More From Vegas: What Wall Street Is Overlooking

Early birds... Clanking silverware... Greg Diamond: Volatile 2024 ahead... Why the GameStop 'movement' isn't over yet... 'Pointed money' will go where it's told... A professional pickpocket gets me... [Stansberry Research Logo] Delivering World-Class Financial Research Since 1999 [Stansberry Digest] Early birds... Clanking silverware... Greg Diamond: Volatile 2024 ahead... Why the GameStop 'movement' isn't over yet... 'Pointed money' will go where it's told... A professional pickpocket gets me... --------------------------------------------------------------- The sun was still rising over the mountains in Las Vegas... It was a little after 7 a.m. this morning, particularly early by Vegas standards. And two of our editors, Ten Stock Trader editor Greg Diamond and Crypto Capital editor Eric Wade, were already holding court in a pair of ballrooms here at the Encore at Wynn... The overnight gamblers in the casino still hadn't gone to sleep yet. But down the hallway, Day 2 of our annual Stansberry Conference was beginning... Subscribers eating breakfast at their seats politely clinked silverware and snapped photos of presenters' slides... About 80 early risers attended Greg's talk. Of interest was his forecast for 2024 based on the technical-analysis research that he shares in Ten Stock Trader. Greg ran through charts of major U.S. indexes, banks, real estate, gold, the dollar, and more. As he said... I want to know as much information as possible. I want to gather as much data as I can. In fairness to those in the room or watching on our livestream, I can't give away too much. But I can say this... Greg explained that technical and time-cycle patterns in various major asset classes are all aligning to set up major "inflection points" for the broader market early next year and possibly into the summer of 2024. He sees a volatile year ahead, but one that's different from 2022 and 2023, and he'll be looking to trade the ups and downs. You'll want to follow his work in the months ahead for more detail. Greg also gave a heads-up to his subscribers about the trades he's eyeing up and may recommend over the next few days, fielded live subscriber questions, and shared his views on the Federal Reserve, rates, and when "bad news" might become bad for the market. About an hour later, it was still early... For Ben Mezrich, at least. The author of roughly two dozen books led off the speakers on the main stage today with a quip about the time... "Thank you for being awake at 8 a.m. in Vegas. I know that's no easy feat." He then shared that he was once chased out of the Wynn while hanging out with a card shark he'd befriended while working on one of his books, Busting Vegas. Mezrich has become known for writing true tales of big characters, like Facebook/Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg (adapted into the movie The Social Network), or the MIT "blackjack team," or, most recently, the group of retail traders who bet big on "meme stocks" like GameStop and took on Wall Street hedge funds (adapted into the movie Dumb Money, which is in theaters now). On stage, Mezrich offered up the origin stories of his popular (and unpopular) books, the start of his career, and how he finally got his big break when his book proposal for a story about Facebook got leaked on the Internet, leading to a call of interest from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. But what I want to highlight here is some insight Mezrich shared about the GameStop saga... and his view on what it means in the context of the economy, the markets, and sentiment among Americans today. Dumb money, they say... We won't rehash the whole David vs. Goliath narrative here. Regular readers might remember [we covered the whole thing as it was developing]( back in early 2021... In short, colorful, bizarre characters like "Roaring Kitty" inspired hordes of novice investors to bet against Wall Street hedge funds and push up shares of the struggling/failing video-game retailer. GameStop shares went from below $5 to a peak of $483 in January 2021. And for crying out loud, it's a movie now (whose script I now wish I had written). As Mezrich, the guy who actually took initiative to write the book that inspired said movie, summarized today... It became this class war, this clash of regular people on Main Street who were pissed off that their lives weren't going well and that the pandemic was ruining everyone's year, they didn't have any money, and that Wall Street was going to destroy the company that they loved. So they bought, and they bought and they bought, and they didn't give a crap about anything but taking down Wall Street – and for a brief moment, it looked like it was going to happen. Then Wall Street essentially ended the party... No-fee brokerage Robinhood, for instance, took away the "buy" button on GameStop and other suddenly popular beaten-down stocks. It became clear that certain hedge funds had interests in the mechanics of how retail trading actually worked on platforms like Robinhood... and the powers that be didn't want to lose any more money. In the end, it appeared the hedge funds lost in the short term when GameStop shares surged, then won in the long term since the stock is down more than 80% from its 2021 peak... The end, right? Mezrich thinks the story isn't over... You'll be able to get more detail with paid access to our conference replay when it becomes available. ([Get more information here]( But as Mezrich said today during his presentation... What really turned me on about the story was the idea that young people today do not see value the same way that generations before do. If young people feel like GameStop is worth something because they love it, they will buy the hell out of it. And if they can amass together on Reddit or somewhere like it, they are as powerful as any Wall Street bank. Mezrich believes the markets will see more instances of retail traders ganging up on a firm or having pointed interest in a particular stock or sector, and it will happen "over and over and over again." He said... Value is no longer tethered to the fundamentals of a company... This is something that Wall Street has not gotten its head around yet. It is true that Wall Street now scours social media and won't publish its short positions... but I still talk to people on Wall Street all the time who still have not gotten their heads around the fact that retail traders are an incredibly powerful force, and they're not going to be "dumb money" for much longer. Instead, Mezrich uses the term "pointed money" to describe younger investors – like millennials, now the largest demographic in the U.S. As he puts it, "They're going to go in the direction that they're pointed." A few ideas come to my mind right away, like various activist campaigns that could quickly start in the digital world, be they related to climate, advertising, or any other interest. But... really?... At least one subscriber in the room was skeptical, though, of the power of the crowds... During a Q&A portion of the presentation, he asked whether the gang of GameStop traders ultimately "lost"... and if some are still waiting for the stock to turn higher, why Mezrich thinks stories like it will keep happening. He answered... The movement had nothing to do with money. I interviewed hundreds of people who bought GameStop and almost none of them said they bought it to make money... A lot of them bought it at $50 and it went to $500. None of them sold... because they needed to beat Wall Street. They're so angry. There's so much anger in this country and we all see it... For a brief moment, they aimed their anger in the one place they could. And when the rug got pulled out from under them, it only told them what they already knew: that the game is rigged. That's why I say it's a movement. It's a movement that didn't get where it needed to go, but it's going to happen. We see it in politics, culture, and in Wall Street. It has to be dealt with somehow. In short, Mezrich thinks this is a theme that Wall Street is overlooking and that investors should account for. We're certainly on board with the final part of that idea... that various forces of unrest – like inflation, political debate, and culture wars – are churning the emotions of folks all across the country and setting the stage for a breaking point ahead. On that not insignificant and sobering point, tonight our Director of Research Matt Weinschenk will host a special panel titled, "Flourishing or Full-on Crisis – The Truth About the Next 10 Years." We're looking forward to that and will share highlights tomorrow... And if you want to hear all the details from this morning, or any of our other presentations from the first two days of the conference, be sure to check out our replay package. [Click here to find out more]( and to register to get notified immediately when the videos become available. About last night... At our VIP reception last night, subscribers also got to mingle with Stansberry Research analysts and our invited guests. We spotted folks like Cambria Asset Management's Meb Faber, Rick Rule, and Clocktower's Marko Papic. Sleight-of-hand artist Apollo Robbins also worked the room, doing card tricks and other Vegas-y stunts, including dropping a wallet into my jacket pocket and magically making a folded-up jack of clubs appear under a colleague's wristwatch. He's got some nerve, this Apollo. He's a self-described "gentleman thief" who is a professional pickpocket and who gently mentioned to us he presented [one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time]( on the art of misdirection. It has been watched more than 33 million times. Apollo first gained notoriety many years ago pickpocketing the Secret Service agents of former President Jimmy Carter, which led to consulting for police departments and different security outfits. Tomorrow is another day... Tomorrow is our Alliance Day, an exclusive set of presentations just for Stansberry Alliance members... and the final day of the conference. Josh Brown, the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and a noted market commentator, will headline the morning sessions. And throughout the day, our editors and analysts will gather on stage for special panels and offer stock recommendations for the year ahead. These are always some of the more entertaining parts of the conference... when our editors and analysts exchange their ideas in front of subscribers, talking out their respective bullish and bearish takes. We don't expect a brawl, but certainly some debate. We'll be back with more tomorrow. --------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Links: [Until Midnight Tonight: Claim FREE Access to 'The New Intelligence']( Type in a stock ticker to see where AI predicts it'll be in 21 trading days, using a program that has been teaching itself how to help you get rich. 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[Get the full details here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- New 52-week highs (as of 10/16/23): Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), BWX Technologies (BWXT), CBOE Global Markets (CBOE), Costco Wholesale (COST), Diamondback Energy (FANG), Structure Therapeutics (GPCR), Liberty Energy (LBRT), Eli Lilly (LLY), Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Shell (SHEL), and VMware (VMW). In today's mailbag, feedback on [yesterday's Digest]( which in part highlighted Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig's interview with Lance Armstrong at our Stansberry Conference... Do you have a comment or question? As always, e-mail us at feedback@stansberryresearch.com. "Still puzzled why you guys would bother to glorify the cheater Armstrong on your stage, no matter how many apologies he tries to make..." – Subscriber Steven S. All the best, Corey McLaughlin Las Vegas, Nevada October 17, 2023 --------------------------------------------------------------- Stansberry Research Top 10 Open Recommendations Top 10 highest-returning open positions across all Stansberry Research portfolios Stock Buy Date Return Publication Analyst MSFT Microsoft 11/11/10 1,205.0% Retirement Millionaire Doc MSFT Microsoft 02/10/12 1,045.7% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter ADP Automatic Data Processing 10/09/08 894.3% Extreme Value Ferris WRB W.R. Berkley 03/16/12 581.5% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter wstETH Wrapped Staked Ethereum 02/21/20 577.4% Stansberry Innovations Report Wade BRK.B Berkshire Hathaway 04/01/09 513.9% Retirement Millionaire Doc HSY Hershey 12/07/07 464.5% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter AFG American Financial 10/12/12 387.9% Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter TTD The Trade Desk 10/17/19 332.8% Stansberry Innovations Report Engel ALS-T Altius Minerals 02/16/09 306.1% Extreme Value Ferris Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 10 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the model portfolio of any Stansberry Research publication. The buy date reflects when the editor recommended the investment in the listed publication, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if a security is still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber to that publication and refer to the most recent portfolio. --------------------------------------------------------------- Top 10 Totals 4 Stansberry's Investment Advisory Porter 2 Extreme Value Ferris 2 Retirement Millionaire Doc 2 Stansberry Innovations Report Engel/Wade --------------------------------------------------------------- Top 5 Crypto Capital Open Recommendations Top 5 highest-returning open positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolio Stock Buy Date Return Publication Analyst wstETH Wrapped Staked Ethereum 12/07/18 1,416.9% Crypto Capital Wade ONE-USD Harmony 12/16/19 1,039.7% Crypto Capital Wade POLY/USD Polymath 05/19/20 1,026.5% Crypto Capital Wade MATIC/USD Polygon 02/25/21 763.0% Crypto Capital Wade BTC/USD Bitcoin 11/27/18 658.9% Crypto Capital Wade Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 5 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the Crypto Capital model portfolio. The buy date reflects when the recommendation was made, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if it's still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber and refer to the most recent portfolio. --------------------------------------------------------------- Stansberry Research Hall of Fame Top 10 all-time, highest-returning closed positions across all Stansberry portfolios Investment Symbol Duration Gain Publication Analyst Nvidia^* NVDA 5.96 years 1,466% Venture Tech. Lashmet Microsoft^ MSFT 12.74 years 1,185% Retirement Millionaire Doc Band Protocol crypto 0.32 years 1,169% Crypto Capital Wade Terra crypto 0.41 years 1,164% Crypto Capital Wade Inovio Pharma.^ INO 1.01 years 1,139% Venture Tech. Lashmet Seabridge Gold^ SA 4.20 years 995% Sjug Conf. Sjuggerud Frontier crypto 0.08 years 978% Crypto Capital Wade Binance Coin crypto 1.78 years 963% Crypto Capital Wade Nvidia^* NVDA 4.12 years 777% Venture Tech. Lashmet Intellia Therapeutics NTLA 1.95 years 775% Amer. Moonshots Root ^ These gains occurred with a partial position in the respective stocks. * The two partial positions in Nvidia were part of a single recommendation. Editor Dave Lashmet closed the first leg of the position in November 2016 for a gain of about 108%. Then, he closed the second leg in July 2020 for a 777% return. And finally, in May 2022, he booked a 1,466% return on the final leg. Subscribers who followed his advice on Nvidia could've recorded a total weighted average gain of more than 600%. You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to Stansberry Digest. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from Stansberry Digest [click here](. Published by Stansberry Research. You’re receiving this e-mail at {EMAIL}. 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