It seems everyone and their dog are trading cryptocurrencies these days – and as it happens, so is one particularly successful hamster.

In June, a rodent named Mr Goxx was given €326 (roughly $525) to invest in the cryptocurrency market using a specially designed ‘office’ – effectively, a high-tech hamster cage.

Mr Goxx is able to select from a number of different cryptocurrencies by running in a wheel rigged up with motion detectors, and can then choose to buy or sell the selected tokens by crawling through one of two tunnels.

All of these decisions are put through to a real trading account using actual money. 

To date, the entrepreneurial animal has placed more than 170 orders while simply playing in his enclosure, garnering himself a large following on Twitter and on video streaming site Twitch, where his ‘trading sessions’ are broadcast live. 

By the end of last week, Mr Goxx was up €77 ($123) or 23% – not bad for a hamster, but less than the 50% returns he achieved earlier in the month, before a sell-off in the market hit and wiped some of the hamster’s profits off.

During those highs, Mr Goxx’s returns were actually outperforming both the S&P 500 and Warren Buffett.

Nevertheless, it’s worth remembering Mr Goxx’s portfolio was down 15% just two months ago and his performance so far has closely followed the performance of Bitcoin – through the highs and the lows.

Source: Business Insider

Cryptocurrencies gaining popularity in Australia

Mr Goxx is not the only one dipping his toes into cryptocurrencies this year – more than four million Australians are expected to buy digital tokens in the next 12 months, according to a survey by cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.

More than a third of those are expected to be Millennials looking for investment alternatives to take the place of housing.

It’s not just younger Australians buying these assets, however – a separate report by fellow cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets found the 60-65 year-old age group was one of the fastest-growing cohorts on the platform, up 15% last financial year.

These older Australians were typically trading three times a day, though the average portfolio size remained below $5000 – which BTC Markets said suggests space for growth among this demographic.

Neither Kraken nor BTC Markets’ reports provided much insight into the hamster cohort.

Sources:

• Australian Financial Review, Four million Aussies set to buy into crypto
• BTC Markets, BTC Markets Investor Study Report (FY20-21)
• Business Insider, A hamster has been trading cryptocurrencies in a cage rigged to automatically buy and sell tokens since June — and it’s currently outperforming the S&P 500
• Mr Goxx, Twitter Feed
• Mr Goxx, Twitter Feed
• NPR, A Crypto-Trading Hamster Performs Better Than Warren Buffett And The S&P 500
• The New Daily, What a crypto-trading hamster can teach us about the sharemarket
• XE, 326 EUR to AUD – Convert Euros to Australian Dollars