Alternative Investing Report - October 22, 2025

*as of 10/21; Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

After hitting multiple all-time highs in the past week, gold prices fell by more than 6% yesterday, the biggest one-day percentage decrease since 2013 as well as the top one-day loss ever in dollar terms. The precious metal’s price remains above $4,000 per ounce, a mark it had never reached before two weeks ago, and is up around 57% on the year. Silver and platinum also fell by more than 6%, as both metals have largely traced gold’s performance this year.

➨ TAKEAWAY: Gold has benefited from its status as a store of value during a year with a great deal of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, and has spiked in recent weeks with the government shutdown and the threat of a U.S.-China trade war. Some of the pullback yesterday could be a reaction to potential resolutions to both of those situations, or it could simply just be profit taking at all-time highs.

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.

U.S. home prices dropped slightly in September, with Zillow pegging the decline at 0.3% monthly and prices flat year-over-year. Only two of the top 50 metro markets saw positive price growth in September - New York and Salt Lake City. Realtor.com’s report found the median list price is up by 0.4% year-over-year, but price per square foot actually is down by 0.5%. Meanwhile, Redfin’s repeat sales index showed a 0.2% gain in September and a 3% annual gain, the lowest since at least 2012.

➨ TAKEAWAY: While the data varies in its specifics, it all points to a fairly stagnant housing market, which benefits buyers and investors. Last year at this time, 6 of the top 50 metros were classified as buyer’s markets, and now it’s 15. The top seller’s market remains New York, which has remained insulated from the market’s overall trends.

🚀 Revolut megaround: The digital bank is completing a $3 billion funding round at a $75 billion valuation, a big leap from its previous $45 billion valuation, which makes it the most valuable startup in Europe.

🏢 Office vacancy declines: For the first time since 2019, the U.S. office vacancy rate dropped, though it is still sits at a hefty 22.5%. New supply has slowed and demand is rising, so expect the rate to keep declining.

🪙 Crypto mining ban: British Columbia is aiming to ban new crypto mining projects and limit the province’s data center energy usage, in what could set a precedent for other governments trying to curb electricity use.

🎾 Record racket sale: A match-used racket from Carlos Alcaraz’s 2023 Wimbledon win sold for $173,066, setting a new all-time record for any tennis racket sold at auction.

🤖 OpenEvidence fundraise: The so-called “ChatGPT for medicine” raised a $200 million round at a $6 billion valuation, only three months after previously being valued at $3.5 billion.

🚘 Barrett-Jackson fall auction: The auctioneer’s Scottsdale fall auction had a 100% sell-through rate and brought in north of $40 million, led by a $742,500 sale of a 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition No. 3.

After bursting onto the crypto scene with a 2,300% gain in its first week of existence last month, Aster is now down nearly 60% from its peak and was again had the biggest fall in the last week among the top-100 tokens by market cap. One reason for the drop was an airdrop of reward tokens sent this week with no lockup period, which put a lot of extra selling pressure on the token above and beyond the 10% drawdown the overall crypto market has been experiencing. One of the incentives for people to use the exchange are these token rewards, but as the token keeps dropping in value, it becomes less appealing, and it seems inevitable that sell pressure will continue to outweigh buy pressure.