Gold rips, Bitcoin dips 👀

Welcome back to the the Day Trading newsletter 📈 

The Fed held steady, Big Tech earnings split the market, and Fidelity just dropped a bomb on the stablecoin world. Meanwhile, Tether is hoarding gold like a Bond villain and $8.5B in Bitcoin options expire Friday.

Let's get into it 👇

🏦 The Fed held rates at 3.5%-3.75% and Powell urged his eventual successor to "stay out of elected politics" — a not-so-subtle jab as Trump narrows his search for a replacement. No cuts until inflation cools further. If you're positioned for rate cuts, don't hold your breath. (Reuters)

🤖 Meta announced $115-135B in AI/capex spending for 2026 — well above the $110B analysts expected. Zuckerberg is making the biggest infrastructure bet in Big Tech. If you believe the AI buildout is still early innings, META just gave you a reason to stay long. (Investopedia)

🍏 Apple reports today after the bell. Analysts expect $2.68 EPS on $138.4B revenue. The focus: iPhone demand in China and AI feature updates. A beat-and-raise could push AAPL toward $270-$288; a miss breaks support at $206-$210. The week's biggest single-stock event. (Yahoo Finance)

🥇 Tether is buying up to $1B of gold per month and now holds a 140-ton stockpile worth ~$24B stored in a former nuclear bunker. CEO Ardoino is targeting 10-15% of their portfolio in physical gold. When the biggest stablecoin issuer hedges into hard assets, that's a signal worth watching. (CoinDesk)

📊 $8.53B in Bitcoin options expire tomorrow — the largest expiry of 2026. Put/call ratios show a bearish bias, with traders hedging downside ahead of macro catalysts. Expect volatility around 08:00 UTC Friday. If you're trading short-term, position accordingly. (Coindoo)

Fidelity Investments just announced FIDD (Fidelity Digital Dollar), an Ethereum-based stablecoin. This isn't some crypto startup making noise. This is a $5 trillion asset manager planting its flag in digital dollars.

The timing is interesting. Stablecoin legislation is stuck in Congress, Tether is diversifying into gold, and Circle's USDC has been losing market share.

Fidelity sees an opening: a regulated, institutional-grade stablecoin backed by one of the most trusted names in finance.

When your grandma's 401(k) provider launches a stablecoin, it signals that digital dollars are no longer a fringe experiment — they're infrastructure.

Watch for two things:

(1) how fast FIDD gains traction on DeFi protocols

(2) whether this pressures Circle and Tether to differentiate. The stablecoin wars just added a heavyweight contender.

If you're long crypto, this is validation. If you're skeptical, keep an eye on how regulators respond!

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⚠️ Disclaimer: Not financial advice. Do your research before making any trades.