Alternative Investing Report - November 17, 2025

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*as of 11/16, Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

The biggest week of the year for the art world is upon us, with sales from the major auction houses taking place in New York starting today. Total sales are expected to exceed $1.4 billion, which would be a 50% increase from last year. There are a number of high-profile lots that could sell for more than $50 million, a number that no artwork has hit so far this year. The most prominent lot is Klimt’s “Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer” which will go up for sale on Tuesday at Sotheby’s with a $150 million estimate. Other lots to watch include works by Monet, Van Gogh, Rothko, Basquiat and Frida Kahlo, the latter of which could set a record for any female artist.

➨ TAKEAWAY: The art market has been on the upswing this fall, with better-than-expected results in London and Paris, but this week will be a major test for the health of the market. There has been strong demand across all price levels, and interest rate cuts and bullish stock and crypto markets have boosted investor confidence. However, the timing of these sales could spell trouble, as risk-on assets have fallen significantly in the past couple of weeks.

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🤖 Cursor megaround: The AI coding startup raised $2.3 billion at a $29.3 billion post-money valuation, nearly tripling its previous valuation from June.

🪙 Grayscale IPO: The leading crypto-focused asset manager in the U.S. filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange, the latest crypto-focused IPO of the year. The company saw revenue decline by 20% in the first three quarters of the year, though its operating margin increased and it remains profitable.

💵 Hedge funds go private: A number of prominent hedge funds are expanding their focus past public equities to include private market asset classes such as private credit and real estate.

🏡 Inventory of homes keeps rising: New listings are up 10.5% year over year, and total active housing inventory is up 12.8% in the same timeframe, while the median list price is down 1.0%, as demand continues to lag behind supply.

🤖 Thinking Machines valuation: Despite being less than a year old, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati is seeking new capital at a valuation of more than $50 billion, four times its valuation from July.

🚀 Week’s biggest rounds: In addition to the major AI fundraises, two defense tech companies - Chaos Industries and Forterra - also cracked the top five biggest rounds of the week, as did the delivery service GoPuff.

Monday: Christie’s 20th Century evening sale, and the collection of Robert and Patricia Weis auction.

Tuesday: Homebuilder confidence index released; Sotheby’s Leonard Lauder collection evening sale and Now and Contemporary evening sale.

Wednesday: Housing starts and building permits reports are due to be released; Christie’s 21st Century evening sale.

Thursday: U.S. employment report for September is due to be released; existing home sales numbers released; Heritage Auctions’ Comic Book Signature Auction, featuring the highest-graded copy of Superman #1, which could set a new record for any comic book sale; Sotheby’s Modern Evening auction, Exquisite Corpus auction, and Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection evening sale.