Posted by In late August 2025 I bought 60 shares of IBIT at a price of $62.46 per share. IBIT is the Ishares Bitcoin ETF. About two weeks later, I sold all my shares at $66.86 per share. This gave me a profit of $263.53. My plan was to only hold for a short time and sell for a small gain, which worked out as planned. A few weeks later, Bitcoin dropped when Trump announced plans for 100% tariffs on goods from China. As of today, IBIT is at $59.80. There were several large suspicious shorts placed just before Trump’s announcement that caused many leveraged Bitcoin investors to lose a lot of money. I think the suspicious nature of how this played out has caused many investors to realize just how volatile Bitcoin is. It proves how easy it is for digital currency to be manipulated by just a few large investors.
It is tempting to buy IBIT again, but I won’t be making any investments until the government shutdown ends. Today is day 16 of the shutdown with no end in sight. My prediction is that it will break the previous 35-day record. Trump is all about breaking records and he seems to be more preoccupied with ending wars in other countries. An extended shutdown also gives him more opportunity to blame Democrats for everything that doesn’t match with his agenda. A large piece of that agenda appears to be getting back at anyone who he perceives as an enemy. At this point I don’t know how the country can survive another 3 years under Trump.
The United States could become a drastically different place. At least how our government functions. The rate of change will make it impossible to restore things to the way they used to be. There are too many things that have changed already with many of the consequences still unknown. Peaceful demonstrations are being labeled as “Hate America” protests. It won’t be long before all such group events are outlawed. I used to think that the digital revolution and AI could improve how our government functions. But now I fear that digital technology could be used to create lists of anyone who doesn’t agree with the agenda of the current administration. That will make it easier to round up and silence anyone who speaks out.