Opportunity Arises From the 2nd Major Bitcoin Crash- Margin Call and US$2 Trillion Tumble in Crypto Market.

Somebody told me that Bitcoin ("BTC") is the new digital "Gold". Well, it turns out to be extremely volatile and a bad store of value. From its high of US$125K just a few months back in October 2025, it had plummeted to US$61K at one point in time on 6th February 2026. The most shocking thing is I just bought S$1K worth of BTC at US$78K a few days ago on 3rd February 2026. Suddenly, it just dived further, I made another small nimble of S$500 when BTC hits US$72K and another S$500 at US$63K on 5th February and 6th February respectively. I think I have another S$500 entered at various prices from US$80K to US$90K during my account opening earlier this year with a crypto exchange approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS").  So in total, I have put up around S$2,500 in capital to speculate in BTC. 

Will Bitcoin Hit Zero?

Personally, I though that the fair value of BTC is zero. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely to ever hit zero. The simple reason is that BTC has come to be embraced by the mainstream financial institution and many governments. In January 2024, the US SEC approved Bitcoin ETFs as financial products. JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs has also included BTC as part of their wealth management products. Hence institutional adoption in some way protects BTC from falling to zero. But no one knows exactly how much it will plunge further given the extreme pessimism in market sentiment. 

Additionally, many are waiting for MicroStrategy- which uses leverage to purchase BTC- to collapse. The domino effect if triggered will lead to some very ugly repercussion on global economies. 

Personal Thoughts

Since the flash crash in October 2025, crypto has once again suffered another rout in 2026. I thought that there is now an opening for those like myself who wants to diversify one's traditional investment portfolios into crypto assets.

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust Mixed Q3 Results For 2025/2026.

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust ("MPACT") reported a higher Q3 distribution relatively to prior year. Nonetheless, its Revenue and net property income actually decrease. The issue with MPACT is still the same, that is, its crown jewel Singapore asset- Vivocity- continues to shine brightly while its overseas investment properties are still facing headwinds. Its occupancy rate as a consolidated group is only 88.1%.  So if Singapore Vivocity is currently 100% occupied, one can easily see that its overseas assets performance has been nothing short of a disaster- Japan and China properties are at occupancy rate of only 73.1% and 83.6% respectively as seen per below screenshot:

Occupancy Rates Breakdown

1. Other Key Overseas Property-Festival Walk (Hong Kong)

While Festival Walk continued to show resilience in its occupancy rate at a high 98% for past 2 years, its rental reversion continued to reflect a negative trend of <-10%> for Q3.  

Negative Reversion Again for Q3

Additionally, MPACT also will be completing its divestment of the office component of Festival Walk by February 2026. I think that this is the right step for MPACT which is struggling in its financial performance due to its overseas investment properties.

2. Key Financial Highlights

Key Highlights

Q3 Financials

As per earlier discussed, MPACT Q3 results are a tad disappointing in terms of operations. The good news here is that its Finance Expenses has lowered significantly by +10.2%. This is a +S$6Mil savings in terms of finance expenses for a quarter. Saying that, MPACT is not yet out of the woods. Its overseas properties are dragging down its overall financial performance. It maybe time to just divest its China and Japan properties. As for Hong Kong retail, I think that Festival Walk should see a gradual slow down in its negative rental reversion given that its economy is finally seeing the lights at the end of the tunnel. 

Parting Thoughts

Overall, I thought that it is a decent quarter for MPACT especially with higher distributions to unit-holders despite the not so good overseas performance. Given its Net Asset Value of S$1.75 per unit vs the market price of S$1.46 per unit, there is a still a 16.5% discount to NAV. MPACT should continue to diversify its overseas assets in order to realise more intrinsic value for unit-holders.

Hong Kong Phoenix Rising From The Ash- Doubling Down on Link REIT.

I thought that Hong Kong seems to be doing extremely well again despite the slump that persist post COVID and the weakening local retail scene due to the exodus of HongKongers shoppers going to Shenzhen to wine, dine SPA and shopping etc. Good news is that Hong Kong has recorded strong growth in its wealth management business. In 2024, cross-border wealth booked in the city surged by $231 billion to $2.7 trillion, putting Hong Kong is thus on par with Switzerland, the long-time leader in cross-border wealth management, according to Boston Consulting Group Inc.’s latest Global Wealth Report. The surge was the largest in the world that year. From then on, its wealth management continued to flourish and grow from 2025 and even now. Hong Kong also remained a vital gateway to Chinese mainland due to its deep talent pool and long time experience in the wealth management sector. As such, I think that the current slump in its retail and commercial property markets should be bottoming soon with revival in its economy engine. 

1. Portfolio Restructuring and Doubling Down on Link REIT.

It has been scary indeed to see the plunge in rental rates in Hong Kong. My Hong Kong work colleagues were telling me all sort of horror stories over the past 2 years on empty shops and sharp drop in commercial rental. However, with the surge in HKEX IPOs over the past year as well as the news on its rapid growth in Wealth Management sector, I would think that green shoots have appeared and that Hong Kong's commercial property slump will desist and rise again. I have began taking profits from my investment portfolios (sold off all my remaining Ping'An Insurance shares and part of my Keppel Ltd stocks after 78% profits surge) and reallocating the funds into Link REIT as well as Amova STC Asia REIT ETF (this also contains HK Link REIT on top of SG REITs). 

2. Link REIT

Latest full-year financial interim  results showed NAV per unit at around HK$61.19 at 30 Sep 2025. Market price as at 23 January 2026 is HKD35.48 per unit. It is thus trading at a 42% to its NAV.  Interestingly, pre-COVID days, Link REIT was trading at around NAV per unit. As such, I believe that there is potential for another 20%-30% capital appreciation. Current distribution yield hovers around 7.4% (as per StockCafe) which also makes it extremely attractive. I am also looking forward to Link REIT IPO of its Singapore Shopping malls.  

Parting Thoughts

I have built up around S$80K of Link REIT HKEX position as at  23 January 2026 (Friday) in view of a potential 20%-30% capital appreciation within the next 2 years and a potential IPO of its Singapore shopping malls. Its high distribution yield of 7.4% is also very tempting. Anyway, the above are my personal thoughts.  

Trump Tariff Trade War Continues Over US Grand Ambition To Annex Greenland.

Wow, today's SGX blue chip stocks was a sea of mostly red. Market sentiment may have been affected by the recent threats from US to its European allies. The situation has escalated with the European Union ("EU") preparing a retaliatory EUR93 billion package of tariffs against the United States of America should it go ahead to increase the import tariffs on EU nations- Trump has earlier threaten that he will impose the additional Tariff on EU nations until they support the annexation of Greenland. What a mess it has been! Again, the threat of global inflation from sky high import tariffs maybe back and if interest rates starts spiralling upwards again, it will inevitably decimate the SREIT recovery.  

Prime Minister Set in Motion Internal Conflict Within Workers' Party By Asking For A New Nomination For new "Leader of The Opposition".

Just sharing my personal thoughts on the latest development from the Singapore Parliament. It has become more and more interesting as the fiasco continues. Our Prime Minister has moved on to remove Pritam Singh as the "Leader of the Opposition" in Singapore Parliament after the dreaded motion. Then, he went on to ask the Workers' Party ("WP") to nominate "another suitable" candidate. I don't think the Workers' Party will accept this post or nomination. Accepting this will mean challenging the WP veterans of Pritam Singh and Sylvia Lim and lead to lots of internal conflicts. Nonetheless, this is a brilliant move by the PAP folks....well....there is always a chance that WP might erupt into an internal fight over who should lead the party and then self-disintegrate.   

The Margin Investing Series Part 2: Beware of the Margin Ratio and the Dreaded Margin Call.

 

Hi folks, this is the Margin Investing Series Part 2- Continuation from my previous Part 1 Video.

DigiCore DC REIT Not As Stable As It Seemed-Beware 3rd Crisis Since IPO.

Let me be clear on this, the announcement of Linton Hall going to be finally leased out end of 2026 on January 5th, 2026 announcement does not absolve the inherent challenges faced by unit-holders holding on to DigiCore DC REIT ("DCREIT"). I thought that DCREIT management has been rather misleading in their previous December 2025 results presentation. The occupancy rate as per above shows a 98% occupancy giving most stakeholders am extremely false impression of the true status of occupancy. There is a very tiny footnote at the bottom of this powerpoint that states that the actual occupancy rate of DCREIT is only 81% instead of 98%. They have excluded Linton Hall during the last presentation, that is undergoing refurbishment post the exit of a major tenant around mid-2025 that contributed around 10%-11% of rental income. I thought that DCREIT management ought to be more transparent in its dealing with unit-holders given that it had already underwent a few crisis post IPO such as the Sungard and Cyxtera bankruptcy/restructuring cases that led to a significant plunge in distribution to unit-holders.

Linton Hall Will Only Be Backfilled from December 1, 2026- (1.5 years vacant)

Back in 2023, I had taken up a position in DCREIT when its price plunged to below US$0.50 as I had taken a more optimistic view of its business. I had then bought and exited half of it with about +22% realised capital gain but keeping the other half was a mistake as its traded price remained in doldrum for the next few years and now, there a 3rd incident of another operational issue with a major tenant exiting in mid-2025 and DCREIT's team is only able to backfill the space from December 1, 2026  (as per the latest SGX announcement). Wow, this is almost a 1.5 years of vacancy! 

From DCREIT track record over the past 3 years, this REIT has proven that it is not stable at all. It has problem building up sufficient size for adequate diversification of key tenant exit risk as well as credit risk. 

Parting Thoughts

Over time, DCREIT’s market price has fallen significantly below its IPO level of US$0.88 per unit to the recent US$0.545 as at January 6, 2025 (Monday). This represents a whopping decline of around <-38%> relative to its IPO price. I have thus exited all my investment holdings in DCREIT back in December 2025 due to persistent under performance and bad management based on my personal view. Additionally, the AI craze maybe a bubble that will eventually pop and I am not sure whether DCREIT with its really bad track record can survive such crisis.