Investors Head for the Exits at Illiquid Funds: Blackstone Limits Withdrawals from Giant Real Estate Fund

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

Investors seem to be thinking a lot these days about that old Will Rogers maxim: “People should be more concerned with the return of their principal than the return on their principal.”

Investors have been demanding their money back from a growing number of crypto outfits and now that anxiousness is broadening out.

The latest to be hit with a surge in investor demand for their money back is the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT). Unlike most REITs, BREIT doesn’t trade on a stock exchange. Investors have to ask the trust to buy back their shares when they want their cash back.

According to an announcement posted at the Blackstone website, it has begun to limit withdrawals. In November, investors only received 43 percent of the withdrawals they requested. The statement explains:

Avalanche to power Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure services in Asia

By Arijit Sarkar

Avalanche’s partnership with Alibaba Cloud will see the development of tools that enable users to launch validator nodes on Avalanche's public blockchain platform in Asia.

Avalanche to power Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure services in AsiaNEWS

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Alibaba Cloud, or Aliyun, a subset of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, announced an integration with Avalanche blockchain to power the company’s Node-as-a-Service initiatives.

Avalanche’s partnership with Alibaba Cloud will see the development of tools that enable users to launch validator nodes on Avalanche's public blockchain platform in Asia. The integration will allow Avalanche developers to use Alibaba Cloud’s plug-and-play infrastructure as a service to launch new validators.

Developers expecting high resource demands during peak hours can also tap into additional resources — computing, storage, and distribution — offered by Alibaba Cloud.

The Only Way to Truly Succeed as a Trader

By Larry Benedict

When you’re starting out in the markets, sometimes the hardest thing is working out where you fit.

You read about legendary investors like Warren Buffett and wonder if a buy-and-hold strategy is the best way to go.

But then you read about some of the more famous traders who’ve made their fortune in a fraction of the time…

For example…

Who can forget when George Soros famously broke the Bank of England, scoring over a billion dollars in just a few days?

Reading a story like that can make you doubt your buy-and-hold strategy.

But one of the reasons most folks get confused is that they don’t know which camp they’re in. They get lost somewhere in the middle between being an investor or a trader.

They buy a stock “for the long-term,” only to panic and dump it the first time the market takes a tumble.

Believe me, we’ve all done it. Even if we don’t like to admit it…

FTX’s Collapse Was a Crime, Not an Accident

In the weeks since Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency empire was revealed to be a house of lies, mainstream news organizations and commentators have often failed to give their readers a straightforward assessment of exactly what happened. August institutions including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have uncovered many key facts about the scandal, but they have also repeatedly seemed to downplay the facts in ways that soft-pedaled Bankman-Fried’s intent and culpability.

David Z. Morris is CoinDesk's chief insights columnist.

It is now clear that what happened at the FTX crypto exchange and the hedge fund Alameda Research involved a variety of conscious and intentional fraud intended to steal money from both users and investors.

About Black Fiday’s “Blowout” Numbers

By James Rickards

It’s official — good times are here again!

Black Friday’s sales set a new record this year, up 2.3% over 2021. Thanksgiving online sales were also up 2.9%. So don’t listen to any gloom and doom talk about a recession. Just look at the numbers.

That’s what they’ll tell you. Well, here’s what they won’t tell you:

All of those sales figures are nominal. In other words, they don’t account for inflation.

If an item costs 10% more this year than it did last year, even a decrease in sales numbers can still yield a nominal increase in final sales numbers.

But the actual number of sales would be down from the previous year. The final figures are simply masked because of the inflation.

If you adjust this year’s nominal sales numbers for inflation, you’ll discover that real sales are down about 5%.

5 lessons for a profitable 2023

By Genia Turanova

Here at Curzio Research, I’ve made it my mission to bring you the best advice to profit in any market environment.

It’s no secret 2022 has been a tough year for investors… so understanding how to outsmart (and outmaneuver) the market has been more critical than ever.

While the year may be coming to a close, inflation is still alive and well. And with the Fed set to continue interest rate hikes, the current market rally is likely to be short-lived. 

So to help you prepare for a more prosperous 2023, now is the perfect time to revisit readers’ favorite articles of the year.

Investor Purchases of Single-Family Houses Plunged 32% in Q3, Plummeting the Most in “Pandemic Boomtowns”

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

Investor purchases of single-family houses plunged by 32.3% in Q3 compared to the same period last year, according to Redfin, based on county records in the 40 most populous metropolitan areas. Beyond the lockdown Q2 2020, this was the steepest percentage plunge since the Housing Bust.

Investor purchases of condos and co-ops plunged by 27.5%; of townhouses by 17.9%, and of multifamily buildings with 2-4 units by 18.3%.

The chart shows the count of homes purchased by category of homes; and on the right, the year-over-year percentage plunge. These “investors” are defined as institutions or businesses that buy residential properties. (chart via Redfin):

Before You Get Greedy, Watch This Key Level for Stocks

By Marc Chaikin

Two major indexes just made history...

The benchmark S&P 500 Index gained 5.5% on Thursday, November 10. And the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index did even better. It climbed 7.4% that day.

Neither index had surged that much in one day since 2020. And according to Dow Jones Market Data, it was the best "CPI day" performance for both indexes in history.

When the latest Consumer Price Index ("CPI") report came in with lower-than-expected inflation, investors once again flooded into the markets. These folks want to believe the worst of the bear market is behind us. And I get it...

FTX’s ongoing saga: Everything that’s happened until now

By Jessie Coghlan

The story between cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and FTX has quickly unfolded and caused havoc in the crypto market. Here’s a breakdown of where it began and where it is now.

All dates are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Updates are in reverse order — the latest updates are at the top.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Nov. 12: Regulator denies allowing withdrawals for Bahamian clients

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) has denied instructing or authorizing crypto exchange FTX to prioritize withdrawals of Bahamian clients. In a statement on Nov. 12, the securities commission vehemently denied a Nov. 11 statement from FTX on Twitter that suggested it had been instructed by “Bahamian HQ’s regulation and regulators” to facilitate the withdrawal of Bahamian funds.