Alternative Investing Report - October 6, 2025

*as of 10/5, Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

Investing in private markets has grown exponentially more popular in the past few years, but is it a successful strategy? Pitchbook looked at the data, testing how a 20% allocation to private markets would fare compared to a fully public portfolio over the past 25 years. The asset classes they examined were private equity, private credit, venture capital, and real estate, though they used public market proxies for the asset classes, not actual private market investments. The study found that private equity boosted returns and reduced portfolio risk, private credit boosted returns, real estate reduced risk, and venture capital failed on both accounts.

➨ TAKEAWAY: What this study shows, even using proxies, is that private market assets should be in every investor’s portfolio in some way, but context is paramount. The amount allocated to each asset class is highly dependent on an individual’s circumstances, particularly their risk appetite and need for liquidity. And, the investments within the asset class are crucial - VC might hurt overall performance and increase risk as a whole, but the best managers and the best pre-IPO investments can deliver incredible returns. In short, private market investing must be done carefully and with thought and foresight and brings no guarantee of success.

🪙 Bitcoin all-time high: The original cryptocurrency surpassed $125,000 for the first time in its history before falling back below $124,000 late last night. It was still up more than 10% in the past week as the crypto market had a strong week.

💰 Gold all-time high: The old-school store of value also hit a new all-time high, surpassing $3,900 per ounce, buoyed by the U.S. government shutdown.

🏡 Housing inventory keeps rising: Active listings are up 17% year-over-year as inventory grew for the 23rd straight month, but new listings are down 1.2% year-over-year, as the expanded inventory is coming from older listings not selling quickly.

🚀 Startups and the shutdown: The main concerns for startups during the government shutdown are a slowdown of immigration processing for tech workers, the pausing of federal contracts and regulatory approvals, and deal flow grinding to a halt as the SEC and other agencies remain shuttered.

🤖 Sora video app: OpenAI’s new video creation app Sora shot to the top of the app charts last week but has opened the company up to all sorts of potential copyright claims as users generate videos of trademarked characters and real-life people.

🏀 Basketball cards in demand: Sealed boxes of the newest set of Topps Basketball cards are selling for double their list price on secondary markets after presale orders sold out in a few minutes.

This week: As long as the government remains shut down, there will not be any official economic reports released.

Monday: OpenAI will hold a developer day with a keynote address from CEO Sam Altman.

Tuesday: Consumer credit report released.

Thursday: Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will give a speech at a Federal Reserve conference.

Friday: The Distillers One of One auction, an sale of ultra-rare whiskeys presented by Sotheby’s, will take place in Edinburgh.

_{^*Not all pre-IPO companies will go public or be acquired, and not all IPOs or acquisitions are or will become successful investments. Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against market loss. Securities offered through EquityZen Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.}