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Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Silvergate Capital, Riot Blockchain and Coinbase

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – February 6, 2023 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Silvergate Capital , Riot Blockchain (RIOT - Free Report) and Coinbase (COIN - Free Report) .

A Stock with Troubling Insider Selling Trends

What is insider selling, and what are some causes of it?

Insider selling refers to the selling of shares of a company by upper management including directors, officers, and other insiders. Investors track activity in stocks in their portfolio and on their watchlist because:

·      Inside information (such as a poor EPS report on the horizon or lousy news) can drive key employees to sell shares and avoid losses in the stock.

·      Sizeable sales can give savvy investors an idea of how confident management is in the company’s future.

·      An insider selling large amounts of a stock already down a lot can be telling.

Insider selling does not always point to impending doom in the underlying stock. Sometimes large inside shareholders may sell stock to free up cash for personal reasons or diversify investments. Either way, it is important for investors to monitor insider transactions. As an investor, it is better to allocate capital to a company where insiders have skin in the game and confidence in their stock.

A Stock Showing Troubling Insider Selling

Silvergate Capital is a crypto-focused bank.

Alan Lane, President and CEO of Silvergate, sold all his shares ($856,305) worth in July and has yet to purchase any back. The company has also experienced more than $8 billion in client withdrawals after revelations came to light that Silvergate was involved in business dealings with the now defunct crypto exchange FTX and its sister company Alameda Research and is now facing a DOJ fraud investigation.

Another concerning issue is the weakness in shares and their inability to recover after the recent relief rally in crypto. For instance, Riot Blockchain is up 74.70% in the past month. Crypto exchange Coinbase is up more than 50% at the same time. Meanwhile, shares of Silvergate are down 25% over the past month.

Another concern is the rising implied volatility (IV) in the options market. A high IV suggests shares are likely to move in one direction or another drastically. While SI has many concerns, it is risky to short the stock due to its propensity to short squeeze and the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the DOJ investigation.

Using Zacks to Track Insider Trading

Investors interested in exploring insider transactions can visit Zacks.com to find more information. Simply pull up the stock you wish to explore using the quote search and on the left-hand side of the Zacks quote page click “Insiders” under the “More Research” tab.

Because insider transactions require SEC disclosures, Zacks is able to provide important information such as the employee’s position (CEO, VP, etc.), the number of shares bought/sold and transaction value, the price and date of transaction, and the total number of shares owned.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.


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Riot Platforms, Inc. (RIOT) - free report >>

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