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Sometimes saying nothing is smart

S2N spotlight

There’s a line attributed to Marcus Aurelius that has always stayed with me:

“Watch closely. Stand ready to respond, but do not rush to speak.” 

It captures perfectly how I’m approaching the markets right now.

Yes, I’ve been vocal for months about the growing fragility beneath this stock market and crypto rally. And yes, the cracks we’re seeing now look a lot like the patterns I’ve been warning about. But this is precisely the moment not to gloat, not to claim victory, and not to pretend we know how the next chapter unfolds.

The Stoics remind us that wisdom isn’t loud—it’s observant. When reality begins to shift, the disciplined response is not celebration or panic, but quiet reflection. The goal is to see clearly, not to be proven right.

This is why I have been taking a step back. Not disappearing—just speaking less, watching more, and letting the noise settle so the real signals can emerge. Whether this proves to be a meaningful turning point or just another tremor is something the market, not our egos, will decide.

Right now, the right move is simple: breathe, observe, and stay humble in front of unfolding reality.

S2N observations

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Fascinating how the data centre narrative boosted the markets, and now that the hype has settled, serious questions are being asked about how the economics work.

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I have a story about resilience and luck that is close to home. Actually not that close.

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Two Aussie brothers with a background in banking left their jobs at Macquarie Bank to become one of the world’s biggest Bitcoin miners. They quickly captured immense wealth during the Bitcoin bull market at a time when mining was all the rage. It soon became apparent that making money as a miner was just too costly, and their business nearly folded. I cannot remember all the gory details, but these guys were on death’s door. I remember them coming up with all the typical investment banking financial engineering, reminding me of myself in a past life. Then I forgot about them.

About a month ago I was in shock to see a $15 billion deal with Microsoft. They had repurposed themselves for the latest data centre boom, as they had all the compute power to do the heavy lifting from their Bitcoin GPUs. Once again they were on a rocket, another one, but this boosted the share price of Iris Energy into the stratosphere. In line with the broader market, their stock price is coming in for a landing. Who knows where this one lands?

Well done fellas.

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That will be it for today.

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Author

Michael Berman, PhD

Michael Berman, PhD

Signal2Noise (S2N) News

Michael has decades of experience as a professional trader, hedge fund manager and incubator of emerging traders.

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