If you’ve been anywhere near a financial headline or social media lately, you’ve seen at least one of the following claims/theories/complaints/dire warnings:

• The dollar is toast;
• The Fed has lost control;
• The government is spending us into the abyss; and 
• The only logical move is to hide in gold, silver, and crypto.

Sound familiar? 

The truth is, this same story shows up every few years, but with a new cast of characters, louder slogans, and charts going back to 1971. 

The basic message never changes — everything’s falling apart, and hard assets are your only lifeline. 

And while that story has just enough truth to sound convincing, there’s a lot more to it than that. 

Now, don’t get me wrong — I’ve made money in gold. I’ve traded miners and I’ve held physical. 

I’ve even spec’d around crypto during big volatility swings. 

But what I’m seeing now isn’t conviction-buying, it’s fear-chasing. And as a trader, when I see that, I don’t rush in. 

I pause and look harder at what’s really going on.

This is why you should too. 

Debasement? Meh

Let’s talk about the so-called “debasement trade.” 

The idea is simple: If inflation gets out of control or the Fed monetizes too much debt, the dollar weakens and hard assets take off.

So you get a pile‑on into gold, silver, bitcoin — even things like uranium or copper, as if they’re all going to save you from fiat collapse.

But if this was truly about inflation or currency collapse, we’d be seeing it across the board. 

We’d be seeing long-dated Treasury yields spike. We’d see inflation expectations running hotter. We’d see the dollar cracking worse. 

Instead, this feels more like performance-chasing than macro conviction.

Consider the Source

The danger with this kind of story is that it makes you start seeing ghosts in the tape. 

You start reaching for trades that sound right, instead of checking the pricing, the setup, and the risk. And worse, you forget that these trades can and do get unwound — fast.

Ask anyone who was long gold in late 2020. Or who bought bitcoin at $65K the first time. Or who loaded up on silver when Reddit said the squeeze was coming.

The problem isn’t the story. The problem is buying the story after the move.

Right now, I’m watching implied volatility in these names. 

If I see options pricing go stale while the narrative keeps getting louder, I get interested, but not in the direction everyone else is chasing. 

I start looking at trades that fade the noise, like puts on overbought miners. Or spreads that take advantage of skew, or diagonals when short-term premiums get stretched.

I’m not saying hard assets can’t go higher. 

But if you’re going to trade this theme, you better know what you’re holding, why you’re holding it, and what happens when conditions change again.

Because they always do.

You can follow the crowd and hope you’re not the last one in, or you can trade against the froth when the pricing lines up.

I’ve learned over the past quarter century-plus that the best trades aren’t the ones everyone’s talking about. 

They’re the ones hiding behind the noise.

And right now, the “dollar is dying” crowd is making a lot of noise.

So before you throw on a YOLO gold call or another long crypto spread, ask yourself one thing:

Is this a trade based on what’s being said — or what’s actually being priced?

The market doesn’t pay you for loud stories. 

It pays you for getting in where the risk/reward still makes sense.

Stay street smart,
Jeff Zananiri

P.S. Tim Sykes is revealing the setup that made him a millionaire — and it’s happening today and Wednesday only. 

This strategy targets stocks that can run 300%, 500%, even 1,000%*.

You’ll hear from real students who turned small accounts into seven figures.

Seats are disappearing fast.

Lock in your spot now — or miss it forever.

*Past performance does not indicate future results. Results not typical.