I first noticed $CRCL on Futu’s “US Stock Movers” watchlist. Since its IPO, I’d been getting constant push notifications about $CRCL. The stock had rocketed up Futu’s “US Stock Movers” list. $CRCL‘s chart screamed overheated at first glance – classic IPO sentiment premium: up 300% in two weeks, retail piling in, social media buzzing, FOMO thick enough to feel like a 2021 flashback. My investing style has always been clear: never chase highs, only buy dips – find value in pullbacks and safety margins in contrarian bets. At the time, CRCL wasn’t anywhere near my radar. $CRCL had been public barely ten days and was up 385%. It didn’t look like the kind of stock that would dip into opportunity. It looked like it had already overshot – foam at the top, not worth touching.

Testing the Waters: The 6/17 Pullback

The turning point came on June 17th. $CRCL showed signs of a pullback in pre-market, so I took a small position before the open.

During the session, there was indeed a fairly deep pullback, briefly breaking below the prior support line. On top of that, Cathie Wood’s ARK fund quietly trimmed 342,658 shares at the highs, cashing out $51.7 million. This sent shockwaves through the market. She was an early Circle investor who’d always preached “long-termism,” yet here she was, locking in profits on the secondary market at lightning speed.

When I learned that ARK originally held a total of 4.5 million shares of $CRCL, a quick calculation showed the 342,658 shares trimmed were only about 7.6% of the total position. The selling pressure was small in magnitude, but the signal was hard to read – would she keep trimming?

The post-open pump followed by a sharp drop looked more like a shakeout. As the big players shook the tree, I added cautiously, since $GGLL (2x Bull Google ETF - Direxion) and $TSLL (2x Bull Tesla ETF - Direxion) already accounted for 50% of my portfolio.

Storm Brewing: The 6/18 Reversal

After the previous day’s pullback, $CRCL showed pre-market strength on June 18th, so I planned to take profits at the right moment.

Meanwhile, Tesla and Google were flat in pre-market. Since the “Musk-Altman” feud, Tesla had nosedived and I’d caught the $TSLL (2x Bull Tesla ETF - Direxion) dip. Later, as their relationship “mended” and Robotaxi news dropped, Tesla got a short-term pop but quickly resumed choppy trading. Google was the same story – stuck below $180, unable to hold above it.

At the same time, Middle East tensions were heating up. The Israel-Iran conflict escalated, oil prices swung, and Treasuries showed some unusual moves.

By midday, I could smell the storm coming. I started trimming. Before Google and Tesla officially dumped, I’d already fully exited $GGLL and $TSLL.

As $CRCL kept climbing, I took profits at the 10% gain mark – no point getting greedy. I figured 15-20% was the ceiling. By 15%, I’d sold two-thirds of my position and planned to hold a small core position overnight. I’d barely lain down when Futu’s price alert woke me up.

Unbelievable. $CRCL was past $200 after hours. I was stunned. This wasn’t supposed to happen – wasn’t this supposed to be a quick pop and fade? I’d pegged 15-20% as the cap, and it had just blown through the ceiling.

I hesitated for a few seconds, then sold my remaining third. Right after closing, I put on a short – planning to catch the next-day pullback for another ride.

But fate wasn’t done joking. In the middle of the night, another price alert jolted me awake.

What the hell. $CRCL was pushing $220 after hours – up over 30%.

Rationality Breaks: The Next $NVDA

In that moment, all logic, fundamentals, bull cases and bear cases evaporated from my mind. There was only one voice echoing in my head:

This is the next $NVDA

Yes, I admit it was an emotional decision.

I stopped watching, stopped waiting for the thesis to close, didn’t even have time to research what the company’s structure actually was.

I closed the short, reversed course, and went all in. No scaling in, no hesitation – just one shot.

Honestly, when I placed the all-in order, I knew almost nothing about this company. I knew it was connected to USDC, that it issued a dollar stablecoin, and that it was called Circle. But what exactly did it do? Revenue model? Regulatory structure? No clue.

But none of that mattered.

I missed Tesla in 2020. I missed Nvidia in 2023. I wasn’t going to miss Circle in 2025.

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Next: Why I Went All In Without Doing the Research

In the next post, I’ll walk through from the beginning:

  • My decision-making logic
  • What I learned about $CRCL after going all in