structural goods recession”, and anyone that looks at the numbers objectively cannot deny this…
For the first time in 2025, rates for van, flatbed, and refrigerated loads in October were all lower on both a month-over-month and year-over-year basis, according to the DAT Truckload Volume Index.
“Freight volumes in the third quarter and October reflect what we’re seeing in the broader goods economy, with shippers drawing on inventory built up earlier in the year to reduce their exposure to tariffs and weak consumer demand,” said Ken Adamo, DAT chief of Analytics. “As a result, the traditional peak holiday shipping season looks virtually non-existent this year,” Adamo said.
Van truckloads were down 3% compared to September, and 11% year over year. Refrigerated truckloads were down 2% month over month, and 7% year over year. Flatbed truckloads were down 4% month over month and 3% year over year. The reduced level of dry van and temp-controlled loads that are moving now through the supply chain are goods moving from distribution centers to retailers. The causes of the trade decline range from weakness in housing and manufacturing to energy costs, and shippers pulling forward imports earlier in the year and building inventories to reduce tariff impacts.
Meanwhile, the number of corporate bankruptcies just continues to soar.
According to Zero Hedge, through the month of October the number of corporate bankruptcies in the U.S. had already nearly reached the grand total for the entire year of 2024…
First came the spectacular implosions of subprime auto lender Tricolor and auto-parts supplier First Brands. Then came the regional-bank fiasco, prompting JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to warn that more late-cycle accidents may be ahead. Add in signs that lower-income consumers are tapped out, frothy valuations across the AI equity sphere, and even Bitcoin sliding below $100,000, and it’s no surprise that many are beginning to wonder whether mounting financial stress signals the early stages of a broader downturn.
Another flashing red warning sign is new data from S&P Global this past week, showing that through October, 655 companies have filed for bankruptcy, nearly matching the 687 total for all of 2024.
S&P Global data showed that in October alone, there were 68 new corporate bankruptcies filings. In August, there were 76 filings, the highest monthly tally since at least 2020.
As even more large companies get into financial trouble, we will see even more mass layoffs.
Today, everyone is talking about how Verizon is planning to cut “13% of its workforce”…
Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said in a Nov. 20 letter to employees that the wireless telecom is cutting 13,000 employees, or about 13% of its workforce, as it seeks to “evolve as a company” by slashing costs and restructuring operations.
The company employed 99,600 workers at the end of 2024, according to its most recent annual report.
“Our current cost structure limits our ability to invest significantly in our customer value proposition,” prompting the need to “evolve as a company,” Schulman wrote in the letter, which was posted on Verizon’s website.
I think that Verizon is going to continue to lose market share to competitors such as T-Mobile.
It just isn’t being run very well.
You can fool people for a while, but reality will always catch up with you eventually.
We live at a time when the greatest economic and financial bubbles in our history are starting to burst.
I hope that you have positioned yourself for what is coming next, because it is certainly not going to be pleasant.
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