Markets Crashing: DO THIS

Assalamu alaikum everyone, I hope you're doing well. I know I'm going live at an odd hour, but I wanted to make sure I went live today because of what we experienced in the market. One of the most or the worst day that we had in the markets since January. And some of you may be nervous, so I want to sort of give my take on it and perhaps you find it comforting. So without further ado, let's get started. So here we go again, right? Another market drop. And anything I say is not financial advice. Be sure to do your own due diligence before making any investing decisions. We had the worst day since January, as I mentioned, and the crypto market saw over$860 million worth of liquidations in just the last 24 hours. So the crypto market was not spared from the drop that we saw in equities. Why did this happen? Well, the June rate cut is very unlikely and we have news that Iran is expected to launch a major attack against Israel today. Crude oil is increasing in price. This certainly doesn't bode well for inflation expectations. And the VIX, the market's fear index, which measures volatility has rose just in the past month, close to 25% with the majority of that rise happening today. And to add to all of this, the Bitcoin halving is in just one week and we've historically had a lot of volatility in Bitcoin's price around halving. So what to do on days like today? So I'm going to get a little philosophical, but you know, I guess, and I hope I don't come off as giving a khutba at the end, but I suppose it's appropriate considering today is Juma. But here's what I think are useful things to do in times like this. The first thing to do is to zoom out. Yes, the S&P was down today, but we're still up 8% on the year. Yes, Bitcoin was down today, but we're still at near the all-time high of last cycle. We're only 10% removed from the all-time high that we achieved recently. So overall, okay, there was a dip today, but when you put it in context, we're still up a large amount. And if you focus on signal and remove the noise, you'll be able to come up with the right course of action. So Iran sending missiles towards Israel or Syria or Iraq or Pakistan or wherever they decide to bomb will not affect the price of equities long-term. It's not going to affect the prosperity of companies that are producing revolutionary technology for humanity over the long term. This seems like a very short-term thing that may have impact on the market when it happens, but this impact will not change fundamentally the case for things like equity, for things like a few other cryptocurrencies. This is not going to be impacted. So this type of noise in terms of an investor with a longer-term perspective can be ignored and be a contrarian. When people are panicked, this is who you want to buy from. You want to buy from panicked sellers, and you want to sell when people are overcome by FOMO. And the final thing, and here's where the part comes in, the final thing I would like to mention is to remember who is in control. It's very easy sometimes to think that the world is falling apart, especially when you look at headlines. Sometimes you're bombarded with three or four headlines that may make it seem like the world is falling apart. However, if you remember that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is the one who is in control, and in fact nothing happens that is absolute evil. Everything that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la allows to happen, he allows to happen because it is my belief that there is a net positive from it, or else he would not have allowed it to happen. Sometimes that positivity happens in the short term, sometimes it takes a while for that positivity to reveal itself, and sometimes we won't understand why it happened until the afterlife. But whatever happens is taking us to a better and better place longer term. So this is why atheists always get confused. They're like, oh well, if you know Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is good and loving, why do bad things happen? And the response to that is there is no absolute evil. Everything that happens actually has a silver lining to it. Sometimes you can see it, sometimes you can't. And the net of it ends up being positive, or else Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la would not have allowed it to happen. And again, sometimes we're able to discern easily this net positive, and sometimes it will be revealed to us in the afterlife. So all this to say that when you remember this, it becomes easier not to panic, not to think that the world is coming to an end, everything is changing, everything is getting worse. If you just remember this, I think it'll be easier for you to overcome bouts of panic or anxiety that you may have. And that really impacts a lot of investors in a negative way and causes them to make rash decisions that they later regret. So long term, I'm an eternal optimist. In the short term, I'm a realist. So I don't deny what's happening in front of me. But longer term, I know that things are getting better. And I really think that being and having this outlook makes you a better investor. And in fact, if you look historically, 70% of the time equities are going up, 70% of the time the market is going up. Long investors make a lot more money than short investors do, because the general trend is upwards. So and I think a good sort of way to remember this is to be part of a community that of like-minded people who are hella conscious with you and who can remind you of of this fact. And so today, PIF, we were buying. We were buying heavy. We bought our favorite positions today. And in our Discord group, we were talking about Tesla and them reducing the price of their subscription on full self-driving. We were focused on signal. We weren't focused on noise. And that helps as an investor to have people to talk to and focus on the right things. So this is what I wanted to make sure I said in this live. Don't panic. This happens all the time. We have pullbacks. Stocks and equities and investments don't only go up. They do go down sometimes. Fundamentally, inflation helps equities until the Fed steps in to do something about it. But I don't think the Fed is going to actually end up raising rates from here. Eventually, they will end up cutting rates, and that will be positive for equities. Fundamentally, the case for Bitcoin is stronger than ever. We now have ETFs. We know that, you know, debt for really the governments of the world is spiraling out of control. And therefore, people are going to want to buy an asset with a cap supply that is scarce in order to preserve their purchasing power. This trend is fundamentally true. We know for things like Tesla, the car of the future is going to be electric and autonomous. And we know that Tesla has a lead here. All this noise today doesn't change that. And therefore, we're positioning ourselves strongly in that name. And so when you focus on the signal, and then you ignore the noise, and you have an umbrella philosophy around all of this, that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is in control, and this means that things are, inshallah, getting better with time. If we take a long-term outlook, you're able to deal with bouts of markets panic like this effectively and take advantage of them. Being a contrarian investor, that's where the money is made. The money is made by level heads when other people are losing their minds. So I hope this was useful. I'll take questions really quick. Getting back into CLSK, 500 million was withdrawn and just 800 million outstanding. Also, BlackRock increased their holding yesterday by 15%. It's not out of the question, getting back into CLSK. But I do think right now there are some more attractive names. Read Kitab al-Tawheed. Okay, Bitcoin is confusing. It's actually quite simple. Just think of it as digital gold. If you understand gold and you understand why people buy it, you understand Bitcoin. Are you comfortable investing in Sapsara Manor or Wahed? Not fully comfortable, but I think perhaps you're referring to Sharia Portfolio, the first ticker. I don't agree from a comfort rating, from a Sharia perspective, with all of their picks. But I think they're decent. I think they avoid the sort of major haram companies. So they don't have like alcohol or pork or something like that in there. I don't agree with all of them, but I'm not comfortable with all of them. But also, I think that the return that I could get is multiple X's of what I would get investing in one of them. Gold and silver for now. Yeah, gold is certainly doing well. I suppose commodities may do well. But in terms of, I mean, I mentioned this on my Twitter today, if you invested a dollar in Bitcoin in 2009, you'd have 90 million now. If you invested a dollar in gold in 2009, you'd have two dollars now. So I think that speaks, that says all you need to know. Is Apple still Sharia compliant? I have always had an issue with Apple since the Uyghur slave labor investigation in the supply chain. So I've stayed away from it. All right, guys, thanks for tuning in. I hope you have a great weekend. And until next time, Asalaamu Alaikum and peace be upon you all. Leave a like if you haven't already.