2021, Summarized
2021 will go down as one of the most eventful years in history. So eventful, in fact, that all we can do is focus on what went on in the stock market, and only the biggest ones too.
The year got started with the meme revolution. Through a couple of posts on Reddit, retail investors were able to create one of the largest upswings in market history. These businesses that were close to bankruptcy saw days where their shares were up 1,000 percent, and whatโs even better is that multiple hedge funds held outrageously leveraged short positions. Margin calls arrived, sending the shares up further, and the retail investor took control of the institutions. This will be known as a revolutionary moment in finance history, and itโs crazy it just happened this year.
Blockchain took over. In 2021, cryptocurrency grew to things like NFTs, and the world of decentralized finance. People created their own coins, and meme coins appeared too. One in particular was Dogecoin, a joke coin that was pumped with the backing of Elon Musk, a man who is now too familiar with the space. 2021 shined a new light on cryptocurrencies, and it set the precedent for whatโs to come from this highly disruptive space.
This year, there was more money traded in options than stocks. This year, we saw a massive number of IPOs and SPACs, with most of them going bad. This year, bubbles were formed in some stocks, and bubbles were burst in others. This year, a company gained 200 billion dollars in 4 days. This year, interest rates were near-zero. This year, inflation rose to a 4-decade high. This year presented the new normal, and how adaptation is necessary for the future.
Next year provides some tough challenges. Geopolitical battles will continue to take place, inflation woes will continue, and interest rates will come back to pose a problem. COVID could remain a pandemic, or become an endemic, and vaccine access could stay a problem unsolved due to economic disparities. However, we must remember that the only way out, is together.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.