Alternative Investing Report - October 17, 2025

*as of 10/16; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, 30YM

The fall art auction season continued with two major sales in London, starting with Christie’s 20th/21st Century evening sale on Wednesday night, which registered $142.9 million in proceeds, just below the pre-sale high estimate of $151 million. Of the 61 lots, 55 sold, a stronger sell-through rate than last year’s sale, with 19 of the lots exceeding their high estimates. Last night was Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction which brought in $63.3 million, just below the pre-sale high estimate of $66 million, with 24 of the 27 lots finding buyers.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Both results were a good signal for the art market, with Christie’s bringing its highest total for an October London sale since 2018 and Sotheby’s seeing a 27% increase over last year’s results. This, along with strong results from the Frieze London art fair, have set higher expectations for the upcoming New York sales, the centerpiece of the season.

Vincent's Slava Rubin and Sacra's Jan-Erik Asplund discuss the current state and future prospects of SpaceX, exploring its growth trajectory, revenue streams, and the impact of its Starlink internet service. The discussion also covers the technological advancements with Starship, the competitive landscape in the space industry, and the investment opportunities and risks associated with SpaceX.

🤖 Anthropic revenue: The AI startup is on track to hit a $9 billion annual revenue run rate by the end of 2025, an exponential leap over its 2024 year-end number of $1 billion, and is aiming to hit between $20 billion - $26 billion by the end of 2026. If it successfully doubles or triples its revenue, its valuation is likely to follow that same path.

🚀 Navan IPO: The travel management company is going ahead with its planned public offering despite the government shutdown preventing the SEC from reviewing its filing documents. The company is pricing its shares at $24 to $26, which would generate $960 million at a valuation of $6.45 billion on the high end.

🏢 Self-storage growth: Rents in the sector rose 0.9% year-over-year in September, the first significant rent growth in almost three years, led by publicly traded self storage REITs, which saw rent gains of 2.6% year-over-year.

📊 Retail sales: While the official report will be delayed due to the shutdown, the Chicago Fed estimated that U.S. retail sales, excluding auto and parts, rose 0.5% in September after rising 0.7% in August.

🪙 $15 billion Bitcoin seizure: In the largest forfeiture action in the history of the Department of Justice, the government seized $15 billion worth of Bitcoin from wallets belonging to the head of a massive international fraud ring based in Cambodia.

🚘 Rare Ford auction: On Saturday, for the first time ever, Ford is opening its private vault to auction off a rare 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition Production No. 3, which could sell for more than $1 million.

Monday: 🪙 Crypto crash, 🏀 Jordan/LeBron sale
Tuesday: 💵 Fund performance, 🎨 Indian art records
Wednesday: 🤖 AI Bubble, 📊 Small business optimism index
Thursday: 💵 First Brands bankruptcy, 🤖 Anysphere raise

Have a great weekend!