Stijn Schmitz welcomes Francis Hunt back to the show. Francis Hunt is known as a Renegade Trader, Analyst, and Founder of The Market Sniper. Hunt observes that the South Korean KOSPI index has surged an extreme 291% in just over a year, driven almost entirely by two stocks—Samsung and SK Hynix—amid the AI boom. This narrow advance mirrors the concentrated gains in the NASDAQ but is even more pronounced. Despite the export revenues from these tech giants, the Korean won is weakening, which Hunt attributes to foreign investors withdrawing profits and domestic retail investors piling in on record margin, a classic “Shushan boy” setup. He believes a currency crisis looms for South Korea, exacerbated by higher energy import costs that deplete dollar reserves.

These energy cost pressures are part of a broader stagflationary environment that Hunt argues is intentionally manufactured.

He contends stagflation enriches billionaires who hold assets while impoverishing the middle class and blue-collar workers through higher living costs and eventual job losses. This, he says, socializes costs and devalues debt for the wealthy, while governments later turn to predatory taxation, such as capital gains levies, to strip further value from citizens. In this context, Hunt maintains that precious metals—gold, silver, and platinum—are the prime beneficiaries. While gold and silver have experienced a corrective pause after an enormous run-up, he views the three-wave selling pattern as a healthy reset within a long-term bullish structure. His technical target for silver stands at $333, derived from a falling wedge pattern on the quarterly chart, which he expects will resume once the current consolidation resolves.

Hunt advises concentrating wealth in monetary metals rather than diversifying across commodities like copper or lithium, which may rise nominally but lag in real gold-ounce terms. He notes the gold-silver ratio could see a short-term squeeze upward but remains structurally bearish long-term. For miners, he suggests selectivity, as rising energy costs have pressured some, though those with growing ounce profiles remain attractive.

Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:00:40 – World Volatility and Market Trends
00:01:40 – South Korea AI Trade Setup
00:08:47 – South Korea Currency and Charts
00:25:09 – Long-Term Silver Thesis
00:27:33 – Precious Metals Market State
00:30:03 – Sectors and Inflationary Pressure
00:32:03 – Nasdaq Vs. Gold Predictions
00:35:00 – Equity Valuation Setup
00:36:10 – Short-Term Gold Outlook
00:44:30 – Gold & Silver Long-Term Thesis
00:55:40 – Copper & Other Commodities
01:00:30 – Market Sniper Wrap Up

Guest Links:
X: https://x.com/themarketsniper
X: https://x.com/thecryptosniper
Website: https://themarketsniper.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMarketSniper

Francis is a trader, first and foremost. Unlike most educators in the trading space, Francis walks the walk and talks the talk, with 30 years of experience trading his personal capital on various markets and instruments. Through this passion for trading and his relentless study of markets and economic theory, he uses the Hunt Volatility Funnel trading methodology, a systemized approach, to answer the critical question: What is the next most profitable trade?

He believes the actual price of an asset is the most accurate reflection of all the factors that influence it. Practical technical analysis, the study of price action over time, is needed to formulate profitable trade ideas. Indeed, with all the market manipulation and high-frequency trading operations currently in play, technical analysis is all that can be relied upon when it comes to formulating future price trends. A trained eye can often spot such manipulative practices, as is the case with HVF traders. Therefore, the HVF methodology is based purely on technical analysis.

Francis is passionate about sharing his knowledge and understanding of markets by utilizing his HVF trading methodology. With entertaining anecdotes and the careful guidance of his students, he has already trained a large community of hundreds of traders and helped them transform from complete newbies to seasoned trading professionals.

He genuinely loves sharing his knowledge and strategies with others who are committed to finding freedom through trading. Plus, teaching strengthens his trading abilities while helping to build a vibrant community of successful traders.