marchmeena29/iStock via Getty Images I created an ETF watch list in December that now numbers 83, and iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF ( IBIT ) was one of the initial members. The ETF is down a lot in 2026 and has been acting poorly for many months now. In this piece, I discuss the ETF and explain why I bought some. What IBIT Is iShares, a leading ETF company owned by BlackRock ( BLK ), launched IBIT in ...
marchmeena29/iStock via Getty Images I created an ETF watch list in December that now numbers 83, and iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF ( IBIT ) was one of the initial members. The ETF is down a lot in 2026 and has been acting poorly for many months now. In this piece, I discuss the ETF and explain why I bought some. What IBIT Is iShares, a leading ETF company owned by BlackRock ( BLK ), launched IBIT in early 2024. The ETF, which trades on the NASDAQ, has a single investment: bitcoins. The iShares website hosts a page for the IBIT ETF , and, as of 2/20, IBIT had 1.33 billion shares outstanding. At a closing price of $38.42, this works out to $51.2 billion. This is the largest of the 10 passive cryptocurrency ETFs that trade in the U.S. by far. The ETF has a management fee of 0.25%. This seems high relative to similar-sized ETFs that iShares runs, but it is the same as the larger Gold Trust ETF ( IAU ) that iShares runs and below the 0.40% fee of the much larger Gold Trust ETF ( GLD ) that State Street runs. Bitcoin is just one of many cryptocurrencies, and it has seen its price rise dramatically over the years: TradingView While Bitcoin has dropped in price by nearly 50% from the high set in 2025, it is still up a lot since early 2023. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can act as a store of value. The size of Bitcoin is over $1 trillion, with almost 20 million of the total allowed of 21 million currently mined. It is part of a secure ledger due to blockchain technology. Precious metals have been soaring this year and for the past few years. Bitcoin, which has historically moved in the same direction as gold, has vastly underperformed it recently. Here are the past six months for SPDR Gold Shares ( GLD ) and Bitcoin: YCharts Silver has done even better, with iShares Silver Trust ( SLV ) gaining 116.8%. Looking back three years, Bitcoin and Gold have performed very similarly: YCharts Going further back, Bitcoin has far outpaced gold's rally. Since the end of 2019, Bitcoin h...
The Global X - Silver Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:SIL) and the Sprott Gold Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:SGDM) offer concentrated exposure to mining companies, but their underlying focus diverges: SIL zeroes in on silver miners globally, while SGDM tracks gold producers primarily in the U.S. and Canada. The two ETFs differ most in metal exposure, recent performance, and fund size, with SIL leading in recent returns...
The Global X - Silver Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:SIL) and the Sprott Gold Miners ETF (NYSEMKT:SGDM) offer concentrated exposure to mining companies, but their underlying focus diverges: SIL zeroes in on silver miners globally, while SGDM tracks gold producers primarily in the U.S. and Canada. The two ETFs differ most in metal exposure, recent performance, and fund size, with SIL leading in recent returns and assets under management (AUM), while SGDM offers a lower expense ratio and milder historical drawdowns. This comparison unpacks how their cost, risk, performance, and portfolio details stack up for investors looking to invest in precious metals. Continue reading
K Wave Media ( KWM ) on Monday said it has regained compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum market value of listed securities requirement. Nasdaq confirmed on February 18, 2026, that for 20 consecutive business days from January 20 to February 17. K Wave Media’s market value of listed securities was $50 million or greater, meeting the requirement under Nasdaq Listing Rule. The company said it continues t...
K Wave Media ( KWM ) on Monday said it has regained compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum market value of listed securities requirement. Nasdaq confirmed on February 18, 2026, that for 20 consecutive business days from January 20 to February 17. K Wave Media’s market value of listed securities was $50 million or greater, meeting the requirement under Nasdaq Listing Rule. The company said it continues to monitor compliance with all Nasdaq listing rules, including the minimum bid price requirement. KWM +4.34% premarket to $0.7799. Source: Press Release More on K Wave Media Ltd. K Wave Media receives Nasdaq notice over market value requirement K Wave Media receives Nasdaq notification Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on K Wave Media Ltd. Financial information for K Wave Media Ltd.
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Monday: JPMorgan reiterates Nvidia as overweight JPMorgan says it sees a beat and raise when the company reports earnings later this week. "We are clearly in an environment of elevated expectations heading into NVDA's F4Q26 (Jan-Qtr) print, considering the stock has basically moved sideways since the F3Q26 print despite a slew of positive/favorable deve...
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Monday: JPMorgan reiterates Nvidia as overweight JPMorgan says it sees a beat and raise when the company reports earnings later this week. "We are clearly in an environment of elevated expectations heading into NVDA's F4Q26 (Jan-Qtr) print, considering the stock has basically moved sideways since the F3Q26 print despite a slew of positive/favorable developments" UBS upgrades BlackRock to buy from neutral UBS says it sees "stronger for longer" fee growth helping Blackrock shares. "We are upgrading BLK to Buy as our conviction in 'stronger for longer' base mgmt. fee growth is reinforced by BLK's strong 4Q results, constructive CFO commentary at the UBS Fins conference, and a solid start to 1Q flows." UBS upgrades CBRE Group to buy from neutral UBS says investors should buy the dip in the real estate company. "We are upgrading CBRE to Buy from Neutral following sharp underperformance over the last couple of weeks as the sector has gotten caught up in a negative AI narrative." Evercore ISI reiterates Apple as outperform Evercore says it likes the company's free cash flow generation. "With hyperscaler capex guidance continuing to stretch higher, we believe investors are placing greater scrutiny on cash generation and capital return, especially as debt financing becomes a bigger source of funds for data center infrastructure. We continue to favor assets that are less capital intensive and maintain durable free cash flow generation such as AAPL. Citi reiterates Disney as buy Citi says it's sticking with the stock but that it needs to see more growth in the second half of the year. "To achieve Disney's FY26 guidance of double-digit Adj EPS growth, Disney will need to generate very robust growth in 2H26. After reviewing the disclosures and underlying drivers, we this is quite reasonable." Bank of America reiterates Dell as buy Bank of America lowered its price target on the stock to $135 per share from $150 ahead of earnings later...
Futures Slide As Renewed Tariff Turmoil Shakes Global Markets Stock futures slumped after Trump’s weekend tariff tantrum added uncertainty to American trade policy and was another blow to bullish outlooks for 2026. The Supreme Court’s tariff ruling means a big source of fiscal revenue from 2025 may have to be refunded (although if it is refunded to US consumers, who bore the brunt of tariffs as mo...
Futures Slide As Renewed Tariff Turmoil Shakes Global Markets Stock futures slumped after Trump’s weekend tariff tantrum added uncertainty to American trade policy and was another blow to bullish outlooks for 2026. The Supreme Court’s tariff ruling means a big source of fiscal revenue from 2025 may have to be refunded (although if it is refunded to US consumers, who bore the brunt of tariffs as most liberals analysts concluded, it would represent a huge pre-midterm stimulus). As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures were 0.5% lower, giving up almost all Friday gains, while Nasdaq 100 contracts sliding -0.6%. In pre-market trading, there is a defensive tone as Mag7 names are mostly lower, Semis are coming for sale (NVDA flat ahead of earnings on Wednesday); and, most sectors are seeing weakness with pockets of positive performance in HC, Aero/Def, Materials, and Utilities. “We started 2026 with a bullish outlook — but not even two months into the year, many of our assumptions are being challenged,” wrote the Bloomberg Economics team led by Anna Wong. The risk of war in Iran and the AI scare are also denting optimism. The dollar recouped losses while bond yields are flat-to-down 1bp after spiking on Friday on fears the SCOTUS ruling will unleash much more debt issuance. Commodities are seeing weakness in Energy with WTI down 60bp, Ags being sold perhaps on lower tariffs, and precious metals maintain their incessant bid. Today we get factory orders and the final December durable goods report. Key events this week include Trump’s State of the Union Address tomorrow, Nvidia earnings on Wednesday and PPI data on Friday. In premarket trading, Magnificent Seven are mostly lower, with the lone exception being GOOGL which rises 0.3% as Wells Fargo upgrades to overweight, calling the search giant an “AI winner.” Others are all down (Nvidia -0.2%, Microsoft -0.5%, Apple -0.5%, Meta Platforms -0.7%, Amazon -0.9%, Tesla -0.9%) Arcellx Inc. (ACLX) soars 78% after Gilead Sciences Inc. agreed t...