Tale of the Tape 

Hiya everyone. The weekend is here!

Markets sadly snapped a six-day winning streak, with the bears pushing the Nifty and Sensex down -0.9% each. Moving into next week, keep an eye out for Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole and of course Trump’s 50% tariffs on August 27. Broader markets saw smaller cuts as Midcaps (-0.1%) and Smallcaps (-0.3%) were hit with less selling pressure. Overall, 330 stocks in the NSE 500 ended lower today.

Except Pharma (+0.4%), every other sector finished in the red. Metals (-1.3%) and Banks (-1%) led the sell-off.

In today’s issue of the Daily Rip, we look at SEBI’s crackdown on finfluencer Avadhut Sathe, why Antique sees a +28% upside in this defence stock, trending charts and more.

Honourable mentions: 

Nazara Tech fell another -5% today after confirming PokerBaazi stopped its real-money gaming business. Apollo Hospitals was in focus after promoter Suneetha Reddy sold a 1.3% stake to reduce debt. Blackstone-backed R Systems gained +6% after acquiring IT firm Novigo for Rs 400 cr.

Check out the NSE 500 heatmap:

Market
Avadhut Sathe On SEBI Radar!

Another day, another finfluencer controversy! SEBI has wrapped up a raid of trading guru Avadhut Sathe’s academy, with reports alleging major wrongdoing. This is just the LATEST in a long line of shenanigans by our so-called market experts. Here’s a quick look at the fishy business and why you need to be careful.

Sathe is a super popular stock investing teacher with nearly a million followers on YouTube. He runs a trading academy where he offers gyaan and breaks into song & dance while explaining chart patterns. But reports claim that his business may have also been offering unregistered advisory services and also engaging in market manipulation. NDTVProfit says the illegal gains from his operations may be in the range of a whopping Rs 400-500 cr. WTF?

FYI - this is the classic two-step modus operandi of fraudsters. A bunch of ‘experts’ who have been penalised by SEBI -- including Sanjiv Bhasin, Asmita (the ‘she wolf’ of Dalal St) and PR Sundar -- use some variation of this method. The first move is to offer ‘advice’ (aka trading calls) without submitting yourself to SEBI regulations. This shields you from scrutiny. Then when you build up a huge following, you’re free to run pump and dump schemes if you want and cheat the same people who signed up for your classes. 

Big Picture: It’s natural to want to learn when you’re a newbie investor. But there’s PLENTY of free advice out there. Do not pay people for lessons, don’t fall for people who promise guaranteed returns. And never, ever buy a stock just because someone on YouTube or TV tells you to. Follow these three rules and you’ll be fine.