Bitcoin printing new ATHs as crypto week arrives
The Sandbox Daily (7.14.2025)
Welcome, Sandbox friends.
Today’s Daily discusses:
crypto week
Let’s dig in.
Blake
Markets in review
EQUITIES: Russell 2000 +0.67% | Nasdaq 100 +0.33% | Dow +0.20% | S&P 500 +0.14%
FIXED INCOME: Barclays Agg Bond -0.01% | High Yield +0.07% | 2yr UST 3.904% | 10yr UST 4.433%
COMMODITIES: Brent Crude -1.66% to $69.19/barrel. Gold -0.31% to $3,353.5/oz.
BITCOIN: +1.26% to $120,103
US DOLLAR INDEX: +0.24% to 98.087
CBOE TOTAL PUT/CALL RATIO: 0.84
VIX: +4.88% to 17.20
Quote of the day
“He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.”
- Raymond Hull
Crypto week
One of the biggest challenges for investors is balancing long-term goals with short-term market moves.
This is just as true when financial markets are rallying as when they’re struggling.
New developments in the stock market, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and other asset classes naturally capture investor and media attention. This can create pressure to react to daily headlines and even lead to FOMO.
As long-term investors have learned over the boom-and-bust cycles of decades past, there are no free lunches.
This is why stocks, bonds, commodities, and other asset classes remain the foundation to portfolios since they can help investors achieve the balance of risk and reward. In contrast, short-term market exuberance, whether it’s for momentum names or Cathie Wood stocks, can reverse quickly and without notice.
Thus, the key for long-term investors lies not in trying to time these swings, but in constructing a portfolio that can benefit from different characteristics, while maintaining focus on long-term financial plans.
After all, what truly matters isn’t whether your portfolio contains the investment everyone’s talking about this week, but whether you're able to buy a home for your family, retire comfortably, or provide for your loved ones.
With Bitcoin breaking out and public interest/demand growing, investors are confronting a burgeoning asset class that is disrupting modern portfolio theory and investor return expectations.
Bitcoin has surged to new highs as Congress considers several cryptocurrency regulations during what is being called “Crypto Week.”
In particular, the House of Representatives is looking at the GENIUS Act, which would regulate stablecoins – digital currencies designed to maintain their value which are often pegged to the U.S. dollar. It will also consider the CLARITY Act, which would provide a clearer framework for regulating cryptocurrencies, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which prevents the Federal Reserve from creating a digital currency.
In general, Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) attracts investor attention due to their extreme market moves, growing interest among institutional investors, and ongoing concerns over fiscal and monetary trends.
For long-term investors, the most important question is whether cryptocurrencies can play important roles in portfolios. Whether Bitcoin fits in a portfolio depends on your specific goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon.
The reality is that Bitcoin experiences price fluctuations several times greater than the stock market.
During the 2022 bear market, for example, Bitcoin fell over 75% while the S&P 500 declined ~25%. Other examples of extreme selloffs can be found in bitcoin’s short history.
The opposite is also true. Bitcoin returned 156% and 121% in 2023 and 2024, while the S&P 500 clocked back-to-back 20% gains over the same period.
This demonstrates that digital currencies can amplify portfolio risk – both downside AND upside.
It’s also important to note that not all cryptocurrencies have experienced the same price movements as Bitcoin.
Ethereum, another well-known cryptocurrency, is negative this year, and has declined about 25% from its high last December.
There are also countless other cryptocurrencies and “meme coins” that have followed different paths. As always, it’s important to not react to headlines and to carefully consider these assets in a portfolio context.
So, once again, what should matter to a long-term investor is their overall portfolio and whether it aligns with long-term financial goals.
New investment opportunities like crypto underscore both their potential benefits and the importance of thoughtful allocation decisions.
At the very least, these assets should complement, not replace, diversified holdings in stocks, bonds, and other core asset classes.
Sources: Clearnomics, Charlie Bilello
That’s all for today.
Blake
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Welcome to The Sandbox Daily, a daily curation of relevant research at the intersection of markets, economics, and lifestyle. We are committed to delivering high-quality and timely content to help investors make sense of capital markets.
Blake Millard is the Director of Investments at Sandbox Financial Partners, a Registered Investment Advisor. All opinions expressed here are solely his opinion and do not express or reflect the opinion of Sandbox Financial Partners. This Substack channel is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. The information and opinions provided within should not be taken as specific advice on the merits of any investment decision by the reader. Investors should conduct their own due diligence regarding the prospects of any security discussed herein based on such investors’ own review of publicly available information. Clients of Sandbox Financial Partners may maintain positions in the markets, indexes, corporations, and/or securities discussed within The Sandbox Daily. Any projections, market outlooks, or estimates stated here are forward looking statements and are inherently unreliable; they are based upon certain assumptions and should not be construed to be indicative of the actual events that will occur.
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