2024 Bitcoin ETFs and Korea's martial law night

Spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved and NVIDIA became the world's most valuable company. The year ended with the US election and a night of martial law in Korea.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs approved

In January 2024 the US SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. An asset dismissed for over a decade as having "no intrinsic value" became a mainstream product you could hold in a retirement account. ETF inflows lifted Bitcoin to a new high around $73,000 in March, and the rally after the US election took it past $100,000 for the first time in December. Eleven years earlier, when it first broke $1,000, many had called it a bubble.

AI and NVIDIA

AI led the stock market. As companies raced to spend on generative AI, NVIDIA, with a near monopoly on AI chips, became the world's most valuable company in June. Its stock rose about 2.7 times during the year. When SHOBO begins in January 2008, NVIDIA trades at $0.83 (split-adjusted).

Carry-trade crash, rate cut, martial law

On August 5 an unwind of yen carry trades hit global markets and the KOSPI fell more than 8% in a single day. In September the Fed made its first rate cut in four and a half years, a 0.5 percentage point "big cut". In November Trump won a second term. On the night of December 3, martial law was declared in Korea and lifted about six hours later, and the won and Korean stocks both fell. Gold set a record around $2,700 an ounce that year, and the won ended the year around 1,470 per dollar, a level last seen in the 2008 crisis.