Hey guys, Nick here.

So sorry about the lack of content over recent days. Let’s just say that there’s been a lot of movement behind the scenes with this newsletter—good movements, to clarify.

We’ve been thinking a bit more about how we want to structure this newsletter and have been asking ourselves what is the best way to provide value for our readers. We came to the conclusion internally that we want to focus more on interviews with traders, executives, and others in the space that many may not normally have access to.

Quickly, if you want access to more of our interviews, please subscribe to our newsletter. It’s only $14.99 a month, or $139.99 a year. $139.99 is coincidentally how much it cost me to make one Uniswap transaction last month. I think there’s more alpha in getting this newsletter than swapping on Sushiswap when the gas price is 500 Gwei, but that’s just me.

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Anyway, to my previous point, we recently got a chance to speak with “CL207,” or just “CL,” the mysterious cat in a hazmat suit.

CL @CL207

monthly budget: 200$ - food 50$ - electricity 600$ - rent 20$ - other 125,000$ - unisocks why am i starving on the streets wtf

All of us at Alpha Alarm have been following his work for a while since he has topped the leaderboards of Binance and FTX. I’ve also taken a personal fascination to the phenomenon of his interest in Unisocks, the Uniswap-themed socks and Ethereum-based collectible token, and his involvement in the fabled e-Girl Capital. It was cool to receive the opportunity to chat with him more about his involvement in the more esoteric sides of the crypto and DeFi communities.

Anyway, here’s the interview. Hope you enjoy it!

Before we get into how you got into crypto, let’s break down your name. Is there any meaning to “CL207”?

Actually is supposed to be CL20 without the 7 but the username must be longer than 4 characters. CL20 is a chemical explosive, I used to be into chemical explosives, it was both an academic pursuit (studying chemistry and synthesizing powerful explosives) and recreational, the thrill of just detonating them in the forest or a desert.

How did you get into crypto? You’ve mentioned many times on Twitter that you’ve never had a bank account, so maybe that’s it?

Got into crypto to make money, cus I was poor. But very soon realized it's very obvious the future of finance, and I never had my bank account because I never really had another one other than the one I have as a family account my mom made. I don’t spend much money, I am on my PC most of the time.

What attracted you to trading? Is your background in finance?

It is kinda like a live high-level thinking strategy board game / video game, it is a live competition that involves emotion, discipline, reasoning and analytical skills, instincts, and so on, and I love it.

I have no background in finance whatsoever—what's a bond? Idk. but I do know stonks only go up.

One thing I always remember is you tweeting that Compound was likely to see a big news event weeks before the Compound Chain announcement. What tipped you off to that announcement? Does reading the tape indicate fundamental events sometimes?

It made an outlier move on a calm day, just seemed very off, and it was very 1 sided buying, and whomever it was, was buying it very aggressively, as if he really needed the tokens, I almost felt his desperation in need to obtaining COMP exposure as he was buying, so I thought the buyer had to know something.

I remember you used to be largely focused on bitcoin and ethereum? What made you take the jump to analyze altcoins?

I still spend the majority of time on BTC and ETH, but DeFi is legit and I am not going to want to miss out on it since I actually been a DeFi believer from very early on, and have interacted with lending/borrowing protocols and traded on dexes since I first got into crypto.

What draws you to DeFi?

This tweet summarizes it well:

“Do all this, or a version of this, and tell me why this is not v1.0 of a new financial system” - Jim Bianco

Jim Bianco @biancoresearch

* Open a metamask wallet * Trade on a DEX (both Ethereum and BSC) * Yield farm via a LP * Buy a NFT Do all this, or a version of this, and tell me why this is not v1.0 of a new financial system. Don't know what I said? Spend the time to learn. It's eye-opening.

It is exactly what I felt when I first used DeFi.

Without leaking too much alpha, what’s your favorite source of alpha?

Just data, like trading data, order flow, futures basis, so on.

Favorite DeFi follows on Twitter?

I like everyone.

Can you explain to me the Unisock phenomenon from your perspective?

IMO it is solidified itself as -the- piece of history of DeFi, Mainly because of these reasons:

First on-chain clothing brand and item
First DeFi collectible
It is both digital and physical
Veblen properties
Enough people have been talking about it on social media that its status is irreversible

What’s the realistic end-game for you and your Unisocks? What’s the dream end game for you and your Unisocks?

Nothing, I think it will continue to do well in the long term as long as crypto does well.

Can you give a bit more context to e-Girl Capital. How’d that start? Are you guys an “actual” fund?

Started as a joke, the first position we joke, which is Unisocks, was also kind of a joke, although I personally had always believed in the thesis, it was mostly written off publicly as a joke. But now we’re taking it more seriously because every investment we have done so far has gone exceptionally well.

To that extent, what sets e-Girl Capital apart from other traditional funds in the DeFi space?

There is no hierarchy or structure, we are all friends, and it's our own money. Most of us are anon, Eva Beylin is our non-anon voice.

What is the best asymmetric opportunity in crypto today?

Hard to say, any inefficiency seems to get closed quickly because the market is running hot and everyone is rich, but compared to something like stocks, crypto is very young and it's just opportunities everywhere, one should just do what they are consistently profitable at.

Favorite book or study related to markets?

I prefer straight up analyzing data and trading rather than reading a book, but there is nothing wrong with reading books.

I would love to read more about regulating emotions and discipline, although I regard that as one of my strengths already, I almost never tilt during trading.

And one last question (a fun one). Are you really retired? If so, how’s that been?

I am semi-retired, I used to trade 24/7, now I spend way more time gaming, reading, than before. I like to read about health, nutrition, brain, longevity, so on. Also, I like CT, it is just awesome.

I still trade, but I'll take the bigger and more obvious ones only, I can't be bothered to be scalping 24/7 like before. I think I lost some of the thrill in the market that I used to have.

Alpha Alarm

[Interview] Chatting with crypto cat trader…