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A crypto-trading hamster from Germany with his own Youtube channel is outpacing gains from the S&P 500
SPX,
The hamster, named Mr. Goxx, likely after a now defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox, has been trading cryptocurrency since June, and has seen gains of 16.62% as of Monday. The S&P 500 has gained about 4% over that same period.
Since June, Goxx has outpaced bitcoin
BTCUSD,
and dogecoin
DOGEUSD,
and has seen nearly identical gains as ethereum
ETHUSD,
You may be wondering, how does a hamster trade crypto?
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Goxx’s owners set up his hamster wheel to rotate through several cryptocurrencies while spinning, and stopping on one when Goxx exits the wheel — this is called the “intention wheel.”
After the crypto is selected, Goxx can run through either the “buy” or “sell” decision tunnels in his cage. According to the Twitch account that streams Goxx’s trades, his choices are sent over to a real trading platform.
Here is a what Goxx’s office looks like:
Goxx’s Twitter
TWTR,
account announces many if not all of his crypto trades, and ends each tweet with a disclaimer advising people not to take the trades as financial advice.
Goxx only trades cryptocurrency, and not individual equities or ETFs.
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It’s not uncommon to see domesticated animals making stock picks.
A cat named Orlando famously outperformed a group of financial industry professionals in stock-picking in 2012, and Lusha, a chimpanzee from Russia, out-earned 94% of Russian bankers over a 3-year investment period in 2010.
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Author Burton Malkiel notes in his classic book, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, that “A blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper’s financial pages could select a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by experts.”
Such success by animals randomly selecting stocks, and in Goxx’s case cryptocurrency, illustrates just how volatile and difficult financial investing can be.
It’s important to do research before making financial decisions. Learn more about making smart money choices with MarketWatch’s “How to Invest” series.
