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The Web3 Fashion ecosystem has grown a lot in 2022. From speculative promises in 2021, 2022 has seen actual implementations of digital/physical merging, composable digital avatars, and creator/community tools that will enable customization of self-expression. The promise of remains: Web3 composability of assets (e.g., ReadyPlayerMe) real ownership (i.e., NFT tech) new interaction mediums (e.g., digital, digitally-enabled physical, and new social graphs enabled by POAPs). Data Insights Below are the key insights primarily based on 47 of the most traded Fashion NFT collections on the Ethereum blockchain since 01.01.2022. All of the data was collected by me, with the exception of the ”Web2 Fashion Brand Performance,” which used Noah Levine’s data as input. Insight #1: Fashion NFT Volume Still Low – We’re Early The total Fashion NFT volume in 2022 was ~ $1.2B. This is a mere and $179M less than the $1.42B volume of the Bored Ape Yacht Collection in 2022. Volume-wise, Fashion NFTs have a long way to go to reach mainstream adoption in the NFT space. This also indicates how early we are in the cycle for Fashion NFTs. After all, the NFT Fashion scene is still largely less than one year old (with some exceptions). 0.14% of the 0.88 trillion traditional fashion market Insight #2: Fashion NFT Volume Correlates With the General NFT Market Fashion NFT volume visualized against, Bored Ape Yacht Club volume (i.e., one of the leading and a macro indicator). NFT collections Insight #3: Secondary Volume Trumps Primary Volume Insight #4: Secondary Markets Are More Important Revenue Generators Than Mint Revenues The secondary royalties exceed the primary volume. If you remove the RTFKT collections case, the royalties drop to ~$27M, and primary sales drop to ~$31M. Insight #5: RTFKT (Nike) Is the Main Driver of Fashion NFT Volume The concentration of the market structure indicates that we’re still early in the Fashion NFT space. If we include all of the RTFKT (Nike) collections, they roughly account for 72.5% of the 2022 Fashion NFT volume. Its PFP (picture for proof, aka profile picture) component, Clone X, accounts for almost 50%. Insight #6: PFPs Are Still the Clearest NFT Product-Market Fit PFP volume makes up 68% of the total Fashion NFT volume, which indicates how strong the PFP-Web3 market fit is even in the context of Fashion NFTs. Profile pictures in and of themselves could be considered a fashion statement; wardrobe changes (e.g., 10KTF x Gucci and Azuki) highlight this. These wardrobe changes have yet to attract large interest among the but could do so with newer entrants to the space. Web3 community Insight #7: Phygitals Are Still a Small Percentage of the Total Fashion NFT Volume Total Volume in 2022: ~$15M The “phygital” (or digitally linked physicals) market is also dominated by RTFKT. It has a ~76% share of the market but also the most phygital collections so far (7). In fact, their Clone X SZN 1 made up 40% of all phygital secondary sales. There is usually a claim window after which the NFTs become essentially worthless. Hence the sporadic volume graphs. Top 5: Projects RTFKT Clone X Forging SZN 1 (40%) RTFKT x RIMOWA (20%) RTFKT Nike AR Hoodie Pre-Forged (11.4%) Azuki Twin Tigers (7.36%) Cult & Rain Genesis Collection (6.7%) Insight #8: RTFKT Dominates the Royalty Category RTFKT leads the royalty category as well. While dominant, it’s not as dominant in this category at 69.5% of the market. Insight #9: Ethereum Fashion NFTs Lead the Market (By a Lot) Insight #10: Nike Leads Value to Holders, Lacoste Attracts Most First-Time Minters Insight #11: Solana and Flow Have the Largest Fashion NFT Collections After Ethereum Developments in Web3 Fashion Tech in 2022 While Fashion NFT volumes have decreased from the beginning of the year due in part to global macro conditions, this hasn’t stopped innovation in the space. Some of these innovations include: NFC/NFT Linked Physical Merchandise The three main competitors in the space are: IYK. A “pull-technology” NFC chip ensures the chip always travels with the physical object. The holder of the physical can always pull the NFT into their wallet by scanning the NFC tag. The NFT cannot be traded on its own. Used by 9dcc, BanklessDAO, PCC. KONG HaLo. Unlike regular NFC chips, these can sign transactions on the Ethereum network. Used by projects like Azuki, Metafactory, and Rags. RTFKT WM Chip. NFC chip connects to your Web3 wallet. Links specified NFT to physical. In 2023, holders will be able to unlink NFT from the physical item. Physical Item Vaulting Enables Digital/Physical Connection The infrastructure that enables the StockX model of Web3. Secure Verification of Assets Tokenproof allows verification of NFT ownership without carrying around your . This solves some of the major security concerns related to Web3 wallets. Web3 wallet Generative Fashion Creates New Production Models Read about it . here NFT Tools Make Web3 Project Management Easier Trends to Look Out For in 2023 Wear-to-Earn (W2E) For many, wear-to-earn (W2E) is the ultimate use case for fashion NFTs. While it has been discussed for a while, implementations of W2E specifically haven’t yet taken off in a major way. Solana’s STEPN app was a glimpse into the possibilities of the wear-to-earn model, with ~95,000 cumulative users. While STEPN technically used a move-to-earn (M2E) mechanism instead of a wear-to-earn one, the app uses virtual shoes as the interface for earning. This is also the mechanism RTFKT is set to introduce via its Cryptokicks IRL shoes. Passive Income From NFTs May Become a Reality Protocols like reNFT (rental) and NFTfi (lending) are looking to create financial structures and liquidity around NFTs. These unlock the latent value within NFTs and create a new utility layer for NFTs. Newfound ETH Sustainability One of the Cinderella stories of 2022 was Polygon’s partnership arc. It partnered with some of the most notable Web2 companies like Nike, Disney, and Starbucks. Polygon essentially offered two benefits over ETH, sustainability and cheaper transactions. Now that the Ethereum blockchain has cut its energy use by 99%, it will be interesting to see whether brands will continue to partner with L2s in similar numbers as in 2022. Emphasis on Co-Creation as New Web3 Fashion Platforms Are Born LUKSO blockchain’s long road to mainnet will soon be achieved, introducing new concepts such as Universal Profiles that make smart contract metadata more dynamic. The recently launched RSTLSS project enables users to create composable wearables for Web3 gaming, social, and IRL. Integrations include ReadyPlayerMe, Mona VR Chat, Somnium Space, Spatial, Instagram, and Snapchat. ReadyPlayerMe continues its partnership and has made it easy for users to build composable avatars in minutes. Integrations include RTFKT, Spatial, Somnium Space, and Mona. I posted about this on in 2021 Twitter AR/VR and AI Will Redefine the Fashion Stack As I wrote in my , digital in-game skins have made us realize that fashion is shifting increasingly toward visual aesthetics and communication value. Instead of physical craftsmanship, AR/VR craftsmanship will create the haute couture of the digital realm. This is also where AI has the most potential to impact. From creating assets directly via scripts to text-to-3D capabilities, AI will democratize the digital asset creation process. piece on generative fashion RTFKT AR Hoodie activation How I created my own AR Snapchat filter Summary Fashion NFT volumes are still minimal compared to traditional fashion volumes. This indicates how early we still are. RTFKT (Nike) is still clearly leading the Fashion NFT market in part due to a first-mover advantage. New technologies (e.g., W2E, M2E, composability, financialization, AR) will not only expand NFT capabilities but also introduce new possibilities to fashion. Links Download this report in PDF form Partnerships/Sponsorships/Enquiries: enquiries@nakedcollector.xyz Twitter Author Bio I focus on the cross-section of NFTs, crypto, and fashion: Naked Collector has been the top source of Web3 Fashion research/data since 2021. 5+ years of experience in crypto markets. Part of 100+ NFT communities. Followed by some of the key trendsetters in the Web3 Fashion/Digital Fashion space. P.S. If you are a Web2 company looking to get into Web3 or a Web3 project, I'd love to work with you! Just shoot me a . DM Thanks for reading The Naked Collector! to stay on top of NFT Fashion trends in 2023 and to read what the trendsetters of Web3 Fashion are reading. Subscribe This article was originally published on . Substack

After 2000 Hours of Researching Fashion NFTs, Here Is What I Learned

Since Nike's 1984 signing of Michael Jordan birthed the modern sneaker industry—known for a (expected to by 2030)—sneakers have been on a collision course with Web3. $6 billion resale industry grow to $30 billion As the industry has rapidly grown during the past decade, the number of fanatical collectors, known as "Sneakerheads," has exploded. The most dedicated have used the industry's growth as an opportunity to become entrepreneurs, turning their passion into a full-time job. Some have elected to start sneaker reselling businesses, primarily online as an individual or as a brick-and-mortar locations with a team on staff. Others have become online content creators focused on reviews and other sneaker content, started sneaker-cleaning product companies, built custom sneaker design studios, and much more. Whether a sneaker industry participant earns millions of dollars in profit per year or is simply someone with a couple of pairs of rare Air Jordans, everyone is linked together by one shared problem: the counterfeit sneaker epidemic. This problem is the catalyst that will ultimately bring about the propagation of Web3 technology across the entire industry and lead to a new golden era for collectors, entrepreneurs, and average fans alike. No One Likes Fake Shoes With the meteoric rise of rare sneaker secondary market prices, people are highly incentivized to attempt to sell fake sneakers (which look and feel realer than ever before) at authentic sneaker prices to pocket a huge take-home profit. As a sneakerhead myself, the thought of spending hard-earned money on an epic pair of shoes that turn out to be fake is agonizing. My fear, shared by many sneakerheads globally, led to the rise of companies like in 2015 and services like eBay's " " in 2020. While these services provide some degree of peace of mind to purchasers with the guarantee of authenticity, they're far from foolproof solutions. Complaints of fakes slipping through the verification process are posted online on a weekly basis. StockX Authenticity Guarantee Not only does the counterfeit sneaker epidemic hurt the end consumer, but it also hurts small businesses that lose revenue. Picture this: a person buys a pair of $1,200 Nike's from Sneaker Store XYZ. A week later, they visit the store to "return" the sneakers but have replaced the pair of legit kicks with a replica. Sneaker Store XYZ accepts the return, and upon trying to sell them three weeks later to a savvy sneakerhead that identifies the shoes as fake, loses out on hundreds of dollars of revenue because they had no true way to verify that the returned shoes were the original. Unfortunately, situations like the one I described are common in the sneaker industry. Today, the only way for an individual to be 100% certain that their shoes are authentic is to purchase them directly from the manufacturer. For the most desired shoes, because of extreme demand and drops overrun by bots, this is nearly impossible for the average sneakerhead to do in many situations. What is the industry to do? What solution needs to be implemented to eliminate the constant state of paranoia that sneakerheads live in? Enter Web3. Web3 is a Paradigm Shift for The Sneaker Industry are one of the core, most front-facing technologies of Web3 and are the first collectible in history that can not be faked. Without getting too technical, each NFT in existence shows 100% verifiable proof of authenticity and ownership. It would be impossible for someone to take a rare, sought-after NFT (like an ) and make a counterfeit replica that can pass as the real deal and sell. This inherent feature of NFTs makes integrating the technology with sneakers incredibly attractive. NFTs Azuki worth over $20,000 Using —tiny, incredibly versatile devices that can be sewn into clothing, hidden inside sneakers, etc.—NFTs can be linked to any physical item to provide a predetermined digital experience to anyone who scans the device with their phone. The user experience is almost identical to what people have become accustomed to with QR codes. NFC chips In the case of irrefutably authenticating sneakers, this means that if companies like Nike include built-in NFC chips with their shoes, all they have to do to get started is create an accompanying NFT that serves as the physical item's digital counterpart. Next, they'll simply link the NFC chip to the NFT to ensure consumers' ability to verify each pair's authenticity in perpetuity. This NFT can then be viewed by anyone who scans the shoe; they'll be greeted with the following information if the shoe is authentic: The NFT linked to the NFC chip was created by the verified manufacturer (Nike, Adidas, Yeezy, etc.) The NFT is owned by the person who owns the shoe. With both boxes ticked and a legit digital-physical link established, the scanner can have absolute confidence that the shoes are the real deal. https://youtu.be/kYZftTvPKuQ?embedable=true If we break this down to its core, NFTs essentially enable sneakers to permanently have a digital receipt attached to them that can't be modified or replicated. From a reselling perspective, selling physical sneakers paired with their NFT counterparts will become the new standard, as it's the only way to undeniably prove authenticity. The great news is that this technology is already being rolled out. Even better news: this goes beyond just authenticity. NFT-linked NFC chips can grant access to exclusive events, rewards from participating brands, and much more. Today, , as well as , are the two standout NFT projects that are pioneering these use cases and driving progress forward. Nike's RTFKT Anybodies It’s Not Just Sneakers NFTs have the power to bring huge change to the sneaker black market, but that's only one piece of a very large pie. According to , footwear accounts for 20% of the value of all counterfeit goods in a global market worth over $500 billion and rising. Watches, purses, fashion clothing, and so much more are all included in that market. The Economist As the NFC and NFT technologies continue to propagate across the world, be on the lookout for new ways they're used to verify other often-counterfeited goods. When we consider the future advancements of this technology, especially once AR becomes a global phenomenon with the launch of Apple's upcoming AR Glasses, it's easy to imagine a world where counterfeit sneakers and other goods are instantly recognizable, causing the black market that spreads them across the world to shrink to insignificance. Imagine walking through downtown Chicago while wearing your AR Glasses. You see someone with the newest pair of Yeezys... Did those already come out? Your glasses scan the chip embedded in the sneakers and a prompt appears on your HUD, identifying them. Brand - Yeezyy | Model - 1250 | Asking Price - $750.00 Hmm, the brand is "Yeezyy" instead of "Yeezy," and there's no verification badge. Those are fake! You check your phone and realize that the shoes actually come out in two days. There's still time to buy the official Yeezy 1250 NFT that guarantees access to the sneaker drop (with NFTs, say goodbye to botted sneaker drops). You navigate to a marketplace and buy the NFT. Just like that, in five minutes, you verified someone was wearing fake sneakers and then guaranteed yourself access to the real deal. You laugh as you remember the days when you'd pray to get a "Got 'em" message on the Nike SNKRS app, only to be disappointed so many times. That's the power of Web3. That's the reality we are heading towards. Enjoy The Article? , where I deliver key crypto, NFT, and metaverse news and research to your inbox. Consider leaving a tip to support my efforts or subscribe to my newsletter 0x9543128838F74bF6e95b7e056D288bc190236C2D Coinbase (BTC): 0x22B4E04c13EEBD21e2D35c4001B8B8fFFF17DD3a Metamask (ETH): AXmyuktns4ehTWAuJbMDwavHAufbRpkQB3aoeJ7yE8iP Phantom (SOL): Disclaimer: This article is written purely for entertainment and educational purposes and should not be taken as financial advice in any way. Do your own research. If you are seeking financial advice, find a professional who is right for you.

NFTs Have the Power to Dissolve the Counterfeit Goods Black Market that is Worth Billions 

এনএফটি-এর কাছে বিলিয়ন মূল্যের জাল পণ্যের কালো বাজার দ্রবীভূত করার ক্ষমতা রয়েছে

NFTs haben die Macht, den milliardenschweren Schwarzmarkt für gefälschte Waren aufzulösen

Los NFT tienen el poder de disolver el mercado negro de productos falsificados que vale miles de millones

Les NFT ont le pouvoir de dissoudre le marché noir des produits contrefaits qui vaut des milliards

NFTs के पास नकली सामान के ब्लैक मार्केट को भंग करने की शक्ति है जो कि अरबों के लायक है

NFTには、数十億の価値がある偽造品の闇市場を解消する力があります

NFT는 수십억 달러 규모의 위조품 암시장을 해체할 수 있는 힘을 가지고 있습니다.

NFTs têm o poder de dissolver o mercado negro de produtos falsificados que vale bilhões

NFT'ler Milyarlarca Dolarlık Sahte Ürün Karaborsasını Çözme Gücüne Sahip

NFT có quyền giải tán thị trường chợ đen hàng giả trị giá hàng tỷ đồng

NFT 有能力瓦解价值数十亿的假冒商品黑市

Is Web3 still on? The bear market seems to be here, and you know what that means. On the one hand, the general public will forget about crypto’s existence and ignore crypto-related news for the time being. On the other, the community will quietly build the next generation of Web3 applications and services. It’s the way of the world. That’s how cycles work in this fragile-but-vibrant environment. The study we got all of the information we’ll use in the following paragraphs is by , a global VC that invests in lighthouse technologies as they commence scaling. Telstra Ventures According to the study, “Telstra Ventures’ data science team analyzed 1,000 active organizations contributing to more than 30,000 open source Web3 projects.” So, this is hard and recent data we’re talking about. The results are not surprising at all. There’s been a decline in development since its peak in November 2021, sure, but it’s not proportional to the decrease in price. Not even close. Telstra Ventures describes the current situation as follows: “The crypto contagion - fueled by the collapse of Terraform Lab’s UST stablecoin, Celsius Network pausing withdrawals, and Three Arrows Capital defaulting on its loans - has been especially rough on digital currency holders and crypto startups looking for funding. Since January, a 60% loss in crypto market cap wiped $1.3 trillion, and VC investments tumbled 25.6% to about $9.3 billion, down from a record $12.5 billion invested during last year’s first half, according to .” Crunchbase News We have to add Elon Musk’s paper hands to that contagion event. One of the companies he presides with, Tesla, reportedly sold 75% of their bitcoin during Q2. That’s almost a billion dollars worth of BTC that hit the market, lowering the price of the asset in the process. And Tesla sold as Terra collapsed and their Luna Foundation Guard had to sell 800K Bitcoin to try and save the UST peg to the dollar. The sale pressure both of those events had on the market probably squeezed all of the other institutions that couldn’t escape the debris. Who Will Survive The Bear Market? It’s safe to say cryptocurrencies in general will survive the current market conditions. This has happened before and will happen again. Nevertheless, a lot of projects will die. It’s the way of the world, some teams will not be able to stand the pressure. Others will see their VC funding dry. Still, others will see their collaborators and employees lose interest and drift away. According to Yash Patel, Telstra Ventures General Partner, blockchain developers’ commitment to Web3 ecosystems forms the basis for the sector's medium- and long-term viability, despite short-term price fluctuations. He contends that "developer's decisions about which protocols to use will be driven by use case and will point to the winning protocols." That’s the reason-to-be for their study. Beyond the hysteria, the logic behind it is that developer interest is a clear sign of health. The study limited itself to three leading blockchains in the Web3 ecosystem, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. How healthy are the projects developers are building on top of them? Saad Siddiqui, another Telstra Ventures General Partner, specifies examples of open source blockchain projects. “Helium for network coverage and Render for decentralizing GPU rendering,” StockX and Blockdaemon for “extending B2C companies' reach into the Web3 space,” and “Compound, which allows users to take out collateralized loans and Uniswap,” the premiere decentralized exchange. How’s the Ethereum ecosystem doing? As of now, “Ethereum remains the largest and strongest developer community.” However, the decline in price has somewhat affected interest. According to the study, “Since Ethereum’s peak of price in Nov 2021, the number of monthly active contributors has a drawdown of 9.0%.” An easy-to-understand number that will surely grow if Ethereum accomplishes the merge and transitions to the proof of stake consensus mechanism. From a historic perspective, “Ethereum’s contributor community has grown at a 24.9% compound annual growth rate over the past 4 years since Jan 1, 2018.” Great numbers show that talent is flocking to the platform as it grows. How are things with the young Solana? Consider this, “The Solana developer community began taking shape in late 2017, and the first block was created in 2020.” This blockchain is still a child, which makes its numbers that much more impressive. “Solana’s contributors have grown at a 173.0% compound annual growth rate over the past 4 years since January 1, 2018.” The new kid on the block is showing everyone what it’s made of. And yes, the Solana blockchain has had some hiccups and had to be stopped a few times. That and the price drawdown have had a clear effect on the number of contributors and developers interested in the platform. According to Telstra Ventures’ study: “Since Solana’s peak price of $204.35 in Nov 2021, the number of active contributors has declined 21.0%.” Is Bitcoin still the king of the jungle? Old reliable Bitcoin continues to reign. Despite price volatility, the study found a “slow and steady growth.” Its numbers are not as flashy as the other two “Bitcoin has seen a 17.1% compound annual growth rate in the number of contributors during the past 4 years since January 1, 2018.” However, Bitcoin is the only one of the three analyzed blockchains that have continued growing despite the price decrease. “Since the peak of the price of crypto Bitcoin in October 2021, the number of active contributors has grown 8.2%.” This is not an isolated phenomenon, according to Telstra Ventures: ”Bitcoin has seen steady growth in the number of active developers over the past 8 years.” Are the analyzed projects VC Backed? A secondary target of Telstra Ventures’ study was an institutional investment. In this regard, they found out that “7 of the 10 fastest growing projects are backed by VCs or by corporations.” Not only that: “4 or more of the 10 fastest growing repositories in each ecosystem are backed by VCs or corporate investors.” So, there’s an obvious correlation there. However, Telstra Ventures points out an even bigger alpha, “investment opportunities remain.” Check their study out for charts and the exact names of the projects that are gaining traction in spite of not receiving institutional backing. There might be future unicorns in there, yet.

A Health Check of the Web3 Ecosystem Signals Strength in These Trying Times

Whether you are running a Fortune 500 corporation or bootstrapping a small , finding new avenues for growth is challenging. Adding a new product or service can be time-consuming, expensive and risky. So before investing, you need to be sure the growth strategy offers value. The best way to test the waters is through customer-discovery research. business My experience working in high-growth and now operating my own, , has taught me the importance of building your startup around consumer pain points and goals. A customer-discovery campaign will expose where a business can improve and identify new areas for potential growth if executed correctly. startups CustomerDiscovery.co The majority of businesses find an opportunity for growth in four areas. Understanding your specific market is the only way to identify which strategy will work for your product or service. Market penetration: starting fresh Market penetration entails finding out what the business is doing well in an existing market and doubling down. Sometimes businesses need customer validation before they have the confidence to invest resources into a new product or service. Otherwise, they risk wasting time and money building something that users won't find valuable enough to purchase. Market development: venturing into a new market Gap recently took a huge gamble to go after the uncharted resale market dominated by Nike, Jordan and Supreme with a $1 billion investment in Kanye West. Before the deal, no one could have ever dreamed of seeing Gap apparel on StockX. Today, all three of Kanye’s puffer jackets are listed north of $700 on the resale platform, and the stock is up 50% in the past year. Related: 3 Growth Strategies Small Businesses Can Learn From Google Product development: creating a new product in an existing market Tesla’s strategy in the U.S. versus the rest of the world is a perfect example of product development. The EV giant is looking to expand EV adoption globally but is taking a different approach in the U.S. Telsa plans to release a Chinese-made $25,000 compact car to appeal to markets abroad while pushing the Austin-produced Cybertruck at home. However, both plans could be derailed by the company’s latest proposal to end society altogether with the Tesla Bot. Hopefully, Will Smith is around to save the day. Diversification: adding new products into an unexplored market Big Tech companies are consistently attempting to expand their consumer base by offering new products or services. Apple AirTag, Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Twitter’s attempt to knock off Clubhouse are examples of diversification. Using customer-research methods to find areas with growth potential My expertise lies in helping companies identify which avenue they should take and how to execute the strategy. The process starts with creating a plan to get as much information out of their target audience as possible. Our approach is far beyond conducting multiple-choice surveys or card sorting: We use a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to find areas with growth potential through extensive customer-discovery research. Related: 10 Marketing Strategies to Fuel Your Business Growth Our five-step customer-discovery process Before diving into a new growth strategy to expand a company’s reach, we test the ideas through a five-step process. I’m going to use the example of a coffee-ordering app to explain our approach. List your critical assumptions What assumptions need to be validated for the new growth strategy to be successful? We ask operators to put their hopes, thoughts and doubts into writing before testing them. In the case of a coffee app, they assumed people would want to order coffee before physically entering the store. Convert to falsifiable hypotheses Next, we convert the subjective statement from step one into a hypothesis by quantifying the interest needed for validation. Finally, the theory must be tested against minimum success criteria to determine if the growth strategy needs to pivot or move forward. If we interview ten daily coffee drinkers and seven sign up for our coffee app's waitlist, we move forward. However, if only one is interested in the idea, we pivot and explore other growth strategies. Conduct customer-discovery interviews We are moving forward with the growth strategy, and it’s time to hear from the early adopters of the new product or service. In this case, coffee drinkers who aren’t interested in standing in lines. Interviews are where we get qualitative. We dig into the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the potential consumer. Getting quality results out of surveys or interviews isn’t as easy as asking a few questions. We use our experience to avoid swaying answers, ask open-ended questions and measure their pain. For example, “On a scale of one to ten, how frustrating is it waiting in line for your coffee every morning?” Feedback analysis Weigh the data against your hypothesis. During feedback is where you should find areas of growth that can be capitalized upon. During a customer-discovery interview, we calculate a product-market (P/M) fit and net-promoter score (NPS). Feedback from two simple questions will deliver your P/M fit and NPS scores, respectively: “How disappointed would you be if this didn’t exist?” and “How likely are you to recommend this product to a friend or colleague?” The product or market fit is established if greater than 40% of participants say they would be very disappointed if your product didn’t exist. NPS is calculated by ranking each answer and subtracting the percent of detractors by the percent of promotors. We use the following to categorize each answer (<6 = detractor, 7-8 = passives, 9-10 = promotors). An NPS of above 20 is favorable, above 50 is excellent and over 80 is world-class. We recommend finding these metrics if you are operating a lean startup. Going in-depth with methods such as affinity mapping and card sorting may not be necessary to find areas you can improve. Focused iteration As a startup, you are always looking to move as quickly as possible with limited resources. Conducting customer-discovery interviews is only half the fun; now, it's time to use those insights to develop your product! Having real user feedback helps create a fine-tuned process for minimizing delta (the difference between what your product does and what your customer wants it to do). Finding opportunities for growth may take multiple studies concentrated on specific aspects of the business. Whether you are looking to identify a new growth strategy, validate the initial business idea or test your UI/UX, customer discovery is critical. All entrepreneurs need to keep a finger on the pulse of their potential consumers, and the only way to do it is by hearing from them. Identifying and testing growth strategies without customer discovery is possible, but you risk blowing through capital and, even worse, building something that nobody wants. Also published on: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/382358

An Entrepreneur's Guide to Finding Growth Opportunities Through Customer-Discovery Research

Hidden Fates Logo Credit: Pokemontcg Over the last two years, the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) has grown in popularity due to the rising value of Pokemon cards and celebrity endorsements from Youtubers such as Logan Paul. One of the sets that have gained popularity is the Hidden fates set, specifically the Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box (ETB). The box includes everything you need to get started in the TCG and has some valuable cards. The box is worth over $100 nowadays, but is it worth the investment? What is the Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box? The Hidden fates ETB to get started in the TCG. The box contains dice, sleeves, ten booster packs containing ten cards apiece, 45 energy cards, markers and a players guide. incorporates everything you need Every package also includes a limited edition full art Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos GX card, which is very rare. Hidden Fates TCG set was initially released in 2019 and quickly became a fan favourite selling out fast due to favourite fan pokemon such as Charizard and the inclusion of what is known as the shiny vault. The shiny vault is a special section of the TCG, which includes shiny variations of specific Pokemon. For example, you could get your hands on a Shiny Charizard or Mewtwo within the set. As a result, the fan community went wild, with the ETB selling out lightning-fast along with Hidden fates booster boxes and packs. It wasn't until this year that the set was reprinted due to its popularity. Due to the limited availability of the set, it has soared in value, making the box lucrative for many. Hidden Fates ETB Credit: Pokemontcg Is the ETB Worth Your Investment? From a pure fan standpoint alone, the set is definitely worth the investment. The TCG set has some standout GX cards alongside some stunning shiny cards. If you are a Pokemon fan and love the older generations of Pokemon, you should unquestionably pick up this set. Likewise, from a Monetary standpoint, you should also pick up this set. The Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box has only increased in value. Currently, if you were to purchase one through websites such as eBay, you are looking at paying around the $100-$110 mark, which is around $20-30 over retail price. Unfortunately, all retailers have sold out of the ETB. Sites such as eBay are your best bet. You may think this is not a good deal at face value, but this is not the case. Before the original reprint, Hidden fates ETB sealed started to double and even triple in value. As the set stops printing again, the box will likely increase in value exponentially and be profitable. Thus, holding onto the box if you manage to purchase one could be profitable in the long run. However, the real value comes from the cards inside the box. ETB Price Over Time. Credit: Stockx Can you Make a Profit from the Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box? The ETB has several chase cards, including Glaceon GX, Mewtwo GX and most importantly, shiny Charizard GX. Charizard is the most valuable card in this box and a collectors dream. Currently, the card goes for over $600 and, if graded by professional collectors, can sell for over $1300. Shiny Charizard GX. Credit: Pokemontcg Likewise, if you manage to pull other rare cards such as Glaceon GX or Cynthia, these cards can sell for around $130 raw and significantly higher if graded. Despite this sounding all well and good, it is worth remembering pulling these cards is down to luck. However, the value doesn't just come from the rare shiny GX cards but also other cards in the shiny vault. Pulling non-GX shiny cards such as shiny Charmander can bag you around $40, with graded versions selling for over $130. Other Shiny cards include Lucario, Altaria and Garchomp, with all going for excellent prices. As before, bagging these cards is down to luck. However, it is more likely you pull an elusive non-GX shiny card or even multiple. Similarly, unlike the Hidden fates booster boxes, the ETB also comes with a guaranteed full art promotional Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos GX card, which sells for around $25 at raw value. You can find a complete list of cards in the set . here Promotional Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos GX. Credit: Bulbagarden Thus, from a pure value for money standpoint alone, even if you pay over $100 for an ETB, the value of the valuable cards alone make the set well worth getting. You can likely make a nice profit from some of the cards in the set even if you do not pull the elusive Charizard. As with any collectable, the value of the set will only increase as stocks run dry, adding even more worth to the collection. Final Thoughts Overall, the Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box is well worth the investment. The set has some standout cards and can, if lucky, allow you to make a handsome profit. Regardless, if you are a Pokemon fan, pick up this ETB. It is well worth your money. For more Pokemon related news, keep it locked on Hacker Noon. Also, check out, Xbox Free Games With Gold and Xbox Live Update (May 2021) Top 10 Strongest Dog Pokemon 5 Games We Didn't Expect to Love

Is the Pokemon Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Box Worth Investment?

¿Vale la pena invertir en la caja de entrenador de élite de Pokémon Hidden Fates?

“I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man!” - Jay Z “Uncomfortable Chair” - top NFT-based artwork from Foundation. This essay has been originally published through my newsletter, Borsalino Test. You can subscribe here . . ‘Ninja’, the most famous Twitch streamer, earns between $400k - $800k a month. . The top-earning writer on Substack earns more than $500,000 a year. These trends reflect a broader movement of “Enterprization" of individuals. It is often referred to as "Passion economy" or "Creators' economy". Four creators have now made $10M+ on Teachable Cohort-based courses are also picking up momentum The past decade of consumer tech has sowed the seeds of many gig economy platforms of the likes of Uber and Airbnb. They allow anyone to monetize undifferentiated assets, like couriers’ time or vehicles. To be clear, this isn’t going anywhere, especially during and after this pandemic. The creators' economy instead is building the opportunity to capitalize on differentiated talents. This has huge implications for entrepreneurship and what we’ll think of as a “job” in the future. Now, what if your favorite creators were your portfolio stocks? What if these creators could get their fans to fund their work? Creators produce content first and then get paid for it - that's the established paradigm. I can’t help but wonder if there’s a way to flip this model on its head. The intersection of patronage and profit is already fertile ground for experiments. Financing, distribution, and social validation People need money to create things. The vast majority of creators take on incredible amounts of risk (e.g., opportunity for income smoothing, no access to health insurance, ...). Some start young and perfect their craft for a while. Emerging creators lack upfront financing. If it works, they stick to it. If not, well...too bad. For creators with an established audience (e.g., a sizable Twitter following, in the tens of thousands, ...) it could take a year to reach critical mass and make a living off of (e.g., see Lenny Rachitsky’s ). true fans case This process would take longer for the long tail of middle-of-the-pack creators. Many creators would enjoy a more structured way to finance their dreams upfront. Top creators actually don't need financing that much. Everything is about distribution for them. How much does it cost for , the most popular Western TikTok star, to create a video? Next to nothing. What all creators need is an engaged fanbase or community. Top creators want to grow their audience. Charli D’Amelio Creators could sell a piece of themselves to their early fans. That would prove "skin in the game", and engage communities. Fame is a self-reinforcing phenomenon with clear network effect implications. Yet today, there's no way for creators to leverage an early fanbase as a distribution channel. For most fans, there is a strong social validation element in being part of a creator's community. It's almost like a flex: “I was the first person to be a fan” or “I’m the biggest fan”. Say you get a new badge or sticker when you donate more than $500 to your favorite creator. Or after you complete an online course. Early fans want validation. That would signal you are a super fan. It's a similar mechanism to Twitch's donations today. The social side of fan bases exist because people crave validation. I dedicate at least a fourth of my online time to creators. I am part of several Slack communities (e.g, and read dozens of Substack newsletters. Today, this trait of my online identity goes entirely unnoticed by social media. RadReads) There is reflexive value in communities around people or ideas. The more people manifest interest in something, the higher the value of the thing. Part of the value is social signaling. Part of it is creating a common cultural touchstone. Reflexive value is dynamic, not static. Equity ownership > subscriptions. Scale breeds further scale, alongside improved community engagement. Today, most paid content is monetized through subscriptions. Subscriptions translate into equally-sized, cadenced cash outlays from fans. This model has no intrinsic reflexive value. What if the quality of content produced dilutes over time? What happens when members of a community 10x? Subscriptions are imperfect monetization models that do not capture the value fan-creator relationships. The creator’s economy calls for dynamic pricing, instead of flat, recurring revenues. The opportunity for non fungible tokens (NFTs) The first iteration of the concept of equity ownership in creators would look like a toy. As the crypto world fusses over Bitcoin, another digital asset has gained traction. Exciting use cases for non‑fungible tokens (NFTs) are cropping up all the time. NFTs are unique digital items such as collectibles, artworks, badges and stickers. Creator-issued collectibles. NFTs' actual ownership is blockchain-managed and they command some . They are unique, rare and indivisible digital assets. Non-fungible tokens contain permanent metadata - like a certificate of authenticity for a rare painting. Also, developers have the power to limit the number of rare NFTs, making them scarce and desirable. Finally, NFTs cannot be split into smaller denominations - you can only trade them as a whole. serious cash NFTs offer a flexible method of recognising achievements and symbolize the fan-creator relationship. Here a few use cases we will likely see in the future. NFTs issued at completion of online courses. E.g., ' ' by Tiago Forte could have its own collection of NFT badges for each cohort Online courses: Building a Second Brain NFTs to confirm participation to an online program. E.g., each cohort of fellows could get their own badge Cohort-based programs: On Deck exclusive, limited edition NFTs for early fans. E.g., a Substack writer could release an NFT for its first 100 subscribers, then for its first 1,000...10,000... Newsletter subscriptions: creators could issue NFTs with "voting rights" to a selected group of super fans. They could then express preferences on the desired content of the next YouTube video Voting rights: NFTs issued to a subset of community members to reward their active engagement Online communities: In this scenario, creators would be the sole party allowed to create their own NFTs. The initial purpose of this model would not be to trade and speculate amongst fanbases. Creator-issued collectibles would allow creators establish a direct relationship with fans. Collecting digital art, in-game assets (e.g., swords, garments...), and tradable cards is very easy and fun. It also does not involve any financial construct. Users see their entire interaction with the interface as a fun game. They earn emotional reward from the ownership of a unique object. NFTs address the same pattern that makes people collect paintings and vases. A visual representation with an immutable record of ownership is psychologically appealing. Simplicity and fun. Pricing of scarce items is a zero-sum game. People choose the objects they believe will be in demand by others and thus expect growth in price. When you can't measure performance, networks drive success. Emerging artists produce a limited number of works to signal scarcity. This promotes price growth. The extrinsic value of an NFT stems from psychological and social dynamics of the fan-creator relationship. And grows with them. Scarcity and investment attractiveness. NFTs will define fans' identity as content consumers. They would help narrate articulate stories about tastes and preferences. Fans will store NFT-based badges, stickers and art in personal galleries or wallets. Handovers and trades would be time tracked, reflecting the longevity of fan-creator relationships. Fans will enjoy the social validation from discovering creators early in their journey. Social validation. Crypto unlocks the potential for a community to have autonomy from the platform. Each individual creator could have some existing leaderboard tied to an existing platform. With NFTs, creators could bootstrap their community off of that ranking. A community can uproot itself from its platform and create its own 'digital nation'. It’s a way for creators to shift power from current platforms and own their communities. This will also foster cross-community discoverability and growth. Early fans of a Substack writer could discover online courses by peeking at their peers' gallery of collectibles. Autonomous fanbases. Crypto could change the dynamics between communities and creators. It could claim back the idea of the stock market to benefit creators and fans directly. When a creator releases their new work, each piece would tokenized into an NFT. As more fans engage with each content piece, the corresponding NFT would rise in value. Developers can NFTs can to wire a cut of each handover to artists. This would allow originators to capitalize on the hype they create. You could also redeem tokens in exchange of merchandise or experiences. Think dinner with your favorite creator, or picking the next game they are going to play on Twitch. Content tokenization. Early use cases should not have any kind financial flavour. Hardcore tokenization of somebody’s income stream requires a high level of trust. People are comfortable messing around with art, badges and stickers use cases. Collectibles are a mental crutch to get people familiar with digital ownership. That's Stage 1 of the transition towards owning an economic stake in a creator’s work. A necessary first step. I like big TAMs (Total Addressable Market) and I cannot lie The market size for crypto-native creative content tokens is hard to estimate. It barely exists today. Analytical forecastings always fail when applied to markets that don’t yet exist. It is impossible to predict how disruptive these products will be. A notable example of how wrong forecasts for disruptive innovations can be is Uber. Its original pitch deck forecasted a best-case scenario of $1B annual revenue. At the moment I am writing this, Uber’s market cap exceeds $70B. Potentially very large. With that said: We are in the early days of NFTs. In early July 2020, the total sales of nonfungible tokens hit $100 million. at the moment I am writing amount to $8.5B. And this is just the start. The leading cryptocurrencies started their rally to yearly highs. We would soon see a nice in the NFT space as well. Sales of NFTs during the past month hockey-stick Creators’ market size: a bottom-up analysis Here’s a bottom-up that adds up to 50 million creators. – Making content full-time: Professional Individual Creators (~2M+) of the 31M channels on YouTube, ~1M creators have over 10K subscribers ( ) YouTube: source of the 1B accounts on Instagram, ~500K have over 100k followers and are considered active influencers ( ) Instagram: source of the 3M streamers on Twitch, ~300K have either Partner or Affiliate status ( ) Twitch: source Others: including musicians, podcasters, writers, illustrators, etc total ~200K ( ) source – Monetizing content creation part-time: Amateur Individual Creators (~46.7M) of the 31M channels on YouTube, ~12M have between 100-10K subscribers ( ) YouTube: source of the 1bn accounts on Instagram, ~30M have between 50-100K followers ( ) Instagram: source of the 3M streamers on Twitch, ~2.7M are non Partner or Affiliates ( ) Twitch: source including musicians, podcasters, writers, illustrators, account for a total of ~2M ( ) Others: source Creators’ market size: a top-down estimate. American internet creators earned a baseline of $6.8 billion on the nine platforms in 2017. That number rose by ~$1B a year, every year (or 10-15% year-over-year). Those earnings increased faster for the creators on Instagram, Twitch, Tumblr and YouTube. From collectibles marketplaces to social money (not exhaustive) enables users to create a tradable digital collectible. The platform enables user-generated artwork with proof of provenance. It also facilitates the sale and terms of sale on their marketplace, and at near zero costs. Since its launch (Nov 2019), almost 40 thousand artworks have been created on Rarible. That translated into a total transacted value of almost $10M. Rarible 's idea is: you can tokenize creative products of any kind. The platform lets you buy, sell or redeem a token. The result is a liquid marketplace from day one. Both the creator and their fans can take advantage of being early in the marketplace. Or from secondary market appreciation. It’s one interesting experiment where owning the token signals being early to the market. There’s also an obvious financial layer on top of it. Foundation is a blockchain infrastructure for social money. "Social money" is lingo for branded tokens. They allow users to own, control and coordinate the value created across platforms. After signing up to the Roll platform, you get assigned 2M units of social money. Roll lets anyone create their personalized branded social money. More importantly, it provides pathways to encapsulate value via existing networks. Each issuer has their own unique network, which has its own unique social value. This value is captured by the currency issuer and their network, and not a third-party or platform. Roll is a social network for art creators and collectors, backed by blockchain. On the SuperRare platform, artists create a piece of art and tokenize it. Once the NFT is on SuperRare, it can be bought, sold, or even held as a long term investment. Artists can either put their creation up for an auction-style bidding process or sell it for a set price. Once the NFT is sold to a buyer, it can then be resold at any price on a variety of NFT trading platforms. SuperRare is a digital collectible ecosystem. It aims to create with VR/AR taking digital collectibles. It is a similar concept to the Pokémon Go integration of AR gaming with the real world. (Pokemon Go accrued more than 550 million installs in its first 80 days from launch!). Whilst some digital collectibles are game-related, most digital collectibles are simply static images. The company has created the Terra Virtua Fancave - a personal 3D environment. User would gather there to display their collectibles there. Terra Virtua “a deeper sensory experience” is a gaming community platform which now has over 20 million users. Enjin’s co-founder and CTO, , a new standard for video game tokens. With ERC-1155, a single smart contract can govern an infinite number of tokens. So a ERC-1155 contract could contain a wide variety of game items, from weapons to health potions. The Enjin token already powers over 1 billion digital assets. Enjin’s tokenized objects support developers with in-game monetization. Enjin developed ERC-1155 More, quirkier experiments: from socks to securitized humans is a crypto company that ran an experiment for fun. They created a bunch of physical socks (“ ”) and tokenized them. The crypto tokens are redeemable for the socks and trade on the open crypto market. The socks were launched at $14. At the moment I am writing this, they’re now trading for $3,000 each. So far only 30% of the tokens have been redeemed for the physical socks. There’s been about $130,000 in trading volume on 500 pairs of Unisocks. So about 70% of the volume is speculation vs people “actually buying” the socks. And half the trades are people trading fractional pairs of socks! Uniswap Unisocks is an artist-driven platform. It makes it easy for creators to authenticate, showcase and sell artwork. In 2018, they had 330+ artists on the platform, over 4000 editions and more than 12,000 digital artworks sold. KnownOrigin is among the first few people that I'm aware of to tokenize themselves. His tokens were redeemable for an hour of his time. And you could speculate on the future value of his time as a designer. So you can redeem the token for his time or you could just hold it as a sign of “I was there first”. If he becomes this famous designer, you could cash in on that later. Dapp Boi . Outside of crypto there are other experiments that have been run. Mike Merrill, literally securitized himself so shareholders can vote on life decisions. Mike Merrill , the star of the Brooklyn Nets, issued a bond based on his future NBA earnings. That's similar to the . It's a very explicit financialization of a person. Spencer Dinwiddie David Bowie Bonds The initial pitch for was that you were never even going to get your physical shoes. The original thesis was: “I know the new Yeezys are coming out, I know they’re going to go up in price, just let me buy shares in it.” StockX is fascinating because they're a large existing platform trying to tokenize. MOON is a community token for the r/Cryptocurrency subreddit. Technically it has a market cap of over $2.88 septillion (that’s 24 zeroes) in September 2020. This astounding number is obviously just a market quirk. Most of this value remains unrealized. If more subreddit contributors decide to convert their holdings, MOON will fall massively. Reddit Acknowledgements: thank you Li , Jesse , Bryant , Aaron for turning on your flashlights as I went down this rabbit hole. If you enjoyed this piece, consider subscribing to my newsletter Thank you! 'Borsalino Test'. Previously published at https://michelecanzi.substack.com/p/borsalino-test-5-the-next-stock-exchange

Creators' Economy: Market Size, Scope, Social Validation, and NFTs

To see or download Barrel’s deck on Slideshare, click here To see or download Datum’s deck on Slideshare, click here To see or download Reward.com’s deck on Slideshare, click here Since the dawn of the internet, consumers have been producing data at an ever increasing rate. From what we buy on Amazon, and elsewhere, to what we search for, to where we are/our location, to our medical records. This data about us has been aggregated, repackaged, and sold, in ways few people appreciate. It’s been sold to advertisers so they can show us fake news on , and it’s been sold to Nigerian princes, so they can ask us for a little money so we can help them out of a jam and get richly rewarded. It’s been stored in an infinite number of places, and hacked and stolen from more of those places then we’ll ever know about (wtf Uber, Equifax, Yahoo, Target …….). It turns out there is absolutely nothing secure about our social security number. In fact, having your social security number stolen is one of the few things that’s even Facecbook more likely to happen to you after you die. With the rise of and other distributed ledgers (e.g. DAGS, ), we’re in the early stages of how consumers can take back control over their data, how it’s used, and who it’s sold to. On this call we’ll hear from several thought leaders on how we got to where we are today, and the path to a safer and more thoughtful approach that empowers consumers to control and distribute the data about ourselves. Learn if we, the decentralized consumer, will really gain control of our data from the centralized corporations and governments that use our data to monetize and control us. blockchain they’re a thing After the four panelists are done with their formal comments, we’ll have plenty of time remaining for questions from the audience. Click here to register for the call at GoToWebinar Our esteemed speakers include: network that relies on the DAT Token Smart Contract to provide secure trading of data while respecting the terms set out by data owners. Before Datum, Roger had over 15 years experience in big data systems including as Co-Founder of StockX, SwissInvest, PCP.ch and Kosi. Roger Haenni — CEO of Datum , a which oversees The Block, a fully decentralized e-commerce marketplace built on the Ethereum blockchain. Paul is an Italian/US programmer living in Switzerland. Paul’s has been involved in various electronic marketplaces since 1992. During the 1990s, Paul served as a Director of Molecular Robotics, the first nanotechnology company to be listed on the NASDAQ. Paul Mahone — Co-Founder and UI lead developer of BitBoost , a blockchain with built-in Privacy, Security and Compliance measures. Jonathan and the Barrel Team are building a protocol for “refineries” for data. A place where massive data sets can be exchanged without concern regarding the privacy or compliance of the data. Before Barrel he worked for eBay and PayPal, served in the Israeli Elie Computing Unit Mamram and most recent as the founder and CEO of Superfly Insight. Jonathan Meiri — Founder and CEO of Barrel Protocol, , a decentralized cryptocurrency loyalty app (dapp) used to increase consumer engagement, reduce costs, enhance security and provide a better service to consumers. Butcher previously founded a successful consulting company driving acquisitions and strategic partnerships in the HR technology space. Butcher’s vast experience in product marketing over several industries has enabled her to cross multiple industries including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, quality management technology, human resource technology, loyalty, and retail. Linda Butcher — CoFounder & CMO of Rewardstoken.io Click here to register for the call at GoToWebinar 0.00000001 Bitcoin If you got at least worth of value from this post or enjoyed the video, go ahead and “Clap” below .

How Crypto Is Poised To Radically Change Consumer Data & Privacy — Conf Call, November 27th

Stock Market Prediction - the Holy Grail of Time Series Data

Why Is the AI Surge Boosting HDD Stocks? Finis Conner Says: Drives Are to AI as Batteries Are to EVs

Authors:
(1) Xiao-Yang Liu, Hongyang Yang, Columbia University (xl2427,hy2500@columbia.edu);
(2) Jiechao Gao, University of Virginia (jg5ycn@virginia.edu);
(3) Christina Dan Wang (Corresponding Author), New York University Shanghai (christina.wang@nyu.edu). Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Related Works and 2.1 Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms 2.2 Deep Reinforcement Learning Libraries and 2.3 Deep Reinforcement Learning in Finance 3 The Proposed FinRL Framework and 3.1 Overview of FinRL Framework 3.2 Application Layer 3.3 Agent Layer 3.4 Environment Layer 3.5 Training-Testing-Trading Pipeline 4 Hands-on Tutorials and Benchmark Performance and 4.1 Backtesting Module 4.2 Baseline Strategies and Trading Metrics 4.3 Hands-on Tutorials 4.4 Use Case I: Stock Trading 4.5 Use Case II: Portfolio Allocation and 4.6 Use Case III: Cryptocurrencies Trading 5 Ecosystem of FinRL and Conclusions, and References 4.4 Use Case I: Stock Trading We use FinRL to reproduce both [50] and [51] for stock trading. The ensemble strategy [51] combines three DRL algorithms (PPO [42], A2C [32] and DDPG [26]) to improve the robustness. The implementation is easy with FinRL. We choose three algorithms (PPO, A2C, DDPG) in the agent layer, and an environment with start and end dates in the environment layer. The implementations of DRL algorithms and data preprocessing are transparent to users, alleviating the programming and debugging workloads. Thus, FinRL greatly facilitates the strategy design, allowing users to focus on improving the trading performance. Fig. 5 and Table 3 show the backtesting performance on Dow 30 constituent stocks, accessed at 2020/07/01. The training period is from 2009/01/01 to 2020/06/30 on a daily basis, and the testing period is from 2020/07/01 to 2021/06/30. The performance in terms of multiple metrics is consistent with the results reported in [51] and [50], and here we show results in a recent trading period. We can see from the DJIA index that the trading period is a bullish market with an annual return of 32.84%. The ensemble strategy achieves a Sharpe ratio of 2.81 and an annual return of 52.61%. It beats A2C with a Sharpe ratio of 2.24, PPO with a Sharpe ratio of 2.23, DDPG with a Sharpe ratio of 2.05, DJIA with a Sharpe ratio of 2.02, and min-variance portfolio allocation with a Sharpe ratio of 1.98, respectively. Therefore, the backtesting performance demonstrates that FinRL successfully reproduces the ensemble strategy [51]. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Xiao-Yang Liu, Hongyang Yang, Columbia University (xl2427,hy2500@columbia.edu); (2) Jiechao Gao, University of Virginia (jg5ycn@virginia.edu); (3) Christina Dan Wang (Corresponding Author), New York University Shanghai (christina.wang@nyu.edu). Authors: Authors: (1) Xiao-Yang Liu, Hongyang Yang, Columbia University (xl2427,hy2500@columbia.edu); (2) Jiechao Gao, University of Virginia (jg5ycn@virginia.edu); (3) Christina Dan Wang ( Corresponding Author ), New York University Shanghai (christina.wang@nyu.edu). Corresponding Author Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Related Works and 2.1 Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms 2 Related Works and 2.1 Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms 2.2 Deep Reinforcement Learning Libraries and 2.3 Deep Reinforcement Learning in Finance 2.2 Deep Reinforcement Learning Libraries and 2.3 Deep Reinforcement Learning in Finance 3 The Proposed FinRL Framework and 3.1 Overview of FinRL Framework 3 The Proposed FinRL Framework and 3.1 Overview of FinRL Framework 3.2 Application Layer 3.2 Application Layer 3.3 Agent Layer 3.3 Agent Layer 3.4 Environment Layer 3.4 Environment Layer 3.5 Training-Testing-Trading Pipeline 3.5 Training-Testing-Trading Pipeline 4 Hands-on Tutorials and Benchmark Performance and 4.1 Backtesting Module 4 Hands-on Tutorials and Benchmark Performance and 4.1 Backtesting Module 4.2 Baseline Strategies and Trading Metrics 4.2 Baseline Strategies and Trading Metrics 4.3 Hands-on Tutorials 4.3 Hands-on Tutorials 4.4 Use Case I: Stock Trading 4.4 Use Case I: Stock Trading 4.5 Use Case II: Portfolio Allocation and 4.6 Use Case III: Cryptocurrencies Trading 4.5 Use Case II: Portfolio Allocation and 4.6 Use Case III: Cryptocurrencies Trading 5 Ecosystem of FinRL and Conclusions, and References 5 Ecosystem of FinRL and Conclusions, and References 4.4 Use Case I: Stock Trading We use FinRL to reproduce both [50] and [51] for stock trading. The ensemble strategy [51] combines three DRL algorithms (PPO [42], A2C [32] and DDPG [26]) to improve the robustness. The implementation is easy with FinRL. We choose three algorithms (PPO, A2C, DDPG) in the agent layer, and an environment with start and end dates in the environment layer. The implementations of DRL algorithms and data preprocessing are transparent to users, alleviating the programming and debugging workloads. Thus, FinRL greatly facilitates the strategy design, allowing users to focus on improving the trading performance. Fig. 5 and Table 3 show the backtesting performance on Dow 30 constituent stocks, accessed at 2020/07/01. The training period is from 2009/01/01 to 2020/06/30 on a daily basis, and the testing period is from 2020/07/01 to 2021/06/30. The performance in terms of multiple metrics is consistent with the results reported in [51] and [50], and here we show results in a recent trading period. We can see from the DJIA index that the trading period is a bullish market with an annual return of 32.84%. The ensemble strategy achieves a Sharpe ratio of 2.81 and an annual return of 52.61%. It beats A2C with a Sharpe ratio of 2.24, PPO with a Sharpe ratio of 2.23, DDPG with a Sharpe ratio of 2.05, DJIA with a Sharpe ratio of 2.02, and min-variance portfolio allocation with a Sharpe ratio of 1.98, respectively. Therefore, the backtesting performance demonstrates that FinRL successfully reproduces the ensemble strategy [51]. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

FinRL's Implementation of DRL Algorithms for Stock Trading

Growing geopolitical unrest can be catastrophic on a humanitarian scale while leading to significant levels of volatility across international markets. For opportunistic investors, however, geopolitical uncertainty can pave the way for fresh opportunities to pick up defense stocks. Although the topic of buying defense stocks has historically proven to be a difficult one for retail investors to come to terms with on a moral basis, the industry is forecasted to grow to a market size of $367.3 billion by 2029 and will be buoyed by further government spending should the uncertain climate remain. Using the iShares US Aerospace & Defence ETF, an industry-specific exchange-traded fund with $6.3 billion AUM, we can see that since the flare-up of conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, the fund has grown around 40%. The ETF’s upward trend was sustained by an escalation of violence in the Middle East in late 2023, and the implications of these heightened aggressions are clear on Wall Street. “Increased geopolitical tensions usually force governments to allocate more money to the defense budget,” explains Maxim Manturov, head of investment advice at Freedom24. “Companies that supply essential defense equipment, technology, and services will benefit from this increased spending.” “Look for defense companies with a diversified portfolio across different defense sectors such as aerospace, cybersecurity, and military equipment manufacturing. Diversification helps reduce risks associated with fluctuations in specific defense segments and provides stability to the overall investment,” Manturov added. Despite its sustained growth in recent years against the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, investors may still need to be wary of an overvaluation creeping in throughout the sector. According to a recent Goldman Sachs warning, European defense stocks had been trading at a 45% premium to broader equity markets, placing stocks at risk of a market correction. The value of the industry is likely to be determined more by its growth in light of the changing geopolitical landscape. Should escalations in Europe and the Middle East begin to slow, it’s inconceivable that the sector can sustain its strong rate of growth. With this in mind, investors should look to conduct sufficient research when diversifying their portfolio with defense stocks and choose only companies with a sustainable commitment to innovation to buy. Let’s explore three defense stocks that could offer the best upside for investors moving forward: 1. Lockheed Martin (LMT) With a market capitalization of $110 billion, it’s impossible to ignore Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) when looking at picking up defense stocks. Despite supply chain concerns impacting profits in 2024, Lockheed Martin beat sales predictions by 7.5% and earnings estimates by 10% in its first-quarter report and managed to earn $6.39 per share on sales of $17.2 billion for the period. Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest defense contractors and has built a reputation for its commitment to delivering a diverse portfolio of aerospace and defense solutions that feature aircraft and cybersecurity solutions among its wide repertoire. The firm is also renowned for its famous ‘Skunk Works’ research center in California, and Lockheed Martin continuously benefits from this industry-leading R&D to build next-generation electronics that can be seen across its suite of aerospace and defense products. 2. Raytheon Technologies (RTX) Another stock that’s proved its worth in 2024 is Raytheon Technologies (NYSE:RTX). Posting Wall Street growth of more than 15% over the first half of the year, Raytheon Technologies has rallied higher in recent weeks off the back of a positive first-quarter earnings report that saw earnings per share climb to $1.34, beating analyst expectations of $1.23. The company’s revenue of $19.31 billion also surpassed its $18.41 billion expectations by 4.86%. While Raytheon Technologies doesn’t have the same level of diversification as Lockheed Martin without the production of vehicles like warships and fighter jets, the firm is a key player throughout a wide range of global military platforms led by other contractors. Crucially, if investors were to have added the stock at the time of the landmark merger between Raytheon and United Technologies on April 3 2020, their ROI today would be in excess of 110%. This makes the stock one of the best performers on this list, and certainly a firm to keep a close eye on. 3. Northrop Grumman (NOC) One of the strongest five-year performers in this list is Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC). Despite widespread difficulty throughout Wall Street in 2022, NOC recorded growth of more than 36% throughout the calendar year. Although the stock has failed to build on its momentum entering 2024, posting a slight decline over the first two quarters of the year, Northrop Grumman managed to comfortably beat earnings expectations for the first quarter, posting earnings of $6.10 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.95 per share. Perhaps most impressively of all, is that this means NOC has managed to beat the consensus EPS estimates four times over the past four quarters, making it a stock that’s consistently confounding analysts. Another firm that specializes in aerospace and defense technology, including unmanned systems and cybersecurity innovation, Northrop Grumman is a key player in the growing stealth warfare industry and has developed a large space-focused portfolio. \ Given its long-term commitment to innovation, the firm appears to be a solid long-term bet for more sustained growth in the future. Opportunities for Research-Focused Investors The long-term growth of these defense stocks will rely heavily on the wider geopolitical landscape and the necessity of government spending on increasing defense-focused budgets. With this in mind, investors seeking to diversify their portfolios and add defense stocks should be mindful to conduct sufficient research into the state of defense spending and look to geopolitics for indicators as to whether industry-focused stocks are likely to show continued outperformance in the future. As uncertainty continues to afflict the geopolitical landscape, investors can still find opportunities within the growth of the defense sector with plenty of potential upside for its most innovative stocks. Growing geopolitical unrest can be catastrophic on a humanitarian scale while leading to significant levels of volatility across international markets. For opportunistic investors, however, geopolitical uncertainty can pave the way for fresh opportunities to pick up defense stocks. Although the topic of buying defense stocks has historically proven to be a difficult one for retail investors to come to terms with on a moral basis, the industry is forecasted to grow to a market size of $367.3 billion by 2029 and will be buoyed by further government spending should the uncertain climate remain. difficult one for retail investors difficult one for retail investors $367.3 billion by 2029 $367.3 billion by 2029 Using the iShares US Aerospace & Defence ETF, an industry-specific exchange-traded fund with $6.3 billion AUM, we can see that since the flare-up of conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, the fund has grown around 40%. The ETF’s upward trend was sustained by an escalation of violence in the Middle East in late 2023, and the implications of these heightened aggressions are clear on Wall Street. “Increased geopolitical tensions usually force governments to allocate more money to the defense budget,” explains Maxim Manturov, head of investment advice at Freedom24 . “Companies that supply essential defense equipment, technology, and services will benefit from this increased spending.” Freedom24 Freedom24 “Look for defense companies with a diversified portfolio across different defense sectors such as aerospace, cybersecurity, and military equipment manufacturing. Diversification helps reduce risks associated with fluctuations in specific defense segments and provides stability to the overall investment,” Manturov added. Despite its sustained growth in recent years against the backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, investors may still need to be wary of an overvaluation creeping in throughout the sector. According to a recent Goldman Sachs warning , European defense stocks had been trading at a 45% premium to broader equity markets, placing stocks at risk of a market correction. recent Goldman Sachs warning recent Goldman Sachs warning The value of the industry is likely to be determined more by its growth in light of the changing geopolitical landscape. Should escalations in Europe and the Middle East begin to slow, it’s inconceivable that the sector can sustain its strong rate of growth. With this in mind, investors should look to conduct sufficient research when diversifying their portfolio with defense stocks and choose only companies with a sustainable commitment to innovation to buy. Let’s explore three defense stocks that could offer the best upside for investors moving forward: 1. Lockheed Martin (LMT) With a market capitalization of $110 billion, it’s impossible to ignore Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) when looking at picking up defense stocks. Despite supply chain concerns impacting profits in 2024, Lockheed Martin beat sales predictions by 7.5% and earnings estimates by 10% in its first-quarter report and managed to earn $6.39 per share on sales of $17.2 billion for the period. beat sales predictions by 7.5% beat sales predictions by 7.5% Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest defense contractors and has built a reputation for its commitment to delivering a diverse portfolio of aerospace and defense solutions that feature aircraft and cybersecurity solutions among its wide repertoire. cybersecurity The firm is also renowned for its famous ‘Skunk Works’ research center in California, and Lockheed Martin continuously benefits from this industry-leading R&D to build next-generation electronics that can be seen across its suite of aerospace and defense products. 2. Raytheon Technologies (RTX) Another stock that’s proved its worth in 2024 is Raytheon Technologies (NYSE:RTX). Posting Wall Street growth of more than 15% over the first half of the year, Raytheon Technologies has rallied higher in recent weeks off the back of a positive first-quarter earnings report that saw earnings per share climb to $1.34 , beating analyst expectations of $1.23. earnings per share climb to $1.34 earnings per share climb to $1.34 The company’s revenue of $19.31 billion also surpassed its $18.41 billion expectations by 4.86%. While Raytheon Technologies doesn’t have the same level of diversification as Lockheed Martin without the production of vehicles like warships and fighter jets, the firm is a key player throughout a wide range of global military platforms led by other contractors. Crucially, if investors were to have added the stock at the time of the landmark merger between Raytheon and United Technologies on April 3 2020, their ROI today would be in excess of 110%. This makes the stock one of the best performers on this list, and certainly a firm to keep a close eye on. 3. Northrop Grumman (NOC) One of the strongest five-year performers in this list is Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC). Despite widespread difficulty throughout Wall Street in 2022, NOC recorded growth of more than 36% throughout the calendar year. Although the stock has failed to build on its momentum entering 2024, posting a slight decline over the first two quarters of the year, Northrop Grumman managed to comfortably beat earnings expectations for the first quarter, posting earnings of $6.10 per share , beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.95 per share. posting earnings of $6.10 per share posting earnings of $6.10 per share Perhaps most impressively of all, is that this means NOC has managed to beat the consensus EPS estimates four times over the past four quarters, making it a stock that’s consistently confounding analysts. Another firm that specializes in aerospace and defense technology, including unmanned systems and cybersecurity innovation, Northrop Grumman is a key player in the growing stealth warfare industry and has developed a large space-focused portfolio. \ cybersecurity Given its long-term commitment to innovation, the firm appears to be a solid long-term bet for more sustained growth in the future. Opportunities for Research-Focused Investors The long-term growth of these defense stocks will rely heavily on the wider geopolitical landscape and the necessity of government spending on increasing defense-focused budgets. With this in mind, investors seeking to diversify their portfolios and add defense stocks should be mindful to conduct sufficient research into the state of defense spending and look to geopolitics for indicators as to whether industry-focused stocks are likely to show continued outperformance in the future. As uncertainty continues to afflict the geopolitical landscape, investors can still find opportunities within the growth of the defense sector with plenty of potential upside for its most innovative stocks.

Capitalizing on Uncertainty: 3 Defense Stocks To Look Out For as Geopolitical Tensions Rise

The Noonification: Stock Options: Everything Employees Need To Know (6/8/2024)

Stock Options: Everything Employees Need To Know

স্টক বিকল্প: কর্মচারীদের যা কিছু জানা দরকার

Aktienoptionen: Alles, was Arbeitnehmer wissen müssen

Opciones sobre acciones: todo lo que los empleados necesitan saber

Stock-Options : tout ce que les employés doivent savoir

स्टॉक विकल्प: कर्मचारियों को जानने योग्य सभी बातें

ストックオプション: 従業員が知っておくべきことすべて

스톡 옵션: 직원이 알아야 할 모든 것

Opções de ações: tudo o que os funcionários precisam saber

Фондовые опционы: все, что нужно знать сотрудникам

Hisse Senedi Opsiyonları: Çalışanların Bilmesi Gereken Her Şey

Quyền chọn cổ phiếu: Mọi điều nhân viên cần biết

股票期权：员工需要知道的一切

The first half of 2024 has been a challenging period for Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) stock, with a sharp decline of around 20% punctuating the past six months. However, investors can look to future innovations and the software giant’s exemplary ESG reputation as a solid foundation for a long-term market recovery. Adobe is a growth stock that remains popular despite its recent shortfalls. Nasdaq-listed firm recently featured among the most searched stocks on Zack.com, highlighting higher levels of retail interest in the company. Crucially, Adobe’s performance in the wake of the pandemic shows a firm that’s yet to fully recover from the widespread tech stock sell-offs that swept through Wall Street in 2022. Even despite recent downturns, Adobe stock remains almost 70% higher from its entry point in Q3 2019. However, at around 33% below its 2021 market peak, investors can take optimism from there being plenty of market capitalization to recover. But how achievable is Adobe’s return to its former highs? Let’s explore the stock’s prospects alongside its current market performance: AI Adoption Will Determine Adobe’s Trajectory The implications of the ongoing generative AI boom for Adobe can’t be overstated. Generative tools have the potential to disrupt software as we know it, and its ability to create quality visual and multimedia content based on a series of user prompts puts it in direct contention with leading Adobe design tools. In a recent meeting with analysts, Adobe claimed that the adoption of AI will help to expand the company’s addressable market. This expansion hinges on the successful growth of the firm’s AI software portfolio, and Adobe’s teasing of the creation of 3D images, audio, and video from text prompts points to a clear emphasis on commanding a strong generative AI market presence. Worryingly for investors, Adobe faces an unprecedented level of competition in upgrading its design tools. Since OpenAI unveiled the text-to-video creation tool Sora, Adobe’s stock has collapsed more than 22%. Despite the fierce competition, Adobe told analysts that the firm’s total addressable market will reach $293 billion by 2027, representing a strong increase on the $205 billion recorded in 2024. However, Adobe’s share of this addressable market is up for debate. Last year, Adobe opted to walk away from an ambitious $20 billion acquisition of collaborative design startup Figma Inc. The termination of the merger left the firm with around $6 billion, which has been allocated toward advancing its AI development and stock buybacks. This commitment to embracing generative AI is already paving the way for cutting-edge tools like Firefly, but converting these innovations into revenue and out-growing rivals will be a major challenge for the company. Q1 2024 Earnings Outpace Estimates Despite a difficult start to the year, Adobe’s Q1 2024 earnings beat Zacks’ Consensus Estimate by 2.3% and improved 17.9% year-over-year. The firm’s revenues of $5.18 billion also outpaced the Consensus Estimate of $5.13 billion–highlighting Adobe’s resilience even as investors remain wary of the disruptive power of generative AI. While much of Adobe’s top-line growth was driven by the relatively strong performance of Adobe Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, and Experience Cloud along with strong subscription revenues, the firm’s innovations in generative AI were also acknowledged as a key contributor. ESG Credentials Could Drive ADBE Higher As a long-time market leader in the field of software solutions and publishing tools, the emergence of competitors driven by the disruptive force of generative AI poses new challenges for Adobe. While the firm has sought to embrace the GenAI boom with its own suite of innovations, the stock’s performance may become increasingly impacted by finer margins. With this in mind, Adobe’s long-standing ESG commitments could help the software giant to continue winning investor interest ahead of the industry’s bright new startups. “Adobe has achieved global gender pay equity and invested nearly $87 million in projects that benefit 1.6 million underrepresented minorities worldwide,” highlights Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at Freedom24. “Half of Adobe's energy consumption comes from renewable sources, and the company aims to transition to fully renewable energy by 2035. MSCI upgraded Adobe's ESG rating from AA to AAA in December 2021.” Does P/E Present a Risk or Opportunity? It’s also important to consider Adobe’s relatively high price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 45.9x. While this would ring alarm bells for investors in a market where half of US-listed companies have a P/E of below 17x, it’s fair to consider ADBE an outlier rather than a bloated stock. This higher ratio can be attributed to Adobe’s earnings-per-share, which is expected to grow by 22% per year for the coming three years at a rate that far outpaces the 10% growth forecasted for the wider market. For bullish investors, Adobe’s P/E is reflective of a stock that’s seeking to cement its place as a software market leader by rolling out next-generation AI solutions that could see significant upside if it can see off the threat of its industry rivals. Alongside this, the firm’s ability to consistently beat expectations even in times of market uncertainty, not to mention a strong ESG foundation that highlights the progressive culture surrounding the brand, can be seen as an excellent sign of resilience. For Adobe’s stock, the level of competition entering its core industries will pose unprecedented challenges, but the opportunity to evolve into a major generative AI player could drive exponential growth while unlocking a market worth $293 billion over the coming years. The first half of 2024 has been a challenging period for Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) stock, with a sharp decline of around 20% punctuating the past six months. However, investors can look to future innovations and the software giant’s exemplary ESG reputation as a solid foundation for a long-term market recovery. Adobe is a growth stock that remains popular despite its recent shortfalls. Nasdaq-listed firm recently featured among the most searched stocks on Zack.com , highlighting higher levels of retail interest in the company. most searched stocks on Zack.com most searched stocks on Zack.com Crucially, Adobe’s performance in the wake of the pandemic shows a firm that’s yet to fully recover from the widespread tech stock sell-offs that swept through Wall Street in 2022. Even despite recent downturns, Adobe stock remains almost 70% higher from its entry point in Q3 2019. However, at around 33% below its 2021 market peak, investors can take optimism from there being plenty of market capitalization to recover. But how achievable is Adobe’s return to its former highs? Let’s explore the stock’s prospects alongside its current market performance: AI Adoption Will Determine Adobe’s Trajectory The implications of the ongoing generative AI boom for Adobe can’t be overstated. Generative tools have the potential to disrupt software as we know it, and its ability to create quality visual and multimedia content based on a series of user prompts puts it in direct contention with leading Adobe design tools. generative AI boom In a recent meeting with analysts, Adobe claimed that the adoption of AI will help to expand the company’s addressable market. This expansion hinges on the successful growth of the firm’s AI software portfolio, and Adobe’s teasing of the creation of 3D images, audio, and video from text prompts points to a clear emphasis on commanding a strong generative AI market presence. Worryingly for investors, Adobe faces an unprecedented level of competition in upgrading its design tools. Since OpenAI unveiled the text-to-video creation tool Sora, Adobe’s stock has collapsed more than 22%. Despite the fierce competition, Adobe told analysts that the firm’s total addressable market will reach $293 billion by 2027 , representing a strong increase on the $205 billion recorded in 2024. However, Adobe’s share of this addressable market is up for debate. reach $293 billion by 2027 reach $293 billion by 2027 Last year, Adobe opted to walk away from an ambitious $20 billion acquisition of collaborative design startup Figma Inc. The termination of the merger left the firm with around $6 billion, which has been allocated toward advancing its AI development and stock buybacks. allocated toward advancing its AI development allocated toward advancing its AI development This commitment to embracing generative AI is already paving the way for cutting-edge tools like Firefly, but converting these innovations into revenue and out-growing rivals will be a major challenge for the company. Q1 2024 Earnings Outpace Estimates Despite a difficult start to the year, Adobe’s Q1 2024 earnings beat Zacks’ Consensus Estimate by 2.3% and improved 17.9% year-over-year . improved 17.9% year-over-year improved 17.9% year-over-year The firm’s revenues of $5.18 billion also outpaced the Consensus Estimate of $5.13 billion–highlighting Adobe’s resilience even as investors remain wary of the disruptive power of generative AI. While much of Adobe’s top-line growth was driven by the relatively strong performance of Adobe Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, and Experience Cloud along with strong subscription revenues, the firm’s innovations in generative AI were also acknowledged as a key contributor. ESG Credentials Could Drive ADBE Higher As a long-time market leader in the field of software solutions and publishing tools, the emergence of competitors driven by the disruptive force of generative AI poses new challenges for Adobe. While the firm has sought to embrace the GenAI boom with its own suite of innovations, the stock’s performance may become increasingly impacted by finer margins. With this in mind, Adobe’s long-standing ESG commitments could help the software giant to continue winning investor interest ahead of the industry’s bright new startups. “Adobe has achieved global gender pay equity and invested nearly $87 million in projects that benefit 1.6 million underrepresented minorities worldwide,” highlights Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at Freedom24 . Freedom 24 Freedom “Half of Adobe's energy consumption comes from renewable sources, and the company aims to transition to fully renewable energy by 2035. MSCI upgraded Adobe's ESG rating from AA to AAA in December 2021.” Does P/E Present a Risk or Opportunity? It’s also important to consider Adobe’s relatively high price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 45.9x . While this would ring alarm bells for investors in a market where half of US-listed companies have a P/E of below 17x, it’s fair to consider ADBE an outlier rather than a bloated stock. price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 45.9x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 45.9x This higher ratio can be attributed to Adobe’s earnings-per-share, which is expected to grow by 22% per year for the coming three years at a rate that far outpaces the 10% growth forecasted for the wider market. For bullish investors, Adobe’s P/E is reflective of a stock that’s seeking to cement its place as a software market leader by rolling out next-generation AI solutions that could see significant upside if it can see off the threat of its industry rivals. Alongside this, the firm’s ability to consistently beat expectations even in times of market uncertainty, not to mention a strong ESG foundation that highlights the progressive culture surrounding the brand, can be seen as an excellent sign of resilience. For Adobe’s stock, the level of competition entering its core industries will pose unprecedented challenges, but the opportunity to evolve into a major generative AI player could drive exponential growth while unlocking a market worth $293 billion over the coming years.

Why Adobe’s Commitments to AI and ESG Underline Potential for a Stock Market Rebound

About 80% of the team at my early-stage startup have stock options. These talented individuals could have chosen to work for big-name companies if I hadn’t made them co-owners. For startups, offering options to employees is the most effective approach to attract talent. When you're small, it's nearly impossible to match the salaries paid by tech giants like Google, Microsoft, or Netflix. What you can provide is ownership in a potentially multi-million dollar company. If you're a fellow founder, you've likely already googled how to issue stock options. Here, I offer tips from my own journey. Show $$$ but Explain Risks When I hire people, I offer them three choices: no stock options and a higher salary, a middle-level option, and the highest possible option at a lower salary. For me, it's a positive sign if a potential employee accepts an option for compensation. It means they aren’t just interested in making money but also in my startup’s product, and they will do their best to make the company successful. To get employees interested in the stock option, you have to explain your startup idea to them (just like when you talked to investors). Prepare your pitch; describe the opportunities and risks. Stock options allow employees to buy company shares at a fixed price (the strike price) and potentially sell them at a much higher market price later. This can lead to big financial gains if the company's value goes up. Provide concrete figures when discussing this with employees. If the startup becomes very successful and is bought for $200M, the employee who had 1% of the option receives $2M. Saying “two million dollars” can serve as a strong selling point. But startups often fail, and yours may too. And the stock options might end up being worthless. It is crucial to prepare the team for this scenario, making sure everyone understands the terms they are agreeing to. Managing expectations is one of the most critical aspects of effective management. Sell, but don’t oversell. Don't Get Greedy I have allocated 15% of my startup’s total equity for the employee stock option pool, a rate considered optimal. Each employee receives between 0.2% to 2% of the options. Go through the checklist below to try to see the fairest way to issue stock options: Consider the employee's market salary and/or their requested salary. Determine the amount you are willing to offer as compensation. Compensate the difference with stock options based on the estimated company valuation during the next round. Don't skimp on employee stock options — you are aiming to attract the best talent in the market, so come up with a fair compensation. Evaluate the employee's role, responsibilities, and contributions to the company. Roles with significant impact or employees who notably contribute to the company's growth and success typically receive a larger share of the stock options than others. Senior software engineers, along with elite marketing professionals like CMOs or heads of sales, are instrumental in driving product development and attracting customers. Their expertise is not only crucial for engaging customers but also for appealing to investors. Given their significance, specialists like these can effortlessly be entitled to up to 3% of the total option pool. Regularly review and adjust stock options as the company expands and develops. What may have seemed like a fair allocation in the early stages might need modification as the company scales and hires more people. Establish Vesting Rules To align your interests with those of your employees, promote long-term commitment, and ensure that equity is earned gradually. First, determine the total duration for which equity will vest. While the standard vesting period is typically 4 years, this timeframe can vary depending on the specific circumstances. Consider implementing a "cliff" period where no equity vests until a specific milestone is reached. In our startup, we incorporated a 1-year cliff. This approach allows sufficient time to assess an employee's performance and track progress. After that year, an employee receives the initial portion of stock options, around 25%, and then the shares vest monthly. Clearly communicate the vesting rules to employees in their offer letters, employment agreements, or equity grant agreements. Documenting the vesting rules is crucial to prevent misunderstandings later on. Besides, having a structure for the employee option pool is important during the funding process: Investors will certainly examine whether you have established clear rules. About 80% of the team at my early-stage startup have stock options. These talented individuals could have chosen to work for big-name companies if I hadn’t made them co-owners. About 80% of the team at my early-stage startup have stock options. These talented individuals could have chosen to work for big-name companies if I hadn’t made them co-owners. For startups, offering options to employees is the most effective approach to attract talent. When you're small, it's nearly impossible to match the salaries paid by tech giants like Google, Microsoft, or Netflix. What you can provide is ownership in a potentially multi-million dollar company. If you're a fellow founder, you've likely already googled how to issue stock options. Here, I offer tips from my own journey. Show $$$ but Explain Risks When I hire people, I offer them three choices: no stock options and a higher salary, a middle-level option, and the highest possible option at a lower salary. For me, it's a positive sign if a potential employee accepts an option for compensation. It means they aren’t just interested in making money but also in my startup’s product, and they will do their best to make the company successful. To get employees interested in the stock option, you have to explain your startup idea to them (just like when you talked to investors) . Prepare your pitch; describe the opportunities and risks. (just like when you talked to investors) Stock options allow employees to buy company shares at a fixed price (the strike price) and potentially sell them at a much higher market price later. This can lead to big financial gains if the company's value goes up. Provide concrete figures when discussing this with employees. (the strike price) If the startup becomes very successful and is bought for $200M, the employee who had 1% of the option receives $2M. Saying “two million dollars” can serve as a strong selling point. But startups often fail, and yours may too. And the stock options might end up being worthless. It is crucial to prepare the team for this scenario, making sure everyone understands the terms they are agreeing to. Managing expectations is one of the most critical aspects of effective management. Sell, but don’t oversell. Don't Get Greedy I have allocated 15% of my startup’s total equity for the employee stock option pool, a rate considered optimal. Each employee receives between 0.2% to 2% of the options. Go through the checklist below to try to see the fairest way to issue stock options: Consider the employee's market salary and/or their requested salary. Consider the employee's market salary and/or their requested salary. Determine the amount you are willing to offer as compensation. Determine the amount you are willing to offer as compensation. Compensate the difference with stock options based on the estimated company valuation during the next round. Compensate the difference with stock options based on the estimated company valuation during the next round. Compensate the difference with stock options based on the estimated company valuation during the next round. Don't skimp on employee stock options — you are aiming to attract the best talent in the market, so come up with a fair compensation. Don't skimp on employee stock options — you are aiming to attract the best talent in the market, so come up with a fair compensation. Evaluate the employee's role, responsibilities, and contributions to the company. Roles with significant impact or employees who notably contribute to the company's growth and success typically receive a larger share of the stock options than others. Senior software engineers, along with elite marketing professionals like CMOs or heads of sales, are instrumental in driving product development and attracting customers. Their expertise is not only crucial for engaging customers but also for appealing to investors. Given their significance, specialists like these can effortlessly be entitled to up to 3% of the total option pool. Regularly review and adjust stock options as the company expands and develops. What may have seemed like a fair allocation in the early stages might need modification as the company scales and hires more people. Establish Vesting Rules To align your interests with those of your employees, promote long-term commitment, and ensure that equity is earned gradually. First, determine the total duration for which equity will vest. While the standard vesting period is typically 4 years, this timeframe can vary depending on the specific circumstances. Consider implementing a "cliff" period where no equity vests until a specific milestone is reached. In our startup, we incorporated a 1-year cliff. This approach allows sufficient time to assess an employee's performance and track progress. After that year, an employee receives the initial portion of stock options, around 25%, and then the shares vest monthly. Clearly communicate the vesting rules to employees in their offer letters, employment agreements, or equity grant agreements. Documenting the vesting rules is crucial to prevent misunderstandings later on. Besides, having a structure for the employee option pool is important during the funding process: Investors will certainly examine whether you have established clear rules.

How to Give Employees Stock Options: Tips From Founder to Founders

Heavy is the head that wears the crown during a Wall Street bull run, and Nvidia’s status as the king of the ongoing generative AI boom means that the stock can be especially vulnerable to the prospect of weakening investor appetite. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) became Wall Street’s most exciting story in 2023. The chipmaker rallied some 239% throughout the year, smashing through the $1 trillion market capitalization glass ceiling before peaking at a cap in excess of $2tn. The optimism, fuelled by the ongoing generative AI market rally, continued to make waves in the first-quarter of 2024. NVDA rallied almost 90% in the opening three months of the year to continue its strong spell of dominance. But finally, at the beginning of April, the stock took its biggest tumble in four years. The wider implications of the Nvidia sell-off are likely to shake up the entire generative AI market. Counting the Cost of NVDA Sell-Offs The first three weeks of April 2024 saw NVDA shed more than 15% of its value amid widespread investor sell-offs. Although greater degrees of volatility can be expected for stocks caught up in the hype phase of an emerging market, Nvidia’s April downturn has been the company’s biggest dip since the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. For Nvidia, the pandemic era must seem like a lifetime ago. Its March 2020 sell-offs saw the stock tumble to $51.44. The stock’s peak closing price in March 2024 was $950.02. But after four years of meteoric growth, Nvidia’s recent market downturn is particularly concerning–particularly now the stock’s gained the status as a tech pioneer that’s been driving the S&P 500 higher on a consistent basis. Nvidia’s position at the pinnacle of the generative AI boom could mean that the stock would always be the first to absorb the impact of a change in investor sentiment, and the fears are that NVDA would be the canary in the mine should we suddenly discover that generative AI has been in a hype bubble that’s ready to burst for some time. Although Nvidia’s recent difficulties have coincided with the news that US inflation rates have continued to defy expectations, placing the prospect of interest rate cuts on hold for the foreseeable future, analysts suggest that fears over a cooling generative AI boom remain the key cause of investor concern in the wake of the underperformance. “The stock pullback has very little to do with rates,” explained Parag Thatte, strategist at Deutsche Bank, in a recent Financial Times interview. “It’s more to do with investors pricing in slower earnings growth.” There’s also a growing concern that generative AI has begun to transform from its hype phase towards the question of implementation. While Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have been excellent tools in showcasing the sheer power and potential of generative AI, they’ve also been largely error-prone in a manner that could cause more hesitancy among enterprises seeking to embrace the technology. It’s for this reason that Gil Luria, analyst at DA Davidson, warned that a 20% slide in Nvidia stock could take place by the end of 2024. Luria suggests that the implementation phase of Nvidia’s products, which are currently being bought en masse by the likes of Microsoft and Amazon, could run into trouble when key buyers reach capacity and demand begins to fall. However, other analysts suggest that the end of the generative AI hype phase will be met by a more strategic implementation phase which could keep the industry growing. “Concerns about GenAI failing to meet expectations in 2024 should be seen in the context of the natural cycle of hype and maturity of new technologies,” said Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at Freedom Finance Europe. “While some industry leaders have expressed frustration with the speed of progress in artificial intelligence and GenAI in their organisations, others remain optimistic about its potential.” “Companies heavily invested in GenAI are under pressure to prove profitability, and industry reports indicate a shift to more strategic AI initiatives in the coming years,” Manturov added. Is the Generative AI an Exceptional Case? Here, it’s worth reminding ourselves that we’re talking about the generative AI boom. This is an industry that Bloomberg Intelligence last year suggested would grow at a CAGR of 42% into a $1.3 trillion industry by 2032. Fresh demand for generative AI products was predicted to add around $280 million in new software revenue. Could we be talking about an emerging technology that’s market impact is without precedent? Morgan Stanley analysts have underlined the indecisive outlook for Nvidia and the wider generative AI market in Q2 2024 by proposing a more bullish outlook for NVDA as well as the generative AI-focused Amazon (AMZN). As Nvidia reported Q4 2023 revenue increases of 265% to $22 billion, CEO Jensen Huang claimed that "accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point," before adding that "demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations." The company’s innovations in recent weeks have included the text-to-3D tool, LATTE3D, which Nvidia described as a ‘virtual 3D printer’, as well as a collaboration with Hipocratic AI to develop a network of generative AI nurses that could cost $9 an hour. Nvidia’s quick 5% rebound following its record sell-offs should serve as a wider vote of confidence in the innovation that the company is capable of. Regardless of whether its success has made it the GenAI canary, NVDA is certainly an innovative stock that’s capable of sustaining its impressive growth. Bubble or Boom? Ultimately, Nvidia’s performance over the past 12 months means that the stock has become a live litmus test for investor sentiment in generative AI. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends wholly on the capabilities of the industry itself. Nvidia’s rapid growth has seen the stock rub shoulders with the likes of Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet, and the company will be keen to follow the lead of other industry giants to continue sustaining its growth through innovation. As a semiconductor leader, the possibilities are nearly endless for Nvidia. As long as the capabilities of generative AI continue to astound clients and deliver on its promises, NVDA remains a stock that can continue to grow. If investors get a whiff of saturation or inefficiency, the Nvidia litmus test could face some further challenges ahead. Heavy is the head that wears the crown during a Wall Street bull run, and Nvidia’s status as the king of the ongoing generative AI boom means that the stock can be especially vulnerable to the prospect of weakening investor appetite. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) became Wall Street’s most exciting story in 2023. The chipmaker rallied some 239% throughout the year, smashing through the $1 trillion market capitalization glass ceiling before peaking at a cap in excess of $2tn. Nvidia The optimism, fuelled by the ongoing generative AI market rally, continued to make waves in the first-quarter of 2024. NVDA rallied almost 90% in the opening three months of the year to continue its strong spell of dominance. But finally, at the beginning of April, the stock took its biggest tumble in four years. The wider implications of the Nvidia sell-off are likely to shake up the entire generative AI market. Counting the Cost of NVDA Sell-Offs The first three weeks of April 2024 saw NVDA shed more than 15% of its value amid widespread investor sell-offs. Although greater degrees of volatility can be expected for stocks caught up in the hype phase of an emerging market, Nvidia’s April downturn has been the company’s biggest dip since the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. For Nvidia, the pandemic era must seem like a lifetime ago. Its March 2020 sell-offs saw the stock tumble to $51.44. The stock’s peak closing price in March 2024 was $950.02. But after four years of meteoric growth, Nvidia’s recent market downturn is particularly concerning–particularly now the stock’s gained the status as a tech pioneer that’s been driving the S&P 500 higher on a consistent basis. Nvidia’s position at the pinnacle of the generative AI boom could mean that the stock would always be the first to absorb the impact of a change in investor sentiment, and the fears are that NVDA would be the canary in the mine should we suddenly discover that generative AI has been in a hype bubble that’s ready to burst for some time. Although Nvidia’s recent difficulties have coincided with the news that US inflation rates have continued to defy expectations, placing the prospect of interest rate cuts on hold for the foreseeable future, analysts suggest that fears over a cooling generative AI boom remain the key cause of investor concern in the wake of the underperformance. prospect of interest rate cuts on hold prospect of interest rate cuts on hold “The stock pullback has very little to do with rates,” explained Parag Thatte , strategist at Deutsche Bank, in a recent Financial Times interview. “It’s more to do with investors pricing in slower earnings growth.” explained Parag Thatte explained Parag Thatte There’s also a growing concern that generative AI has begun to transform from its hype phase towards the question of implementation. While Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have been excellent tools in showcasing the sheer power and potential of generative AI, they’ve also been largely error-prone in a manner that could cause more hesitancy among enterprises seeking to embrace the technology. largely error-prone largely error-prone It’s for this reason that Gil Luria, analyst at DA Davidson, warned that a 20% slide in Nvidia stock could take place by the end of 2024. Luria suggests that the implementation phase of Nvidia’s products, which are currently being bought en masse by the likes of Microsoft and Amazon, could run into trouble when key buyers reach capacity and demand begins to fall. 20% slide in Nvidia stock 20% slide in Nvidia stock However, other analysts suggest that the end of the generative AI hype phase will be met by a more strategic implementation phase which could keep the industry growing. “Concerns about GenAI failing to meet expectations in 2024 should be seen in the context of the natural cycle of hype and maturity of new technologies,” said Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at Freedom Finance Europe . “While some industry leaders have expressed frustration with the speed of progress in artificial intelligence and GenAI in their organisations, others remain optimistic about its potential.” Freedom Finance Europe Freedom Finance Europe “Companies heavily invested in GenAI are under pressure to prove profitability, and industry reports indicate a shift to more strategic AI initiatives in the coming years,” Manturov added. Is the Generative AI an Exceptional Case? Here, it’s worth reminding ourselves that we’re talking about the generative AI boom. This is an industry that Bloomberg Intelligence last year suggested would grow at a CAGR of 42% into a $1.3 trillion industry by 2032 . $1.3 trillion industry by 2032 $1.3 trillion industry by 2032 Fresh demand for generative AI products was predicted to add around $280 million in new software revenue. Could we be talking about an emerging technology that’s market impact is without precedent? Morgan Stanley analysts have underlined the indecisive outlook for Nvidia and the wider generative AI market in Q2 2024 by proposing a more bullish outlook for NVDA as well as the generative AI-focused Amazon (AMZN). more bullish outlook more bullish outlook As Nvidia reported Q4 2023 revenue increases of 265% to $22 billion, CEO Jensen Huang claimed that "accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point," before adding that "demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations." claimed that claimed that The company’s innovations in recent weeks have included the text-to-3D tool , LATTE3D, which Nvidia described as a ‘virtual 3D printer’, as well as a collaboration with Hipocratic AI to develop a network of generative AI nurses that could cost $9 an hour. text-to-3D tool text-to-3D tool collaboration with Hipocratic AI collaboration with Hipocratic AI Nvidia’s quick 5% rebound following its record sell-offs should serve as a wider vote of confidence in the innovation that the company is capable of. Regardless of whether its success has made it the GenAI canary, NVDA is certainly an innovative stock that’s capable of sustaining its impressive growth. Bubble or Boom? Ultimately, Nvidia’s performance over the past 12 months means that the stock has become a live litmus test for investor sentiment in generative AI. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends wholly on the capabilities of the industry itself. Nvidia’s rapid growth has seen the stock rub shoulders with the likes of Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet, and the company will be keen to follow the lead of other industry giants to continue sustaining its growth through innovation. As a semiconductor leader, the possibilities are nearly endless for Nvidia. As long as the capabilities of generative AI continue to astound clients and deliver on its promises, NVDA remains a stock that can continue to grow. If investors get a whiff of saturation or inefficiency, the Nvidia litmus test could face some further challenges ahead.

Nvidia’s Shaky Q2 Underlines the Stock as Generative AI’s Sentiment Litmus Test

এনভিডিয়ার শ্যাকি Q2 জেনারেটিভ এআই এর সেন্টিমেন্ট লিটমাস টেস্ট হিসাবে স্টককে আন্ডারলাইন করেছে

Nvidias wackeliges zweites Quartal unterstreicht die Aktie als Lackmustest für die Stimmung von Generative AI

El inestable segundo trimestre de Nvidia subraya la acción como prueba de fuego del sentimiento de la IA generativa

Le Shaky Q2 de Nvidia souligne le titre en tant que test décisif du sentiment de Generative AI

एनवीडिया की अस्थिर Q2 स्टॉक को जेनरेटिव एआई के सेंटीमेंट लिटमस टेस्ट के रूप में रेखांकित करती है

エヌビディアの第2四半期の不安定さは、ジェネレーティブAIの感情リトマス試験として株価を浮き彫りにする

Nvidia의 Shaky Q2는 Generative AI의 감정 리트머스 테스트로서 주식을 강조합니다.

Shaky Q2 da Nvidia destaca o estoque como teste decisivo de sentimento da IA generativa

Нестабильный второй квартал Nvidia подчеркивает, что акции являются лакмусовой бумажкой настроений генеративного ИИ

Nvidia'nın Titrek 2. Çeyreği Hisse Senedinin Üretken Yapay Zekanın Duyarlılık Turnusol Testi Olduğunu Vurguluyor

Q2 run rẩy của Nvidia nhấn mạnh cổ phiếu là bài kiểm tra tình cảm của AI sáng tạo

Nvidia 第二季度业绩表现不佳，凸显其股票是生成式 AI 情绪的试金石

Hey everyone! and just like you, I’ve been fascinated with the recent progress of artificial intelligence. Realizing that I needed to stay abreast with all the developments happening, I decided to embark on a personal journey of learning, thus was born! With this series, I will be learning about LLMs and share ideas, experiments, opinions, trends & learnings through my blog posts. You can follow along the journey on HackerNoon or my personal website . In today’s article, we’ll be looking at how to leverage midjounrey in the process if developing your own projects. , I’m Nataraj 100 days of AI here here Sam Altman recently said in an interview that in a post chat-gpt world, there is a real possibility that we will see a unicorn with a team of 1. Which means there will be a one person company which will be valued at a billion dollars. If you ask me the same question my bet right now is on the short term. Gen AI presents a long tail opportunity for teams of 2-3 full stack developers to create something that could generate millions of dollars in revenue. The common thread between what Sam said and what I think is – AI is a super power for full stack developers. And one company is a great example for this – Midjourney. What is Midjourney: Midjourney is an AI image generation company started by David Holz. Midjourney is accessible via discord server ( ) and the most common to use it is by typing /imagine and describing what type of image you want to create. For example I typed – . And here is the output I got. Yes it is pretty great. https://discord.gg/midjourney /imagine swimming in the clouds, beside a rainbow, cinematic Midjourney is not alone in going text to image generation. Google has , OpenAI has and there are other projects like . The crazy part about midjourney is that its team has only 11 people. The team is self funded and never raised venture money and here is the kicker. Midjounrey might eventually be more valuable than Discord itself where it is currently hosted. imagen DALL-E Craiyon How I Used Mid Journey for my side project I am currently working on a project called . Its a webapp and a community for early stage investors to share their recent deals with other investors. The scale of the website will never be beyond 1000s of users and its main purpose is to cultivate a trusted community of investors. If you are interested in joining sign up for the waitlist . As I was building the site, I realized I could use AI for generating text where ever I needed it but also generate images that I need to make the website look more polished. Previously for such use case I would spend a lot of time searching stock photo websites or making images my self in tools like Canva. Checks I Wrote here Creating Images using Midjourney: For my project I needed an image on the welcome home page of investors. Without a tool like Midjourney, I would have probably searched for a picture in stock image websites that I can use royalty free and would include a group of people, hopefully looking like investors. But now that I have access to Midjourney, this what I got. Of course like every prompt Midjourney gave me 4 options but this was the one I liked the most. Now it’s on my home page as shown below. Pretty neat right? I used similar prompts to generate four more images to add to the section that the user will see once they login. Here’s how it would look like to the user. All the four images shown in the above screenshots are generated using Midjourney. If I didn’t mention that fact, 90% of users will never know this. Also these images are also so much better than what you would find in stock image websites today. And its actually faster to generate these images than search for them in stock websites. Doing this experiment, it’s clear that stock image websites and their business model is clearly disrupted. And they will have to find ways to adapt. Auto generate blog headers in website platforms like WordPress. A WordPress plugin to do this might be a good business. AI PRODUCT IDEA ALERT 1: Use Midjourney to create high quality product pictures in ecommerce. A lot of apps have been already rolled out and Shopify already started rolling some of these features for store owners. But there are other places this can be applied. AI PRODUCT IDEA ALERT 2: That’s it for Day 16 of . 100 Days of AI I write a newsletter called Above Average where I talk about the second order insights behind everything that is happening in big tech. If you are in tech and don’t want to be average, . subscribe to it Follow me on , or for latest updates on 100 days of AI or . If you are in tech you might be interested in joining my community of tech professionals . Twitter LinkedIn HackerNoon bookmark this page here

100 Days of AI, Day 20: Using Midjourney for Stock Photos in Your Side Project

AI এর 100 দিন, দিন 20: আপনার পাশের প্রকল্পে স্টক ফটোগুলির জন্য মিডজার্নি ব্যবহার করা

100 Tage KI, Tag 20: Midjourney für Stockfotos in Ihrem Nebenprojekt verwenden

100 días de IA, día 20: uso de Midjourney para fotografías de archivo en su proyecto paralelo

100 jours d'IA, jour 20 : utiliser Midjourney pour les photos d'archives dans votre projet parallèle

AI के 100 दिन, दिन 20: अपने साइड प्रोजेक्ट में स्टॉक फोटो के लिए मिडजर्नी का उपयोग करना

100日間のAI、20日目: サイドプロジェクトのストックフォトにMidjourneyを使用する

100일간의 AI, 20일차: 사이드 프로젝트의 스톡 사진에 Midjourney 사용

100 dias de IA, dia 20: usando o meio da jornada para banco de imagens em seu projeto paralelo

100 дней искусственного интеллекта, день 20: использование Midjourney для стоковых фотографий в вашем стороннем проекте

100 Günlük Yapay Zeka, 20. Gün: Yan Projenizde Stok Fotoğrafları için Midjourney'i Kullanma

100 Ngày của AI, Ngày 20: Sử dụng Midjourney cho Kho ảnh trong Dự án phụ của bạn

100 天人工智能，第 20 天：使用 Midjourney 处理业余项目中的库存照片

The old saying ‘sell in May and go away’ may be supported by historical market performance, but that doesn’t mean investors can’t make summer profits from carefully selected stocks. Wall Street Certain stocks are better disposed to outperformance over the summer months. Travel and tourism, live events, and food and drink stocks are all prone to strong market rallies as temperatures warm and days become longer. Another major beneficiary from those summer months is DIY stocks. So, rather than selling in May, should investors ride the summer out by backing home improvement firms to shine? There could be some logic to diversifying the right blend of DIY firms for your summer portfolio. In days of yore, selling in May traditionally took place as the city essentially closed for the summer, and wouldn’t fully reopen again until St Ledger Day–which is a horse race that occurs in mid-September. Interestingly, there appears to be some merit to this philosophy event today. According to , there’s an average 1.11% difference across 16 global exchanges in favor of the monthly returns gained between November and April, as opposed to between May and October. eToro research However, taking the recent performance of Home Depot (NYSE:HD) as an example, the stock delivered growth in four of the past five periods between the beginning of May and St Ledger Day–with a rally of 26.4% recorded in 2020. This indicates that some home improvement stocks can perform well during those summer market slowdown periods, and for investors, they can represent a seasonal investment option that can keep portfolios profitable all year round. But which DIY stocks could offer the best potential moving into summer 2024? Let’s explore 3 of the strongest options on Wall Street today: 1. Home Depot Inc Equipped with a market capitalization in excess of $350 billion, Home Depot (NYSE:HD) is a DIY stock with a massive market presence. Home Depot is also a stock that commands some serious revenue. Having reported $34.79 billion in revenues for 2023, the home improvement giant actually experienced a 2.9% year-on-year dip which fell in line with analyst estimates. However, Q4 2023 revenue fell above estimates, indicating a strong end to a “year of moderation,” as . described by CEO Ted Decker “Home Depot is one of the world's largest home improvement retailers,” explained Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at . “During the summer, homeowners often undertake a variety of do-it-yourself projects such as landscaping, renovations and home improvement projects, which can boost Home Depot's sales.” Freedom Finance Europe There are also signs that Home Depot is expanding its home improvement repertoire. In March, the firm announced a major , a key building projects supplier that serves professional roofers, landscapers, and pool contractors among its core customers. $18.3 billion acquisition of SRS Distribution With 760 warehouses and over 4,000 trucks to deliver its goods, the acquisition of SRS Distribution is set to help Home Depot build into the world of housing professionals to supplement its core DIY demographic and can be interpreted as a statement of intent for future growth. 2. Lowe’s Companies Inc Despite a mixed fourth-quarter earnings report at the end of last year, Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) has surged more than 10% on Wall Street in the first quarter of 2024. There’s every indication that this year is shaping up to be a big one for the home improvement specialists. While Lowe’s beat expectations for EPS and revenue, the firm also reported a drop of over 6% in comparable sales and cut guidance for 2024 significantly. This highlights the company’s outperformance and uncertainty over what’s to come with market conditions becoming increasingly unpredictable in the macroeconomic environment. However, this uncertainty is looking like a fresh opportunity for investors ahead of the summer, as suggest that both housing inventory and existing home sales are beginning to increase in 2024. With the expectation of lower interest rates arriving in time for the second half of the year, we’re likely to see the housing market gather speed with cheaper mortgage rates–paving the way for a renovation and DIY flurry. early indications Crucially, Lowe’s is a , and this means that a clearing housing market could see investors directly benefit from the dividends paid by the home improvement giant. dividend-paying stock 3. Sherwin-Williams Co Unlike the more general DIY stocks we’ve covered so far, Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) is a paint specialist that can experience an acceleration of sales when the warm summer months pave the way for more painting and repair projects among homeowners. The stock itself has been performing well in 2024, having grown almost 10% in the first quarter. Additionally, the stock rallied more than 30% in 2023, illustrating the level of growth that the company has consistently found. As for the period between May and St Ledger Day last year, SHW delivered growth of more than 10%. Sherwin-Williams appears to have a history of outperformance, and the firm’s Q4 2024 revenues of $5.25 million represent that beat Zacks Consensus Estimates. year-over-year growth of 0.4% As a result of its impressive revenue growth, some analysts are revising their estimates upwards for SHW for the year ahead, while Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased by $0.05 to $11.49 per share for 2024. This signifies the relevance that the stock could carry over the summer months. Cautious Optimism Amid Uncertainty While DIY stocks have proven to be strong performers despite the ‘sell in May’ mantra that some traders continue to hold dear, their relative strength in 2024 is likely to be determined by wider macroeconomic circumstances. With the Federal Reserve’s switch to a dovish monetary policy, clearing economic conditions are likely to generate more housing market activity and a greater flurry of DIY activity over the coming summer. However, nothing is certain when it comes to the economy, and the Wall Street performance of many stocks this year is likely to hinge on gathering tailwinds. With this in mind, investors can find strength in adopting a cautiously optimistic approach to building their summer portfolios and maximizing their earnings potential.

Wall Street’s Home Improvement Rally: 3 Stocks to Track as Summer’s DIY Season Kicks Into Gear

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