Ideas
GSE release off table; avoid GSE equities.
Trump ordering the GSEs to buy back their own debt effectively takes GSE release off the table because they cannot conduct public policy with private shareholder funds. The buyback is net neutral because GSEs must hedge by selling Treasuries, and the $200 billion announcement is politics ahead of midterms.
Crypto is gambling, unsuitable for most investors.
Crypto is a speculative vehicle and a polite form of gambling, unsuitable for most people because of extreme volatility; Bitcoin lost about 30% and Wall Street went quiet, half of stablecoin schemes have failed, and it is only useful as money in places with no functioning government.
Own silver, but expect a correction.
Silver is idiosyncratic because it has industrial demand plus a monetary component, making it more volatile than gold. After a vicious short squeeze and a tripling in 12 months, he expects a correction, but he still holds silver in his portfolio and sees no reason not to own both gold and silver.
Gold is long-term monetary play.
Whalen prefers gold as a long-term monetary play, with central banks buying gold for monetary purposes and no commercial demand making it less volatile than silver. He holds gold in his portfolio.
Buying illiquid precious metals miners slowly.
Whalen has been slowly buying precious metals miners. They are very small, illiquid penny stocks that are difficult to buy, so he is careful and only buying slowly.
Copper interesting short-term on supply shortage.
Copper and other metals are seeing a lack of deliverable supply, making them interesting short-term trades; copper is up dramatically this year. However, Chinese demand is the primary driver and can be distorted by CCP edicts, so it is not a clean global growth signal.
Large banks face private-credit losses.
Whalen sees a problem in bank lending to private equity firms. Large banks, including JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, PNC, and Citigroup, have fast-growing exposure to private equity and private credit; he predicts banks will take major losses in 2026 as PIK accounting masks defaults and busted companies cannot be monetized.
Bank stocks pricey, little upside now.
Bank stocks ran hard last year and are pricey; the group may see consolidation and most names have little upside. While trading and investment banking are booming and credit is stable, he says it is not a great trade to go long banks right now.
Owns cheap Flagstar, trusts management recovery.
Whalen owns Flagstar, bought very cheaply, knows management, and believes they will slowly bail out the bank. It has exposure to New York City multifamily, but the valuation and early workout make it worth holding.
Private credit/equity are opaque ticking time bombs.
Private equity and private credit are rancid pools of illiquid, opaque assets that cannot be properly assessed. Nonbanks get liquidity from banks and deploy it poorly; PIK/POP accounting masks defaults; investors will be stuck trying to exit, making this a major ticking time bomb.
Public markets better than private; prefer S&P.
Public markets are better than private markets; endowments like Harvard got hurt in private equity and would have done better simply buying S&P 500 futures. He tells readers most of their portfolio should always be in public markets.
Own NLY for mid-teens yield.
Whalen owns NLY (Annaly) and continues adding. His basis is about 0.8x book value; he does not buy it for price appreciation but for its mid-teens yield, strong management team, and mortgage servicing model. REITs are income vehicles, not appreciation vehicles.
Rotate from tech to defensives, foreign markets.
Heading into 2026, Whalen expects equity allocation musical chairs away from technology, toward other sectors such as defensives, and definitely toward foreign markets.
Rotate from tech to defensives, foreign markets.
Heading into 2026, Whalen expects equity allocation musical chairs away from technology, toward other sectors such as defensives, and definitely toward foreign markets.
Weaker dollar expected as foreign focus rises.
He expects a weaker U.S. dollar as investors focus more on foreign markets and equity allocations shift.
This Julia LaRoche Show video, published January 17, 2026,
features Chris Whalen
discussing FNMA, FMCC, BTC, SILVER, GLD, GDX, COPPER, JPM, WFC, PNC, C, BANK, FBC, BIZD, PSP, SPY, NLY, XLK, XLP, Foreign markets, UUP.
15 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers:
Chris Whalen
· Tickers:
FNMA,
FMCC,
BTC,
SILVER,
GLD,
GDX,
COPPER,
JPM,
WFC,
PNC,
C,
BANK,
FBC,
BIZD,
PSP,
SPY,
NLY,
XLK,
XLP,
Foreign markets,
UUP
