The ‘Bitcoin Family’ has a special algorithm that tracks moon cycles — and it’s helped them gain 50% since the bear market bottom
Taihuttu family in Phuket, Thailand
Didi Taihuttu
LAGOS, PORTUGAL — In the small coastal town of Lagos in the heart of Portugal’s southern Algarve region, Didi Taihuttu begins most days on the rooftop of his villa — an unassuming home with rustic charm set atop a hill that slopes up from the Atlantic Ocean. The Mediterranean sun bounces off the bright white stucco walls of the house, illuminating the orange terracotta roof and casting a glow over Taihuttu, who sits on a plastic chair tucked under a round table of the same make. The Dutch patriarch of the ‘Bitcoin Family’ drinks black coffee and pores over cryptocurrency price charts on his MacBook Pro as he decides which trades will begin his day.
“We just need a few thousand per month to live on so our performance is not really important to us,” Taihuttu tells CNBC from his deck overlooking an expansive stretch of cobalt-colored water, cliff-backed beaches and bougainvillea.
Taihuttu’s family home in Lagos, Portugal
MacKenzie Sigalos
Taihuttu’s self-effacement and modest surroundings belie the 45-year-old’s success. In 2017, Taihuttu, along with his wife and three kids, liquidated all of their assets, trading a 2,500-square-foot house and most of their earthly possessions for bitcoin and a life on the road. This was back when the price of bitcoin was around $900. Bitcoin is currently trading at over $30,000, down from an all-time high of nearly $70,000 in Nov. 2021.
Those extreme price swings have helped grow the Dutch family’s crypto nest egg.
For seven years, the investor has regularly been swapping his bitcoin for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins in order to capitalize on the volatility in the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency. When Taihuttu thinks that bitcoin is reaching a bull market peak, he trades his bitcoin into stablecoins like tether, USDC, and DAI — and when it appears as though bitcoin is touching cycle lows during a bear market, he starts buying it back. So far, Taihuttu says the gamble is working out great thanks to a market indicator he created himself dubbed the “Didi BAM BAM.”
Didi Taihuttu in Lagos, Portugal
MacKenzie Sigalos
Taihuttu’s indicator considers a mix of inputs, including directional trading data and moon cycles. It’s guided all of Taihuttu’s investing decisions since he built it before the pandemic.
“From mid-November to the start of December 2022, we saw the first signs the bear market was completely over,” said Taihuttu. “It was confirmed in January 2023 when the long flag appeared in the model.”
He added, “People should have been buying bitcoin already, because every bitcoin you bought at $16k, it’s at $30k now, so that’s almost 90% upside.”
The father of three says his bitcoin investment is up about 50% since the bottom of the most recent bear market.
The Taihuttus declined to share with CNBC the current dollar amount of their crypto investment in aggregate — but Didi did disclose that they had fully bought back into bitcoin by the time the coin surpassed the $19,000 price threshold, so they’re “not doing so bad.”
It also helps that the nomadic family’s primary domicile is in Portugal — Europe’s ultimate crypto tax haven.
“You don’t pay any capital gains tax or anything else in Portugal on cryptocurrency,” said Taihuttu. “As long as you don’t earn cryptocurrency for providing services in Portugal, you’re in the clear.”
“That’s a very beautiful bitcoin heaven,” he said.
Didi Taihuttu in Lagos, Portugal
Didi Taihuttu
How the ‘BAM BAM’ indicator works
When Taihuttu began day trading tokens, he initially turned to traditional predictive metrics like the stock-to-flow model and the Mayer Multiple — a measure calculated by dividing the current price of bitcoin by the 200-day moving average in order to help identify frothy moments in the market when an asset’s value eclipses its intrinsic value.
But spending the time reading the tea leaves of all these somewhat related measures didn’t seem like a particularly productive use of his time, so Taihuttu decided to create his own proprietary blend of the best indicators on the market.
“It’s not just enough to know which indicators go into a formula,” explained Taihuttu. “What you can’t see is the calculus and the code that implements over the stock conditions. Those calculations display in charts.”
So beginning in 2019, Taihuttu started to incubate and perfect a custom-built predictive trading tool that would weigh multiple technical indicators — plus a bit of astrology — and then spit out real-time insights into potential price swings.
“It’s a combination of Bollinger Bands, Lower and Upper Bands, NMA, Red/Green Ribbon, NormStoch, RSI, Price Oscillator, Plot, MACD, Cross, Chande Momentum Oscillator, RSI-EMA, Full Moon, and New Moon,” explained Taihuttu, naming a dozen of the most popular market signals that crypto traders watch when they make investment decisions.
“Short and long signals and confirmation signals are shown on the charts when it could be a great moment to buy or sell,” continued Taihuttu.
Taihuttu family in Lagos, Portugal
MacKenzie Sigalos
Here is a quick breakdown of the technicals that underly the model:
- Bollinger Bands focus on price volatility over time. The model consists of a simple moving average line with two standard deviation lines known as the Upper and Lower Bands. Price moves outside those outer bands can indicate whether an asset is oversold — or vice versa.
- N-day Moving Average (NMA) is a type of moving average that takes the mean of the closing price of an asset over a variable period of time, or “N” days.
- Red/Green Ribbon indicators depict bullish, or green, and bearish, or red, market conditions.
- The Normalized Stochastic (NormStoch) looks at price momentum. It is a variation of the Stochastic Oscillator — an indicator which compares the closing price of an asset to its price variation over a designated period of time.
- Similar to the Bollinger Bands, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) assesses whether an asset is oversold or overbought. The index, which ranges from 0 to 100, measures the speed and the scale of an asset’s recent price swings.
- Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) compares two moving averages of a cryptocurrency’s price by subtracting the 26-period exponential moving average (EMA) from the 12-period EMA.
- The Percentage Price Oscillator (PPO) takes the MACD reading and divides it by the 26-period EMA. It is possible to compare the PPO measures of different assets with larger price discrepancies, because it is expressed as a percentage.
- With bitcoin, when the line charting the 50-day moving average crosses above a rising 200-day moving average, it is read as a bullish indicator known as a Golden Cross. When the 50-day moving average crosses below a falling 200-day moving average, it is known as the Death Cross, signaling a bear market may be imminent.
- Chande Momentum Oscillator is a technical momentum indicator similar to the Relative Strength Index and the Stochastic Oscillator, except that it reacts faster to price changes.
- As the name implies, the Relative Strength Index-Exponential Moving Average (RSI-EMA) combines both measures into a single indicator.
Price chart showing the ‘Didi BAM BAM’ market indicator
Didi Taihuttu
And then there are the intangible price influencers — like moon phases.
“I’m not saying it always affects the price of bitcoin, but the moon influences a lot,” said Taihuttu.
Taihuttu has found that when there is a full moon or a half moon, people tend to trade more.
“They tend to buy more, they tend to sell more,” he said. “Maybe it’s a coincidence, but if you look at the chart, you can see that mostly at the full moon, depending on where we are in the cycle, there’s a dump or a pump.”
Taihuttu added that the lunar phases also typically sync with the opening and closing of bitcoin’s monthly puts and options.
“So if we are in the top of the Bollinger Band in combination with a full moon, then you know that we are going to run,” continued Taihuttu, suggesting a market sell-off is imminent.
Losing his edge to ChatGPT
Taihuttu used to sell the Didi Bam Bam indicator to traders, but he says he will soon make give the trading tool away to selected bitcoin evangelists in order to help spur adoption.
But he also admits that his business model is disappearing.
“Anyone in the world can now go into ChatGPT and tell them, ‘Write me an indicator based on the moving averages and this cycle or that cycle. And write me a script that I can implement into TradingView and then they can make their own indicators,'” explained Taihuttu.
“I’m losing business there.”
‘Bitcoin Family’ in Thailand
Didi Taihuttu
Generative AI is a specific form of AI that is able to produce content from scratch. The systems take inputs from the user and feed them into powerful algorithms fueled by large datasets to generate new text, images, and video in a way that can appear almost human-like.
The technology captured the spotlight following widespread public adoption of OpenAI’s GPT language processing technology. ChatGPT, which uses massive language models to create human-sounding responses to questions, has ignited an arms race among some companies over what is seen as the next “paradigm shift” in tech.
While ChatGPT isn’t able to deliver a querent a trading algorithm in Pine Script, which is TradingView’s programming language, the technology does challenge the role of investment advisers.
In March, Goldman Sachs‘ chief information officer, Marco Argenti, told CNBC the bank is experimenting with generative AI tools internally to help its developers automatically generate and test code.
More recently, in May, Goldman spun off the first startup from the bank’s internal incubator — an AI-powered social media company for corporate use called Louisa. The push into AI is part of a larger effort by CEO David Solomon to expedite the bank’s digital makeover.
Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, is using it to inform its financial advisors on queries they may have. The bank has been testing an OpenAI-powered chatbot with 300 advisors so far, with a view to ultimately aid its roughly 16,000 advisors in making use of Morgan Stanley’s repository of research and data, according to Jeff McMillan, head of analytics and data at the firm’s wealth management division.
Taihuttu uses ChatGPT himself — but more for writing articles about subjects like bitcoin and the Lightning Networks. But he notes that while it is a productivity hack, the output doesn’t necessarily rank highly in search results.
“They will still find out that it’s ChatGPT,” he says. “But it’s still saving you a lot of time.”
— CNBC’s Ryan Browne contributed to this report.
A pair of new Volvo ECR25 Electric mini excavators are busy breaking up oversize rocks in crushing operations at this Ontario-based mine – and the transition from diesel has been as smooth as their electric motors!
As avid readers of Electrek can probably tell you, the quieting down of commercial job sites carries a number of tangible health and safety benefits to the employers, operators, work crews, and nearby residents – basically everyone who lives and works near them. The simple ability to yell, “Stop!” and be heard can save lives, while the reduced diesel din is always a welcome quality of life improvement to Mrs. Klancnik’s terrier … but if you think constructions sites are loud, wait until you visit your first rock quarry! There, the noise and vibration are constant, and the controlled explosions punctuate the air now and again with extreme emphasis.
It’s into that mess that family-owned Cox Construction in Guelph, Ontario has deployed a pair of 2.5-ton ECR25 Electric excavators to break up some of the oversized rocks that are too big to fit in in Cox’ crushing plants.
“The transition from the diesel machine that we had before to the electric has basically been seamless,” says Brandon Crumbie, a crusher foreman at Cox Construction. “I really like it because there’s less warm-up time. You just hit the key and away you go. It’ll do every job you could ever need.”
What’s more, because most the mine’s crushing and material handling equipment runs on electric power already, switching the excavators from diesel to electric means significantly less downtime to go hunt for diesel. And, because the ECR25 Electric machines run on top of a 600-volt crusher, they can charge from the crusher’s generator.
The latest, second-generation ECR25 Electric excavator offers a 40 kWh lithium-ion battery (up from the original 20) that provides up to 8 hours of continuous runtime. It can be recharged overnight on a 240V L2 connector, or “less than an hour” on a 50 kW DC fast charger.
Electrek’s Take
It’s one thing to know that electric equipment is out there, and quite another to see it in action. With this project, Cox Construction and Volvo CE is setting an example for North American quarry operations and raising the bar (by lowering emissions) for other mine operators across the country.
Volvo CE is preparing to Power Your Ambition at the upcoming CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 trade show, and will be hosting a pre-show event in January to hype up its new unveilings. We will for sure be there.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo CE, via Heavy Equipment Guide.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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Are you wondering what kind of results you’d get if you added a home solar system to your roof? Homeowners are sharing their results online — and the real-world data might surprise you!
In a recent post to r/Solar, a Reddit user going by DontBuyBitcoin shared a screenshot indicating that their newly-installed ~11.5 kW system produced over 1,700 kWh of electricity in October. “Pretty surprised by the production of the system I got,” writes DontBuyBitcoin. “11.48KW. I cant wait to see what JUNE-AUGUST [2026] going to look like 😍 I wish SolarEdge will make their app better looking with more functionality”
Home solar energy chart
Other Redditors were quick to share in the enthusiasm. “Congratulations!!! Great numbers,” wrote LegalNet4337. “We got 1.6 MWh with a 14.45 kW system. East and West facing panels in SoCal.”
That 1,700 kWh is nothing to sneeze at. Based on the current national average electricity price of about $0.17/kWh (in AUG2025), DontBuyBitcoin’s admittedly large-ish system translates to ~$290 of potential savings. In a higher rate state like Illinois, with a projected 2026 kWh rate that’s closer to $0.18/kWh, that’s ~$306/mo.
We expect retail electricity prices to residential customers will average 17 cents per kilowatthour (kWh) nationwide in 2025, a 4% increase over 2024, and then rise to approximately 18 cents/kWh in 2026. This rise continues a trend in which residential electricity prices have increased at an average annual rate of 5% each year since the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in retail electricity prices this year comes as the cost of natural gas to the electric power sector was up more than 40% in 1H25 compared with a year earlier, with similar year-over-year increases forecast for the remainder of 2025. The average cost of natural gas for power generation in our forecast increases another 17% in 2026.
Those are big numbers, but 11-15 kW rooftop solar systems are big. Significantly bigger, in fact, than the US average, ~6.6 kW in 2024 – but you don’t have to have a big system in order to post big numbers. Superior weather conditions and perfect PV panel placement can also get the job done, as another Redditor found.
“The last 2 days we have had perfect weather here in South Florida and I have been able to get over 30 kWh from a 5 kW system with a 3.8 kW inverter. This is the highest I have seen since getting PTO in September,” wrote Redditor dlewis23, who shared another SolarEdge graph. “I am super happy with seeing over 30 kWh in a single day.”
30 kW/day from home solar
Taken altogether, these real-world snapshots prove that whether it’s a modest 5 kW array or a beefy 10+ kW setup, homeowners out in the real world are seeing meaningful, measurable differences from their home solar installations. And, with retail electricity prices projected to keep on rising through the decade, every kilowatt counts.
Electrek’s Take
When we ran our “Why did you choose to go solar?” survey back in September, only 32.6% of respondents chose, “Lowering my monthly utility bills” as their primary motivation to go solar. That result proved, in my mind, that Electrek readers are just better people than most, and seem to be willing to spend a little more to do something positive for their environment and their community.
That said, wasn’t it no less a thinker than Albert Einstein who said, “Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe” (Google it.)? And, with a 5% rate hike compounding every year from now until the AI and data center bubbles burst, the impact energy rates may have on all our pocketbooks may be enough to put “Lowering my monthly utility bills” back on top.
If and when that happens: be smart, get several quotes, and understand the difference between buying and leasing your PV system (especially if you plan on selling your home in the foreseeable future).
SOURCES: Reddit, EIA; featured image via Tesla.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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It seems like the writing was already on the wall last week when Volvo moved to make its Luminar-supplied LiDAR system an option – there are now reports that the Swedish car brand is set to ditch LiDAR tech entirely in 2026.
In a recent SEC filing following a missed interest payment on its 2L notes, Luminar confirmed that Volvo’s new ES90 and EX90 flagship models (along with the new Polestar 3) would no longer be offered with LiDAR from Luminar. The move signals a full reversal on the safety tech that had started as standard equipment, then became an option, and is now (according to reports from CarScoops) gone altogether.
In a statement, a Volvo Cars USA spokesperson added the decision was reportedly made, “to limit the company’s supply chain risk exposure, and it is a direct result of Luminar’s failure to meet its contractual obligations to Volvo Cars.”
This is what Luminar had to say about the current, icy state of the two companies’ relationship as of the 31OCT filing:
The Company’s largest customer, Volvo Cars (“Volvo”), has informed us that, beginning in April 2026, Volvo will no longer make our Iris LiDAR standard on its EX90 and ES90 vehicles (although Iris will remain an option). Volvo also informed the Company that it has deferred the decision as to whether to include LiDAR, including Halo (Luminar’s next generation LiDAR under development), in its next generation of vehicles from 2027 to 2029 at the earliest. As a result of these actions, the Company has made a claim against Volvo for significant damages and has suspended further commitments of Iris LiDAR products for Volvo pending resolution of the dispute. The Company is in discussions with Volvo concerning the dispute; however, there can be no assurance that the dispute will be resolved favorably or at all. Furthermore, there can be no guarantee that any claim or litigation against Volvo will be successful or that the Company will be able to recover damages from Volvo.
As a result of the foregoing, the Company is suspending its guidance for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.
On November 14, Luminar confirmed that Volvo had terminated its contract altogether, in a blow that could leave Luminar rethinking its long-term future and planning litigation against its biggest ex-customer.
The news follows a host of significant upgrades to the EX90 that include a new, more dependable electronic control module (ECM) and 800V system architecture for faster charging and upgraded ADAS that improves the automatic emergency steering functions and Park Pilot assistant.
Electrek’s Take
You can’t spend years telling everyone you’re miles ahead because you have LiDAR, then ditch LiDAR, and pretend no one is going to call you out on it. They had better hope they don’t up on Mark Rober’s YouTube channel doing a Wile E. Coyote impression (above).
That said, it’ll be interesting to see if ditching the LiDAR has a negative impact there. Or, frankly, whether ditching the LiDAR and its heavy compute loads will actually help mitigate some of the EX90’s niggling software issues. It could go either way, really – and I’m not quite sure which it will be. Let us know which way you think it’ll go in the comments.
SOURCE: Luminar, via SEC filing; featured image by Volvo.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
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