Insights
Alternative Investments: events that moved it
Private equity, venture and multi-strategy funds. This page gathers the pieces in our Insights archive that touched alternative investments: what happened, what it meant for this kind of investment, and where to read the original reporting.
Market-history pieces are retrospectives, dated by the event. They are general information, not advice, and not a record of any RockLake position at the time.
Market history · 14
Private credit ·
Blue Owl caps withdrawals from two private credit funds
Investors asked for about $5.4 billion back in a quarter; the manager paid out a fixed share of each request.
Digital assets ·
The biggest liquidation day in crypto history
A tariff announcement set off forced selling of leveraged positions worth about $19 billion in a single day.
Commodities ·
Silver reaches $50 for the first time in 45 years
A rush into hard assets, tight London stocks and years of supply deficit pushed silver to levels last seen in 1980.
Alternatives ·
Harvard and Yale sell private equity stakes
Two of the best-known endowments sold stakes in their private equity funds, putting a spotlight on the secondary market.
Markets ·
Markets react to Donald Trump's election win
US stocks and the dollar rose and bitcoin surged as investors priced in tax cuts, tariffs and deregulation.
Digital assets ·
Spot bitcoin ETFs are approved in the US
After a decade of attempts, regulated exchange-traded products gave investors direct exposure.
Real estate ·
A $69 billion property fund reaches its withdrawal limit
Blackstone's flagship real estate fund for individual investors paid out only part of what investors asked for.
Digital assets ·
Terra and FTX: crypto's year of collapses
The failure of an algorithmic stablecoin, then a top exchange, wiped out hundreds of billions.
New issues ·
Coinbase lists directly on Nasdaq
A direct listing with no new shares sold, opening far above its $250 reference price.
Alternatives ·
Archegos: the hidden leverage that cost banks billions
A family office using swaps built huge positions in a handful of shares; when they fell, the banks that financed it lost heavily.
Real estate ·
A £2.5 billion UK property fund suspends dealing
M&G stopped investors from withdrawing, citing unusually high and sustained outflows.
Alternatives ·
The Woodford Equity Income Fund suspends dealing
A fund that held hard-to-sell holdings could not meet withdrawals, and the Financial Conduct Authority investigated.
Digital assets ·
Bitcoin approaches $20,000
A tenfold-plus rise in a year drew in mainstream attention, then was followed by an 80% fall.
Alternatives ·
A Leonardo sells for $450 million
The Salvator Mundi became the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.
Explainers · 9
Investor education
How to read a performance projection
What a modelled return figure is — and isn't — telling you.
Eligibility
What self-certifying as HNW or Sophisticated actually means
Why access to this platform is gated, and what that protects.
Alternatives
Private markets, public scrutiny
Due diligence standards are converging across asset classes.
Liquidity
Liquidity: the cost you only notice when you need cash
How lock-ups, notice periods and thin markets change what an investment is worth to you.
Alternatives
Why private assets look calmer than they are
Valuations that are updated rarely can hide the volatility underneath.
Real estate
Why property funds limit withdrawals
Buildings take months to sell. A fund that promises regular access has to plan for the days when many want out.
New issues
Owning a company before it lists
Shares in a private company can be valuable, and are harder to value and to sell.
Investor education
Event risk: what a market-history archive can and cannot teach
Events differ every time, but the ways portfolios are hurt are fewer and repeat.
Investor education
How to use our market-history archive
Browse by year, by series or by the asset class an event affected, and follow each source to the original.
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