BTC: $66,600  |  ETH: $2,000  |  SOL: $82  |  SPY: $634  |  Fear and Greed: 12 (Extreme Fear)

Everything's red and everyone's scared. Bitcoin's clinging to $66K. Ethereum's sitting right at $2,000, a level a lot of people are watching closely. SPY had one of its worst weeks of the quarter. The Fear and Greed Index is at 12 out of 100, and has now been in Extreme Fear territory for 46 consecutive days. That's the longest streak since FTX collapsed in 2022.

None of this is really about crypto. Middle East tensions, energy costs moving higher, institutions dumping risk assets at Q1 end. Same story, different week.

Meanwhile this week, someone made a lot of money on oil and stock futures about 15 minutes before Trump announced he was pausing threatened strikes on Iran. $580 million in oil contracts traded in roughly 60 seconds with no news to explain it. Then the announcement came, oil dropped, stocks jumped, and whoever was sitting in those positions did very well. No charges have been filed and no direct evidence of wrongdoing has been established. But this is the third time suspicious trades have front-run a major Trump policy announcement in the past year.

For the rest of us without advance knowledge of geopolitical events, there's JEPI.

Two things worth watching next week. The big quarterly options expiry already settled Thursday, $13.5 billion in contracts. The 3 to 7 days after a quarterly expiry are historically where the largest moves of the surrounding month develop, so watch for volatility in either direction. There's also a separate $1.2 billion in BTC options expiring April 1st with max pain at $67,500. Could be a noisy few days.

📖 New to DeFi? 👉 Read the Ultimate Beginners Guide

Every week I track every dollar I earn outside my W2. My FIRE number (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is $10,000 a month. That's the number where the job becomes optional.

This week a tenant repair bill landed for thousands of dollars. Money I'd set aside for investing. Gone in one phone call. I'll be honest. I sat with my property manager on the line for about 20 minutes wanting to sell everything and put it all in a savings account. I didn't. But I wanted to.

Here's what the stack looks like right now:

Total outside the W2: $1,664/month FIRE goal: $10,000/month Progress: 16.6%

The repair bill hurt. But $1,664 a month is still coming in regardless. Some weeks that number feels motivating. This week it just felt like a reminder of how far away $10,000 still is. Both things can be true at the same time.

The worst week financially was the week I made one of my better moves.

After the repair bill hit I had two options. Pull back and wait for a better week. Or stay the course.

I split $2,000 between JEPI and JEPQ while the market was sitting in Extreme Fear.

I've owned both for a while. JEPI's the steadier one, large cap stocks with covered calls on top, pays monthly income from the premium. JEPQ does the same thing but tilted toward tech so it moves a bit more. Both pay every single month and both were cheaper this week than last month. That was enough reason for me.

The math on why buying during a down week actually helps:

Same payouts. Lower prices. Better yield locked in on what I paid.

I didn't feel good about adding to either position this week. I did it anyway. We'll see if that was the right call.

What I'm watching next week: that post-expiry volatility window. If we get a meaningful bounce I'll look at adding to the DeFi positions. If it stays choppy I'll keep building the dividend stack slowly.

I've had this plan for a while now. This was the first week it actually cost me something significant. And the honest answer is it made me want to quit for about an hour.

Here's how it usually plays out:

I kept telling myself the repair bill's temporary and the portfolio's permanent. I'm not sure I fully believed it on Wednesday. I believe it more now.

I don't think that feeling ever fully goes away honestly. You just get better at not letting it win.

One question before you go

This week tested whether I actually believe in what I'm building or whether I only believe in it when it's easy.

Have you ever had a week where something expensive hit and you had to decide whether to keep investing anyway? Hit reply. One line is enough. I read every one.

Forward this to one person who needs to read it today.

Keep stacking.

@YieldSage

Not financial advice. Do your own research. Only invest what you can afford to lose.