Below is the 12th ASC Mastermind  Course. In this video, I dive answer a question that every new trader/investor wants to know: how do I find the next $100 Billion stock?

I get variations of this question every time I talk to young traders. "JC, how do I find the next NVIDIA?" Or "JC, how do you know which stocks are the best long-term plays?" Or my personal favorite, "JC, how can you buy this when it has such a high P/E ratio?"

Here's the deal. My answer to those latter two questions is this:  I'm most interested in stocks that are going up. And if a stock keeps going up, I will keep wanting to own it. Bar none. 

My answer to the first question is a little more nuanced. But there is an answer. And that's what this Mastermind is all about. We had this very question ourselves a few years ago, so we set out to reverse-engineer it. We made it so mathematically the next $100 Billion company HAS to come from this list.

Enjoy.

When assessing risk appetite and the health of the market, several approaches come to mind. One of my favorites is comparing Consumer Discretionary stocks with their Consumer Staples counterparts.

Discretionary stocks represent products or services consumers spend their "extra" income on—like leisure activities, retail, and other non-essential goods.

In contrast, Staples are those companies whose products and services we continue purchasing regardless of economic conditions. These include essentials like toothpaste, laundry detergent, beer, soda, and cigarettes.

Historically, Staples outperform significantly when markets face pressure, which makes sense given their necessity-driven demand.

How...

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. New position in TLT.
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. Closed GLD and IBB for profits.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

In this scan, we look to identify the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega cap status (over $200B).

Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.

But the scan doesn't just end there.

We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.

Some of the best performers in recent decades – stocks like Priceline, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, and myriad others – would have been on this list at some point during their journey to becoming the market behemoths they are today.

When you look at the stocks in our table, you'll notice we're only focused on Technology and Growth industry groups such as Software, Semiconductors, Online...

GeneDx rallied over 2,500% in 2024 and was the best stock in the market.

What the hell are they doing right? 

They've built genome and exome tests and are the first to commercialize it.

It's a total game changer for pediatrics and humanity.

In most cases, children with a rare disease aren't diagnosed until 8 years old. 

GeneDx saves lives and money for the American taxpayer by diagnosing life-threatening medical conditions far sooner.

Out of the 3M+ babies born annually, less than 20K were tested. Why so few?

This technology is brand new, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has not updated its exome and genome testing guidelines in a decade.

As of today, they tell pediatricians to use these tests as a "last resort." 

The good news is AAP is due to revisit its guidelines in 2025, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they'll change the guidelines.

The market is front-running the opportunity, and so are we.

GeneDx is also sporting a beat streak of 4 quarters. 

This all started in early 2024 when the...

The no coiners are back.

Have you noticed how every chance they get, they'll try to convince you that this is a major top for Bitcoin and the ponzi scheme is officially over?

The no coiners are angry like that. Imagine what it must be like to not have owned Bitcoin this entire time? Ouch.

Here's the "historic top" they're trying to scare you about. 

You tell me, does this look like the end of a major bull market, or does this just look like a normal healthy consolidation within an ongoing secular bull market?

There are opportunities in this space whether you trade Crypto currencies or not.

You've got the ETFs that track the price of Bitcoin and other tokens. You have the Crypto Miners like MARA and RIOT and others, which have presented us with several year-making opportunities this cycle. 

And of course, you have the infamous Microstrategy $MSTR, where Michael Saylor continues to buy more and more Bitcoin with every rally or dip. He does not discriminate. He just keeps on buying.

Here's a zoomed out look at Microstrategy so you can see this was just the highest quarterly close in the history of the company, even...

Today’s most notable transaction comes from John W. Childs, director of Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company $BHVN.

Childs bought 29,000 shares, equivalent to $1,042,393 in its latest Form 4 filing.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 31, 2024:

Happy New Year, everyone!

In 2024, the global advertising market grew to nearly $700B, which is expected to reach $1T in 2025.

Fortunes are being made in advertising.

Google, Meta, and Amazon are dominating the industry. However, they're not growing at the same rate as before.

AppLovin is growing the fastest, and 99.9% of Americans have never heard of the company.

$APP rewarded shareholders with an astounding 700% last year.

What's more, we think it's just getting started.

Since AppLovin bottomed in Q4 2022, it has been rewarded for reporting 8 out of 9 times. 

Wall Street loves it when $APP has earnings events.

In addition, we love the chart.

The stock resolved higher a few months ago after carving out a massive basing pattern from 2021-2024. 

It has been screaming higher since then.

We're long $APP above the VWAP anchored to the historic Q4 2024 earnings gap. 

If it can hold above 313, we're looking at 465 and 747 as our initial objectives over the coming 3-6 months.

Tesla wins again. 

Elon has done his job better than any other CEO in the world.

The role of a CEO is to increase shareholder value. Period.

How about a 3000% return in a couple of years, followed by a few years digesting those gains. And then another 180% return from the lows this Spring, adding an additional $800 Billion in market-cap...

Here is a chart showing the highest monthly close in company history. Highest Quarterly close in company history. And the highest annual close in the history of Tesla.

This is what winning looks like:

As of December 31, 2024

Around 50% of Americans are obese. 

It's a huge problem! 

Many have turned to the new "wonder drugs" (GLP-1 receptor agonists) from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Unfortunately, these drugs aren't the cure for everyone.

If you're overweight, fatty liver disease is waiting around the corner for you. 

Nearly 65% of U.S. adults are projected to have a fatty liver disease, known by the acronym MASH, by 2030.

Over the last few decades, dozens of biotechnology companies have tried (and failed) to develop a cure for the disease.

Investors have lost fortunes in the process.

Enter Madrigal Pharmaceuticals.

In March 2024, the company was granted FDA approval for its oral medication, Rezdiffra. This is the first MASH medication ever approved.

The chairman and director of the company, Julian Baker, is one of the most respected names in the entire biotech industry. 

We wrote a deep dive on why we (and many others) follow his fund, Baker Brothers Investments. You need to check it out if you haven't already.

The Baker...

As 2024 comes to a close, I want to take a moment and share some of the most important lessons I learned this year.

Here are ten of them, in no particular order.

1. Skin in the Game: Don’t be afraid to trade—there are no excuses not to start. Today’s world offers countless platforms and opportunities with low barriers to entry. While this field demands a willingness to take risks, you don’t need to invest everything at once. If fear of loss is holding you back, begin with a small portion of your capital. Taking that first step is essential, as true learning only happens through action and experience.

2. Embrace Relative Strength: By identifying and buying the strongest performers in the market, you position yourself to capture alpha and ride the momentum of the true leaders.

3. Keep It Simple: Simplicity breeds clarity and confidence. Overcomplicating strategies often leads to hesitation, doubt and overfitting. Keep your...

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled XME to February options.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

We're in the heart of whipsaw hunting season.

Now is the time.

Every year we see an extended trend, going into late December, that extends just a bit too much, and then completely unwinds once the new year begins and the big portfolio managers are back at their desks.

Look at what happened to US Treasury Bonds at the end of 2013. Look at what happened to Gold and precious metals at the end of 2015. And look at Large-cap Growth stocks at the end of 2022. 

These are just a few examples, just to give you an idea of the power of the end-of-year whipsaw.

So because of experiences like these throughout my investing career, I've made it a point to look for the leading candidates for this end-of-year period that I call "Whipsaw Hunting Season".

We're hunting for this year's epic whipsaw, like the bond ripper in 2014, the Rally in Precious metals in early 2016 and the historic returns of Large-cap Growth stocks in early 2023.

We don't know for sure until after the fact, but this year's leading candidate, to me, has to be the US Dollar.

We have an extended trend. The dumbest money in the world is betting on a stronger...

Today’s most notable transaction comes from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which purchased an additional $15.5 million in VeriSign $VRSN shares, increasing its ownership stake to 13.80%.

This transaction reflects confidence in VeriSign’s ability to maintain its leadership in internet security and stability while benefiting from long-term digital growth trends.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 30, 2024:

Point72 Asset Management filed a 13G for StoneCo Ltd $STNE revealing an initial 13G for 5.10% stake.

Jay Monroe, executive chairman of the board of directors of Globalstar Inc $GSAT revealed a purchase of 1,500,000 shares.

Silver relative to gold is the best intermarket ratio for precious metal investors to track.

The line goes up when the animal spirits are alive in the industry.

Earlier this year, the ratio broke a multi-year downtrend line. 

It looked poised to retest the neckline of a massive head and shoulders bottoming formation.

Instead, it's been a choppy mess in recent months, disappointing the gold bugs (including ourselves).

You need to see this zoomed-out chart of silver relative to gold:

With the year coming to an end, I want to share what I believe is the most important chart to consider in 2025.

When it comes to the most critical stocks, it's all about tech. This has been the case for at least 15 years.

Mega-cap tech not only dominates U.S. indexes, but these stocks also play a major role in most investors' portfolios.

The same is true for semiconductors, which serve as both a benchmark for the technology sector and a barometer for the broader market. They are also the posterchild of the ongoing AI revolution.

By evaluating relative trends, we gain insight into leadership and can also assess the market's overall health.

Take a look at the long-term view of Technology $XLK and Semiconductors $SOX relative to the S&P 500 $SPX.

Both ratios...