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

i've gotten several messages today from people saying they like my journal btw!

thank you so much for the kind words. in a world filled with hate and toxicity, hearing those kind words makes a lot of difference! 🙏️️️️️️

there is so much i want to/feel i should share, but it becomes hard to do so in a world of hate and toxicity, where people do not want to take responsibility for their own trades and decisions, and where i need to always watch my back because i feel people will come for me at the slightest slip up

this journal is an experiment i.e. i could end it at any time, hopefully not, so just a heads up. hopefully it is devoid of the toxicity that is now the norm on X. and that should allow me to share more here!

if it's not already clear to many of you, i like writing. a lot!!!

it is kind of an outlet for me when i am in the mood for it, and that was one of the key reasons why i set up my X account

so i will likely be sharing a lot more in my journal here in the future

i might take days or weeks off X at times, depending on my mood

or maybe not actually: i will most likely mainly use X for PNL updates, posting shills/updates on my existing bags, and shitposting

the real alpha and new trades will mostly be in my journal going forward. if i am in the mood, maybe i share on X, but i really do not feel obligated to do so at this point tbh

so just putting this out there

one of the biggest mistakes i have made this cycle was refusing to farm airdrops on high-potential protocols

i mostly did this because i felt it wasn't worth my time, but that has been a very costly mistake in hindsight

some numbers that put things in perspective:

- average early Hyperliquid user got airdropped 2,915.66 $HYPE tokens = $136,161.322 today
- one user got airdropped 970,000 $HYPE = $65.7 million today
- many users got airdropped what is worth 7 figures now

i had every opportunity to farm HYPE at the time, and i would have been the ideal audience due to the fact that i regularly trade perps

if i had used the platform prior to the airdrop, i would have gotten a 7 figure airdrop

i made the same mistake with $ASTER, which i shouldn't have in hindsight because i knew about the platform at least 3 months ago due to a CZ tweet

of course people can still farm ASTER, but it's literally doing tens of billions of dollars in daily volume now. i'm sure the airdrop potential is diluted and will likely be concentrated in the hands of sophisticated financial market players with massive warchests and dedicated teams focused on that operation... so the average user likely doesn't stand a chance

Lighter is another very similar opportunity to watch out for right now

while many are obsessed with the Hyperliquid x Aster battle right now, the hidden story seems to be Lighter

they came on my radar when many in various trenches chats won't stop raving about them, but i started paying more attention to them after they listed $USELESS

it is the most underrated perps DEX out there today IMO, and is widely considered to be the most disruptive: superior UX/UI, 0 fees, and quicker and wider asset listings

Lighter does not have a token yet, but IMO it is the protocol that currently presents the opportunity most similar to the early Hyperliquid airdrop

i think one of the best decisions many would make this year would be setting up a Lighter account and using the protocol at least somewhat just to build up points for when the airdrop happens

many will fall in love with it and start using it more actively for trading fwiw

i should add that Lighter is currently in closed beta, which means you couldn't even use it off the bat if you wanted to... you need an invite code/ref link from someone else to access it, and the invite codes are very hard to get

i connected with their team and they set me up with a referral link that provides a very limited number of invites for those interested:

https://app.lighter.xyz/trade/ETH?referral=RTUUPPK7382V

everyone is focused on Hyperliquid vs Aster right now, but you're going to be hearing a lot more about Lighter in the future

it's a perps DEX similar to Hyperliquid, and make sure to triple check the link to be safe since there are a lot of Telegram channels impersonating me now (the website is lighter DOT xyz)

Outside of the perps DEX war...

i've been saying for a while now that Q4 is going to be a big month for memecoins and altcoins

a low hanging fruit i intend to tap into to get as much value from the market is to farm airdrops on high-potential protocols

i've noticed that a lot of hyped, highly-anticipated protocols are gearing up to launch their tokens in Q4

of course, it won't be worth my time trying to farm many of these. however, some could end up providing an opportunity for generational wealth for many if you play your cards right

i might share some of these in my journal here going forward, i might not, depends on reception to them as well as my mood

NOTE: if you already use Lighter or intend to use it after this message, focusing on low OI coins + alts should help with points compared to majors. just some alpha!

looks like the Lighter invite is already used up btw

sorry if you couldn't get in before it expired

they gave me 500 invites, and i was hoping it would be available for a while

i messaged their team and asked if they could increase it

fingers crossed on that end

regardless, i think it's a good idea to keep Lighter on your radar

there's a very high consensus among very smart people in the trenches that it is the protocol that currently presents the opportunity most similar to the early Hyperliquid airdrop

so not a good idea to sleep on it

i'm saying this as someone who missed out on the Hyperliquid airdrop btw (still regret that!)

i'm admittedly late to Lighter too, but better late than ever

FWIW...

don't just sign up to Lighter and forget about it

use the platform

feel free to move your main DEX trading activity over to it if need be

Lighter is 0 fees, so its cheaper to use than every other perps DEX

it is very liquid

it tends to list new pairs faster i.e. USELESS is listed on Lighter and liquid enough for a good perps trade on Lighter when it is not yet listed on Hyperliquid or Aster

more importantly, you can accumulate points right now for what could be a very decent airdrop in a few months' time

this is something that will cost you almost nothing, yet in hindsight could be deeply rewarding (i wish i'd done it with Hyperliquid and Aster)

just something to keep in mind

i'm seeing your messages btw

dw i've messaged their team and hopefully they increase the limits so more people can join. will keep you posted. fingers crossed until then!

https://x.com/itzkingremy/status/1972485601703428367

interesting show of strength from $APEX btw...

especially considering ASTER, which has been the risk on indicator for the new set of perp DEXs, has been relatively 'weak' of late

i think ASTER is poised to surprise many soon as well

they haven't even announced a lot of catalysts e.g. buybacks, Binance spot, etc

both ASTER and APEX should be winners for the foreseeable future IMO

especially considering how much ASTER is generating in fees of late i.e. it has generated the most fees of any crypto protocol in the last 24 hours, and i think the first time in ages a protocol will flip Tether in fees

i know a lot of users are participating in their campaigns and trying to farm the airdrop, but still...

the Lighter team has increased the cap on the number of people that can join the platform through my referral link:

https://app.lighter.xyz/trade/ETH?referral=RTUUPPK7382V

again, like previously, it is still capped at a limited number of users (they asked me not to disclose how many publicly)

i might also share the link publicly on my X page if the new cap isn't filled in 24 hours

if this is something that interests you, then it might be a good idea to move quickly

as i said earlier, this costs you absolutely nothing and is completely free while giving you the opportunity to use Lighter before it opens to the general public... which gives you an early headstart and advantage in farming their future airdrop

as always, important alpha and key opportunities get shared here in my journal first as i believe the people who are here are my core, most loyal followers

i think that's enough said about Lighter

i might have some more important, highly valuable updates coming soon. stay tuned!

my DMs has exploded with messages from people claiming that the Ligther invitation code is expired 😢️️️️️️

my apologies, it is actually my fault because i assumed that the old referral link was simply updated to allow more users, so i simply copied the same link in my new post

i just double checked in my lighter app and realized that the new referral link is different from the old one

here is the correct link below, and my apologies for putting you guys through the stress:

https://app.lighter.xyz/trade/ETH?referral=RTUUPPK7382V

if you want a direct referral code to share with friends, you can use this (until it expires, at least): 45E67X2SF4EB


i have also updated the old posts to reflect the new link

hopefully enough of you are able to get in this time around

looks like it's working now based on all the DMs i've been getting from the people that have used the new code 😅

i'm also amazed by the number of people that have signed up in less than 10 minutes 🤯

good luck to us all!

God willing we make bank on the Lighter airdrop when the release their token later 🙏️️️️️️