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Hi There! You never know who you will bounce up with in this life. One of the things I truly love is meeting people from all walks of life and hearing their stories. That’s where some of my richest life lessons come from. I would listen and soak up the wisdom that can’t be found in any book.
Recently, I had the honour of meeting a woman who left me in absolute awe. Ms. Carla Trosper, a former world champion powerlifter with state and national titles under her belt, and now the proud co-owner of PowerBody USA Fitness with her husband. The moment we started talking, I could feel it. She is the older version of me when it comes to nurturing and coaching others, while still serving up that firm, “no-nonsense” tough love in the gym.
Her story lit me up. She told me that when she first started, she knew nothing about powerlifting. “Never thought anything about it,” she said with a laugh, until she started breaking records during regular training. Her husband, already into bodybuilding, encouraged her to get started. Once she did, her goal was to see just how far she could go. And that she did. State champion, national champion, and finally, world champion. At 148 pounds, she achieved a jaw-dropping total of 1102 pounds.
Her résumé is nothing short of inspiring. Highlights from her long list of 1st and 2nd place accomplishments include:
World Powerlifting Champion – 1st place in the WDFPF World Championships (1995, 70kg class)
2nd place in the USAPL Women’s National Championships (1997, 70kg class)
Her philosophy is simple: “No fear. No limits. No mercy.”
Meeting Ms. Carla reminded me of the importance of uplifting others, both in and out of the gym, while pushing them to discover the strength they didn’t even know they had.
Alright, let’s dig in!
After ending the prior week on a down note, U.S. stocks roared back with their first full-week gains of August. Dip buyers stepped in early, dovish remarks from Federal Reserve officials eased rate concerns, and targeted tariff relief reignited market enthusiasm. The Nasdaq hit a fresh record, led by tech and Apple’s surge after its $100 billion U.S. manufacturing pledge.
Abroad, European and Asian markets also ended higher, buoyed by hopes for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire and favourable trade developments. The U.S. dollar slipped, and commodities edged up thanks to a late-week gold rally offsetting weakness in crude oil.
U.S. Markets Recap (August 3 - August 9, 2025)
Equities:
Broad rally: Large-cap and small-cap indexes gained as Monday, August 4, delivered the S&P 500’s biggest daily advance since May.
Fed tone shift: Multiple Fed speakers struck a dovish tone, bolstering expectations for rate cuts later this year.
Tariff carveouts: The White House announced exemptions from 100% semiconductor tariffs for companies investing in U.S. manufacturing (Bullish for AMD and NVDA). Apple (AAPL) rallied on news its U.S. expansion will qualify it for relief.
AI momentum: Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares jumped after reporting a 50% YoY revenue increase and raising its 2025 forecast.
Fixed Income:
Treasury yields rose, with the 2-year up ~7 bps and the 10-year up ~6 bps.
Weak demand in this week’s Treasury auctions ,especially from foreign buyers, pushed yields above expectations.
Similar soft demand appeared in Japan’s bond auctions, signaling global caution at current yield levels.
Commodities:
Bloomberg Commodities Index +0.3% on the week.
Crude oil fell as ceasefire hopes reduced supply fears and OPEC+ boosted output.
Natural gas also slipped.
Gold spiked late-week after U.S. clarified reciprocal tariffs apply to gold bars, widening U.S.-London price spreads.
Silver followed gold higher.
Currencies:
Last week, the U.S. dollar posted a 1% drop as traders and investors bet on rate cuts.
EUR/USD: +0.047%
GBP/USD: +1.29%
USD/JPY: +0.24%
U.S. Economic Recap (August 3 - August 9, 2025)
S&P Global Composite PMI:
July rose to 55.1 (from 52.9 in June), the fastest pace of 2025.
Services sector hit a seven-month high at 55.7, boosted by new orders and product launches.
Manufacturing PMI slipped below 50, signaling contraction.
Consumer Expectations (NY Fed):
1-year inflation expectations rose to 3.1%; 5-year to 2.9% (highest since Feb).
Financial outlook improved, but more households reported credit difficulty.
Trade Deficit:
June gap narrowed to $60.2B, the smallest since Sept 2023.
Imports -3.7%, exports down less.
Trade gap with China at lowest since records began in 2009.
Global Markets Recap (August 3 - August 9, 2025)
Europe:
Equities posted one of the best weeks since May.
Ceasefire speculation lifted sentiment; corporate earnings largely shrugged off tariffs.
Germany planning a €100B investment fund for defense, energy, and raw materials.
U.K. lagged after Bank of England cut rates to 4% in a rare two-round vote split.
Asia:
Japan led gains on tariff relief for autos and tech, plus optimism over U.S. trade deals.
Taiwan and South Korea followed on semiconductor carveout news.
India lagged on new 25% tariff tied to its Russian oil purchases.
Crypto Recap (August 3 - August 9, 2025)
Weekly performance: Broad gains across Bitcoin and altcoins.
Bitcoin +3% WoW; altcoins up as much as 15%.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $253M in inflows.
Key driver: Growth in “digital-asset treasury” firms (DATs) raising capital to hold crypto. $79B announced for Bitcoin in 2025; $25B for altcoins.
Risk: DATs holding volatile altcoins could face forced liquidations if valuations fall below net asset value.
Bitcoin less vulnerable due to deeper liquidity and institutional holding patterns.
Policy moves:
White House preparing executive order to penalize banks for closing accounts over customer beliefs, a move that could stabilize crypto banking access.
President Trump signed an order opening $12.5 trillion in 401(k) savings to private equity, real estate, crypto, and other alternative assets — the most sweeping retirement investment access shift in decades.
Last Week’s Top Altcoin Gainers: AERO, MNT, LDO, PENDLE, ENA, LINK.
Here are other key highlights from last week:
Sui introduces passkey for seamless user onboarding.
‘Chokepoint 3.0’ has arrived: a16z warned of anti-crypto bank tactics.
Arthur Hayes buys ETH back at higher prices, pinky swears to never sell.
Animoca Brands acquired majority stake in Cool Cats Group.
This week’s focus is inflation!
Here’s what happened so far:
CPI inflation (Tuesday) — the “report card” on inflation came in lower than expected: Actual: 2.7%; Expected: 2.8%.
Key U.S. Economic Releases remaining this week:
PPI Inflation (Thu)
Jobless Claims (Thu)
Retail Sales (Fri)
NY Fed Manufacturing Index (Fri)
Consumer Sentiment & Inflation Expectations (Fri)
Fed Watch
Tue: Barkin (10:00 AM)
Wed: Goolsbee (1:00 PM), Bostic (1:30 PM)
Thu: Barkin (2:00 PM)
Earnings:
OKLO, CRCL, CSCO, AMAT are among key reports this week. All notable earnings releases are outlined in red in the chart below.
Medium-to-High Impact Global Economic Events This Week:
Tip:
Focus on Dividend-Growing Stocks: Consider dividend aristocrats, companies that have increased dividends for 25+ years. They provide growing income streams that can help offset inflation and provide cash flow in retirement without selling shares.
Week 8/03/25 - 8/09/25 Recap
Special Tools and Strategies - Mindshare in Crypto
Mindshare has been all over Crypto Twitter lately.
Beyond the buzz, what does it actually mean and why should you care as an investor?
In a market where hundreds of tokens launch every month, it’s no longer enough for a project to have a flashy website or a polished whitepaper. The real question is: does the project occupy mental real estate in the minds of the crypto community?
That is where mindshare comes in.
Every crypto cycle has its defining theme: ICOs in 2017, DeFi in 2020, NFTs in 2021. Now, mindshare has emerged as one of the most important ideas for anyone trying to pick projects with staying power.
In crypto, mindshare is the amount of attention, awareness, and positive perception a project holds in the minds of its target audience, typically users, investors, influencers, and the broader community. Being known is one thing, but the key factor is being remembered, discussed, and trusted.
A crypto project with high mindshare enjoys:
Organic word-of-mouth growth
Loyal community engagement
Easier adoption of new features
Stronger resilience during market pullbacks
Think of mindshare as the “first name that comes to mind” test. If someone says “smart contracts,” most people immediately think of Ethereum. That’s mindshare.
Beginners often mix up these two concepts:
Mindshare: The mental space your brand occupies. It’s about recognition and reputation.
Market Share: The percentage of total market sales or volume you hold.
Mindshare can be a leading indicator of market share. A project can have strong mindshare without dominating sales, and sometimes it’s the early sign that market share growth is coming.
While social media is a big part of mindshare tracking, it’s only the surface. Here are deeper metrics:
On-chain activity
Daily active addresses
Total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols
Number of transactions
Token holder retention
Developer activity
GitHub commits and contributors
Integration into other projects
Frequency of updates
Media presence
Mentions in reputable crypto news outlets
Podcast and YouTube discussions
Sentiment in articles and reports
Search and survey data
Google Trends search volume
Brand recall surveys among crypto users
Platforms like Kaito AI and Messari’s Asset Mindshare compile these signals to help track how much space a project occupies in the crypto conversation.
In a space where attention is split across thousands of tokens, high mindshare can mean:
Greater visibility and adoption - projects are easier to discover and trust
Increased credibility - strong communities signal legitimacy
Faster growth cycles - more feedback, more users, more traction
Better talent and funding - developers and investors gravitate to known, respected projects
Bitcoin (BTC) - Synonymous with “digital gold” and the first cryptocurrency.
Ethereum (ETH) - Dominates the smart contract conversation.
Solana (SOL) - Known for speed and low fees in DeFi and NFTs.
Binance (BNB) - Mindshare leader in centralized exchanges.
Ripple (XRP) - Associated with cross-border payment solutions.
These projects didn’t just rely on marketing. They offered innovation, built strong communities, and consistently delivered.
Educational content - tutorials, explainers, and research papers that add value
Public relations - press coverage, interviews, and podcasts
Community events - meetups, AMAs, hackathons, and conference appearances
Partnerships - collaborations with other projects and mainstream brands
On-chain incentives - reward programs, staking opportunities, and governance participation
Be cautious when:
The project makes wild promises without substance
The team is anonymous or credentials are unverifiable
Social buzz comes from a sudden wave of paid influencer posts
There’s no working product, only “coming soon” roadmaps
Tokenomics heavily favour insiders with no vesting schedules
Trading volume is low and ownership is concentrated
These are classic signs of hype-driven mindshare, often used in pump-and-dump scams.
Track conversations - Follow discussions on X, Reddit, and Discord. See which projects keep coming up.
Verify authenticity - Look for genuine technical and use case discussions, not just price hype.
Cross-check fundamentals - Even if mindshare is high, ensure the project has a clear use case, solid team, healthy tokenomics, and real adoption.
Monitor over time - Sustained mindshare is more important than short-term spikes.
Combine with other analysis - Mindshare is one tool, not a full strategy. Use it with technical analysis, fundamental research, and proper risk management.
Mindshare can help you identify early opportunities before they hit mainstream adoption. It is not a magic formula. Rather, it must be paired with disciplined research. The projects that win attention today could be tomorrow’s leaders, and knowing how to spot them can give you a real edge.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is strictly educational. The information this report provides does not constitute investment, financial, trading, or any other advice. You should not treat any of the report’s content as such. Please be careful and do your research.