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Capital Markets, Trading


#423
Night Time Is The Right Time

Published:

Feb 05, 2022


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Posted In:

Capital Markets, Trading

Published:

Feb 05, 2022


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It pays to be a night owl. After-hours trading is when the big money is made in the stock market if this week was any indication.

Big tech stocks were victim to wild swings and volatility along with their earnings this week. For example, Snap was down 23.6% during the day on Thursday and up 62% after their earnings announcement, and Amazon was down 8% during that day and up 14% after-hours (to put things in perspective, that is ~$200b of market value).

The real profits for investors have come when the market is closed for regular trading, according to stock market analysis by Bespoke Investment Group. Separate the daytime and the after-hour returns and calculate them cumulatively, as Bespoke has done, and it turns out that all of that price gain since 1993 has come outside regular trading hours.

For 25 years, in other words, the daytime has been a net loss. Some speculate that it is driven by the “Quant” funds, powered by algorithmic or systemic strategies to take advantage of the bigger impact that trades can have when markets are closed and liquidity is thinner. They aggressively buy shares they already own, driving their price higher.

Will exchanges (like their crypto counterparts) allow for all-day (and night) trading? One trading platform trying to do that is 24 Exchange, starting with FX and eventually offering more asset classes.

If you are a day trader, best to follow Ray Charles’ advice: Night time is the right time.

Portfolio News


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MoneyLion


Global restaurant payments startup Qlub raised $17m in Seed funding - FinTech Collective welcomes global restaurant payments startup Qlub to the portfolio. Founded by Eyad Elkasser and Mahmoud Fouz, the team has previously founded and scaled firms such as Lazada, Namshi, and Snapp. The Qlub team also comprises senior veterans from globally leading foodtech companies. The company raised $17m in seed funding from a broad set of global investors including Cherry Ventures, Point Nine, STV, Raed Ventures, Heartcore, Shorooq Partners, and FinTech Collective. Read more

Crypto and Web3 tax software provider, CoinLedger, raises $6m in funding - Congrats to portfolio company CoinLedger (rebranding from CryptoTrader.Tax) on this latest round of funding, which comes from a growing list of strategic corporate and high-profile individual investors, including CMT Digital, DRW Venture Capital, FinTech Collective, Volt Capital, Voyager Digital, Adam White (Co-Founder of Bakkt), and Mike Dudas (Founder of The Block). CoinLedger plans to utilize the funds to scale its team further and expand product offerings. Read more

NYDIG unveils bitcoin savings plan for employee benefit programs - The plan will allow employees of leading companies to get #PaidInBitcoin. A Bitcoin Savings Plan is an exciting employee benefit program that allows an employee to convert a portion of their paycheck to bitcoin. The bitcoin is held on the same secure, regulated NYDIG platform used today by some of the largest banks and companies in the world. Read more

Drew Brees to get paid in Bitcoin via NYDIG’s BTC Savings Plan - Brees, who currently works as an analyst for NBC Sports, is the latest among a growing list of pro athletes to accept salaries in Bitcoin, signaling a boost in interest in BTC as both a usable currency and long-term investment among celebrity figures. Read more

23XI Racing, MoneyLion team up for multi year partnership starting in 2022 - The partnership includes primary sponsorship of 23XI’s No. 23 Toyota for driver Bubba Wallace and the No. 45 Toyota for Kurt Busch in select races this year. MoneyLion will also be an associate sponsor for both cars throughout the season, starting with this weekend’s Busch Light Clash exhibition event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Read more

Night Time Is The Right Time


The curious case of rising stocks in the night-time - American bourses officially open between 9.30am and 4pm in New York, yet weirdly most of the gains actually accrue in the sparser, more informal after-market trading that happens on various electronic exchanges, according to a study by the New York Federal Reserve. Early morning returns, on the other hand, tend to be negative. The phenomenon has long puzzled many analysts. Read more

Robinhood wants to make stock trading available more hours of the day with ‘hyper-extended hours’ - Robinhood is not alone in seeking more trading hours than the norm, especially in a world where cryptocurrencies are traded 24 hours a day including weekends. 24 Exchange, a multi-asset trading platform, has filed a draft application with the SEC to provide 24-hour stock trading and told CNBC it expects a decision this summer. Read more

Industry News


New York City leads crypto-VC funding race over Silicon Valley - Last year, the city attracted $6.5b, accounting for 46% of funding to blockchain or crypto-centric companies, according to CB Insights data. NYDIG and Celsius Network led the pack of New York-based firms with funding rounds of $1b and $750m respectively. Read more

Social-media platform Stocktwits takes cue from brokerages, adds crypto trading - The first assets Stocktwits users will be able to trade are cryptocurrencies, with the crypto exchange FTX providing the infrastructure. The platform then plans to expand into equities trading later this quarter. Read more

Solana Labs launches Solana Pay, a payments protocol for digital commerce - With Solana Pay, merchants can accept the USDC stablecoin, Solana's native token SOL, and other Solana-based tokens on the Solana blockchain. Transactions will be instant, said Solana Labs, adding that merchants will receive "real-time" payments. Read more

India finally warms to crypto with tax, digital currency - The Reserve Bank of India will launch its digital currency in the year starting April 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech this week. The nation also plans to tax the income from the transfer of virtual assets at 30%, she said, effectively removing uncertainties about the legal status of such transactions. Read more

UK digital bank Monzo officially lands in US - After an 18-month beta launch with a waiting list in the US, the UK challenger bank Monzo is now ready to open the app-based accounts and onboard eligible customers. However, Monzo has yet to get a US banking license - and for now, deposits are held by FDIC member Sutton Bank. Read more

Brazil plans to launch the world’s first DeFi ETF - The fund, called the Hashdex DeFi Index ETF, will list on the Brazilian stock exchange on February 17 and invest in tokens generated by decentralized apps rather than crypto or listed companies. The move will allow investors to track a basket of projects betting on trading and lending networks whose standards are automated and often decided by consensus. Read more

What happens when more companies start acting like banks? - Thanks to what is known as “embedded finance”, 2022 will be the year that any organization can become a financial-services company. To achieve this, firms will seek to provide their customers with banking and financial capabilities, including the typical bank offerings such as online payments, investment products, bank accounts, insurance and loans. We know of the big technology companies’ moves into this area, but in 2022, that capability will be extended to all sectors. Read more

Would you buy a home in the metaverse? - Millions of dollars are being invested in virtual property but what do you get for your money in reality? Access to parties in Decentraland where the socialite Paris Hilton DJ-ed at a festival hosted in outer space? The FT has a great long-form read. Read more

Select Financings


Ayoconnect - Indonesia based financial API platform raised $15m in Series B funding led by Tiger Global. Read more

Bamboo - Nigeria based investment app raised $15m in Series A funding led by Greycroft and Tiger Global. Read more

Betterfly - Chile based insurtech startup raised $125m in Series C funding led by Glade Brook. Read more

Billhop - Stockholm based straight-through processing payments startup raised €10.5m in new funding led by EQT Ventures. Read more

Bold - Columbia based digital payments startup raised $55m in Series B funding led by Tiger Global. Read more

Chargebee - California based subscription management and recurring billing platform raised $250m in Series H funding led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital. Read more

Circula - Berlin based corporate expense management startup raised €12m in Series A funding led by Alstin Capital and Storm Ventures. Read more

Descartes Underwriting - Paris based corporate insurance technology company that addresses climate and emerging risks raised $120m in Series B funding led by Highland Europe. Read more

Dune Analytics - Norway based crypto analytics company raised $69m in Series B funding led by Coatue. Read more

FTX - Bahamas based crypto exchange raised $400m in Series C funding from investors including Temasak, Paradigm, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and NEA. Read more

Jar - India based savings and investment startup raised $32m in Series A funding led by Tiger Global. Read more

KOHO - Toronto based challenger bank raised $210m in Series D funding led by Eldrige. Read more

Lex - New York based commercial real estate securities marketplace raised $15m in Series A funding led by Peak6. Read more

Metronome - San Francisco based billing and data infrastructure platform for usage-based companies raised $30m in Series A funding led by a16z. Read more

Mos - San Francisco based challenger bank for students raised $40m in Series B funding led by Tiger Global. Read more

OpenGamma - London based financial software SaaS firm raised $21m in Series F funding led by Allianz X. Read more

PalmPay - UK based African payments company raised $100m in Series A funding led by Chuangshi Capital and Trust Capital. Read more

Pennylane - France based accounting software startup raised €50m in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital. Read more

Phantom - Palo Alto based Solana wallet raised $109m in Series B funding led by Paradigm. Read more

Ramp - New York based corporate card and spend management platform raised $200m in growth funding led by Founders Fund. Read more

Tint - San Francisco based embedded insurance startup raised $25m in Series A funding led by QED Investors. Read more

Tribal - San Francisco based B2B payments and financing startup raised $60m in Series B funding led by SoftBank. Read more

Wayflyer - Dublin based financing platform for e-commerce merchants raised $150m in Series B funding led by DST Global and QED Investors. Read more

Withco - New York based commercial property ownership platform for SMBs raised $32m in Seed and Series A funding led by Canaan, Founders Fund, Initialized and NFX. Read more

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