July 11th, 2025 | Crypto Crash, ETF Complexity, Dark Pools, Tax-Free Social Security?, Tripadvisor, Inc. (TRIP), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) & KeyCorp (KEY)

Crypto losses increase 66% in 2024

At first you may be saying I thought Bitcoin has been increasing in value? While that is true, you have to remember that is only one of the many thousands of cryptocurrencies that are available. According to the FBI in 2024, there was 149,686 complaints for total losses of $9.3 billion. It was somewhat surprising to learn that people over 60 years old, who I thought knew better than to gamble with cryptocurrencies, was the most with losses totaling nearly $3 billion. If you live in California, Texas or Florida that’s where the most complaints came from with a cumulative loss of $3 billion. Mississippi was also largely impacted as the number of crypto scams per thousand was the highest at 42.1. Even though there are a far higher number of investors and larger dollars in stocks, the SEC reported nationwide just 583 enforcement actions for stock scams or stock complaints in 2024. These complaints included charges against advisors for untrue or unsubstantiated statements. Interesting to note there’s now something called AI washing, which charges firms for making false or misleading statements about their use of artificial intelligence. It is hard to make a comparison of stock scams and fraud versus cryptocurrencies, but with the far higher number of people investing in stocks vs cryptocurrencies I think it is safe to say that your risk of being scammed in stock investments is far lower than being scammed when dealing with cryptocurrencies. So not only are you taking a higher market risk by investing in cryptocurrencies, but you are also taking on the risk of being ripped off as well.

 

Have ETFs become too complicated?

The first ETF, which stands for exchange traded fund, was launched about 30 years ago. They were simple in design and you generally bought them because they held a set group of stocks or bonds using an index and charged a low fee. Today, there are now over 4000 ETFs that are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. This is more than the 2400 individual stocks listed on the exchange. In 2024 alone, 700 new ETFs were launched and 33 of those tracked cryptocurrencies. The assets have ballooned to $11 trillion and now account for 1/3 of money invested in long-term funds. Some of that growth has come from open end mutual funds, which have lost $1.2 trillion in the past two years. There are now 1300 active ETFs, which actually manage the portfolio for you like a mutual fund. A big difference is those funds can now be sold during market hours. With open ended mutual funds, you have to wait until the close of the market and then sell at the closing net asset value for the day. Nearly half of the 1300 active ETF were launched last year. It gets difficult for investors with over 4000 choices to decide which is best. Back in 2020, Cathie Wood grew to fame with her actively managed ARK Innovation ETF. The fund shot up 150% that year and assets hit $28 billion. Today, the NASDAQ composite has a five-year cumulative return of 108% and the ARRK fund has seen a decline of 2% and the assets are now under $7 billion. If you’re investing in an ETF to benefit from commodities, understand generally they use future contracts to track the underlying commodity. Commodity futures are not a perfect vehicle and they generally work better for speculators that do short-term trading. One exception to this is the SPDR gold shares which is a trust that holds the actual gold. In my opinion, it is far easier to analyze one company to invest in and then build a portfolio rather than trying to understand some of these ETFs that can use leverage or future contracts or whatever. I worry investors could be blindsided when they least expect it. 

 

What is a dark pool exchange?

A dark pool exchange is an off the exchange platform where institutions can trade without broadcasting their buying or selling intentions publicly. People wonder why when we invest at Wilsey Asset Management we buy a company with the intent of holding it 3 to 5 years. For those who think they can do better by trading you are taking a toothpick to a gun fight. Exchanges and market makers make up nearly 87% of the daily trading volume, but these dark pools are trying to step in and do more of the trading, which I believe will leave the small investor in the dark and they might not know what certain stocks are trading at. I’m getting rather disgusted with how Wall Street is acting like the Wild West. FINRA another regulatory body seems to be OK with this and will be collecting fees from the dark pools. Fortunately, for the past two years, the SEC has not approved this form of trading, but with the new administration and the new SEC chairman, who seems to love the Wild West of trading, I’m sure we’ll see more of this craziness going forward. This does not mean that investors on Wall Street cannot do well. To be frank, I don’t care if we miss a penny or two on a trade since we are loo