i bought some $APEX today

short term trade

i think my average entry is around $0.7 or so. will need to calculate later once i'm less busy!

it is Bybit's main perpetual DEX, just like Aster is BInance's main perpetual DEX

it is currently trading around $100 million market cap, which makes it ridiculously undervalued compared to Aster ($3 bllion) and Hyperliquid ($14 billion) should Bybit get behind it

especially when you consider that Bybit is the second biggest perps CEX in the world after Binance

it's been up quite a bit today, which shows a lot of accumulation by whales and smart money, and i won't be surprised if Bybit starts leaning more into it after seeing what happened with Aster (take with a grain of salt)

regardless, this is a short term trade for me and i might or might not swing trade it

not asking anyone to take this trade. just taking my own trade and putting out my thesis for it in my journal here

i can close this trade whenever, with or without mentioning here, and you're solely responsible for your gains or losses on this trade

https://www.bybit.com/en/trade/spot/APEX/USDT

PS: i was going to wait for a bit of pullback before posting it in my journal here, but i saw Axe tweet about it just now and figured more people likely start talking about it soon: https://x.com/trading_axe/status/1971229294035681591?s=46

FWIW: i think $ASTER is a far stronger long-term contender in the perps DEX wars fundamentally speaking, due to the massive mindshare it has and the incentives and tokenomics advantage it has. $APEX is more of a short-term catch up trade on ASTER for me, depending on whether or not Bybit makes a move and leans more heavily into APEX

the perps DEX wars is clearly heating on, so i won't be surprised if Bybit chooses to lean more into APEX and decides to push it harder

until then, this is more of a high risk trade that is potentially capped at a few Xs

i also think $USELESS is going to go super parabolic in Q4, so i will likely be rotating some of the wins from some of my more 'degen' trades that i document in this journal into USELESS when i take profits on them

i had a number of people forward me the following messages from supposed Bybit employees after seeing my post

i'm still holding the trade fwiw, but i'm forwarding it here for the sake of complete transparency so you know what risks you're taking if you follow me into this trade

to be forewarned is to be forearmed

Hey Hey!

Thanks a lot! No its not a rebrand of apex. Bybit has no connections to Apex anymore and instead focuses on Byreal. As far as I am concerned they are still testing hence limited access.

At the moment not but maybe in the future will start cooperation again

i see way too many people grave dancing memecoins right now

saying they are cooked and that the trenches are dead

which means it's time to start buying memecoin dips aggressively

i think the bottom is already in or close for a lot of memecoins, and that many of them will be trading at several multiples or even orders of magnitude higher than they are now within the next few months

don't get me wrong, the meta right now is UTILITY

there have been so many strong utility plays recently, including $ASTER, $XPL, and more

i've made more than mid 7 figures trading the utility meta in the past month alone, and i'm on track for 8 figures from trading utility tokens in the past month

i like the utility meta and do not think it is done. i wish i was earlier to it tbh!

i will also be paying more attention to utility coins going forward, and i will be sharing my trades on my Telegram journal here, because i think we're having a paradigm shift in which utility is now being taken seriously again... as opposed to most of the cycle where it's mostly been memes and AI vapor

this does not mean memecoins are by any means done, however

think about it:

as has been the case with every major trend or meta we've had this cycle, the top is in when everyone is euphoric and super confident it is the future, and the best time to accumulate is when everyone is grave dancing and saying it is over (like they're doing with memecoins right now)

memecoins have been the most dominant narrative by far this year, and they have only bounced stronger every time they pull back and people start declaring them dead

the sentiment around memecoins right now indicates that now is a good time to start aggressively buying

- which means now is probably the best time to be loading up on $USELESS coin
- which means now is probably the best time to be loading up on $BONK
- which means now is probably the best time to be loading up on $FARTCOIN
- which means now is probably the best time to be loading up on $FLOKI
- which means now is probably the best time to be loading up on other high-conviction memecoins

i will continue to size into strong utility plays if and when i see them, but i will also be rotating a lot of profits from these utility plays into oversold memecoins (especially $USELESS, since it is the lowest cap on my list of high-conviction memecoin plays) in anticipation of a parabolic memecoin rally in Q4

i just woke up to see APEX up 276%

apparently Bybit CEO Ben has started to lean into it

i bought a little over 1.24 million tokens when i shared it two days ago as documented here

https://x.com/benbybit/status/1971712950009540860?s=46

we'll see how things evolve from here, but i'm still holding because i think the perps DEX trade is not done

Aster is going to make new ATHs IMO, and APEX even more so!

the most important trait of a good trader is flexibility (or adaptability)

it's good to know your edge and hone in on it

at the same time, it is important to be adaptable when new trends emerge

and this even more so in a fast moving world like crypto!

my edge has always been trading memecoins, because i believe the memecoin narrative is the most sticky narrative in this space and presents the most asymmetric upside for people looking to make a crazy amount of money from almost nothing (i.e. 100% of retail)

like it or not, retail is not going to make significant gains from buying BTC or ETH or SOL or most utility plays

memecoins present the most asymmetric upside for retail and are inherently social, which is why they will always be the #1 gateway through which retail enters into crypto

so IMO memecoins are not done and are in fact poised for an aggressively explosive move in Q4

you should be aggressively buying the dips on $USELESS, on $BONK, on $FARTCOIN, on $FLOKI and on other solid memecoin plays right now

that said, the meta of the moment is utility

the smart move in the short term is to stack strong utility plays that have a combination of good fundamentals and mindshare before they go parabolic

then rotate profits from these utility plays into high-potential memecoins before they go parabolic in Q4 e.g. $USELESS or $BONK

the reason why you rotate is that a lot of these utility plays tend to launch with low float and high FDV, so their price will likely be surpressed when the unlock starts

memecoins meanwhile are generally fully circulating, are in their most oversold levels in ages, and have the worst sentiment they've had all cycle

make no mistake:

i do not have an ounce of doubt in my bones that we're going to get the mother of all monster rallies for memecoins in Q4

when this rally starts:

- $USELESS will be heading to multi-billions

- $BONK will go to deca-billions

- $FARTCOIN will make new ATHs

right now this might seem far-fetched... but remember how utility was dead all cycle and everyone mocked the concept of utility only for it to be what everyone is talking about right now?

so as ridiculous as it sounds, my short-term gameplan is to milke this utility meta for all it's got by sizing into strong fundamental plays before they get into the spotlight, and then rotate the profits into high-conviction memecoin plays just before they go parabolic in Q4

you guys should try to go touch some grass over the weekend btw

too much screen time is not good for the body... especially on weekends! 😅️️

the market seemed to have bounced slightly today, which is good

i do not think we are out of the woods yet though, so i recommend being careful with leverage

IMO the real move for altcoins and memecoins is going to start in Q4

the market has provided so many opportunities with altcoins in the past month for those who were paying attention: $ASTER, $APEX, $STBL, $AVNT, and $XPL to name a few

i was able to catch $ASTER and $APEX, and i'm up 7 figures on both trades. i shared both in the trenches and APEX here in my journal. i don't think both trades are done yet fwiw, so i continue to hold for higher

i believe there will be a lot more of these opportunities in Q4. i mean literal generational wealth opportunities for those who are locked in, so i recommend starting to make moves to free up your schedule in anticipation

i will be taking many of these trades, God willing, because i really believe Q4 will provide the best generational wealth opportunity we've seen all cycle, and i intend to milk it for all its got

i'm willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to extract as much as i can from the market during this period: sleep, fun, etc, you name it

i mean i think we've got maybe just three months of this exciting action for alts/memes, or maybe two, and i intend to fully make the best of it

to be clear, i'm not calling top by any stretch. i don't play majors as a rule, mostly alts and small/mid caps, so when i think there will be a pretty good opportunity to make money off them, then i want to fully maximize it

i intend to share most of my trades here in my journal, so if you are one of those who care to follow then it might be a good idea to pin this journal to your Telegram. i'm saying this because many came after the fact to tell me that they missed my $APEX call after i shared my PnL update the other day. they wouldn't have missed it if they had my channel pinned!

if i was forced to say exactly when the altcoin/memecoin rally would start, i would say maybe mid to late October... but you never know, so i might be wrong

but i'm super confident we get a monster altcoin and memecoin rally in Q4 and i think all dips from here onwards are for buying

i also think now is the perfect time to start aggressively buying memecoin dips

many get sidelined because they get too greedy

it's extremely hard to nail the stone cold bottom or top, and the reality is that you don't even need to nail it to make it

let's take a look at the level of correction on some of the key memecoins worth paying attention to:

- $USELESS is down 65% from ATH
- $BONK is down 69% from ATH
- $FLOKI is down 77% from ATH
- $FARTCOIN is down 78% from ATH

tbh i think it's going to be hard to get a much better entry than you have on these memecoins right now

so what if they dip slightly more?! what if they do not?

if i think $USELESS is going to be trading at a minimum of $1 billion when we get memecoin season in Q4, then it makes zero sense for me not to start sizing in here at $150 million market cap at the end of September

if i think $BONK is going to start its rally to $10 billion+ in Q4, then it makes zero sense for me not to start sizing in here at $1.5 billion market cap at the end of September

so IMO the key mindset to have for memecoins from here on out is 'aggressive dip buying mode' instead of a 'panic sell the bottom' mode

so what if we get one more $BTC flush? it is likely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and tbh altcoins and memecoins might not even suffer as much due to how aggressively they've been battered already

anyway, just some random ramblings on the state of things with memecoins and expectations from here

i don't think the perps DEX trade is done FWIW

$ASTER looks way oversold from after that CZ AMA, likely because he said he is only an 'advisor'

but this is one of those, 'pay attention to what he does and not what he says' kind of scenario IMO

he keeps tweeting about it several times a day (which he literally only does for BNB, and maybe BTC), they still have several major unannounced catalysts, and the chart looks very primed

i've yet to sell a single ASTER token and expect it to go much higher i.e. new ATHs

i mean, what's the worst that could happen after all that has happened recently?

you can also say whatever you want about ASTER trading activity/volume, but it's literally been the #2 revenue generator in all of crypto for more than a week now where it is generating $10m to $15m+ in fees daily

it was able to maintain its fees and volume through a lot of FUD and pullback over the last 48 hours, so i think it will continue to maintain it for the foreseeable future

TLDR: the ASTER trade is not done

the same thing with APEX btw

i realized that i have yet to provide an update since my original entry here 4 days ago

TLDR: i'm up over $2 million on that trade and still holding

i think $APEX goes much higher

it has cooled down a bit after that tweet from Bybit CEO Ben acknowledging that they have big plans for it

since then, the official Bybit tweet posted to indicate that they have big plans coming for APEX

then APEX just released a major announcement today which i think the market is yet to price in:

https://x.com/OfficialApeXdex/status/1972294501160141307

TLDR is they will be using 50% of APEX DEX fees to buyback the token starting next week, with the number expected to be increased to 90% eventually. in addition to that, a lump sum of $12 million from past fees will be allocated towards buying $APEX tokens. all of these tokens will be locked in a transparent and fully visible on-chain address

as i said earlier, i do not think the perps DEX trade deal is done

and IMO the best options right now from a trade/narrative aspect is HYPE (current industry leader), ASTER (Binance's perps DEX), and APEX (Bybit's perps DEX)

you could go on and on about which is the better product, but tbh i really don't care. i simply trade the narrative and potential, instead of the 'product'

opinions are generally divided about CEXs (i.e. which is good and which is bad), yet there are dozens of CEXs doing billions of dollars in revenue annually and many of them have tokens trading at billions of dollars in market cap. even some CEXs you've never heard about!

the perps DEX trade is the same IMO: multiple successful perps DEX solutions can co-exist, many of which will get pretty big, and it's hard to bet against the perps DEX tokens of the two biggest CEXs as far as potential winners goes... as long as they continue to support them!

Hyperliquid was pretty much a massive wake up call to CEX behemoths like Binance and Bybit that have basically dominated the industry for years, with how rapidly it ate up into their market share, and i doubt they will simply sit idle now that they realize how much potential exists in the sector, especially with a new favorable regulatory regime that allows them to move a lot more freely than they ever could in the past

IMO the perps DEX battle is far from over. it's going to accelerate from here, and Aster and Apex should see market share increase provided Binance and Bybit continue to push them aggressively