Global Finance and Market Commentary by Mike Bird
Mike Bird is Deputy CTO at OANDA, a global fintech platform known for integrating retail Forex and crypto trading. He joined OANDA’s London office in 2022 to oversee system reliability, low-latency trading architecture, and cross-asset digital deployment. His work supports more than 250,000 global accounts and underpins API-accessible crypto trading modules for BTC, ETH, and other tokens.
Prior to entering fintech, Bird was a financial markets editor at The Wall Street Journal and Business Insider, where he covered global central banks, currency crises, and emerging-market dynamics. Since 2023, he has shifted his focus to building technical infrastructure for regulated crypto execution and exchange bridging.
Although not a public-facing thought leader in crypto, Bird’s backend systems work directly supports OANDA’s entry into tokenized instruments and stablecoin trading rails. He plays a key role in making crypto accessible to retail users via traditional brokerage interfaces, marking him as an important figure in the infrastructure development space for regulated digital asset markets.
TSMC coverage has declined in favor of AI bottleneck stories, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, observes a shift in media attention from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to a broader range of artificial intelligence bottleneck ...
Mike Bird: Nasdaq falls 5 percent from its recent peak
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, highlights the recent decline of the Nasdaq, which is now down 5 percent from its peak a month ago. He suggests that the current market sell-off ...
Gold may fall below $4000 after recent highs, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, observes that gold is approaching the $4000 mark, after having reached over $5,300 earlier in 2024. He describes gold as 'analogue bitcoin' and ...
Mike Bird: GPU demand drives new financial instruments and markets
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, examines the surge in demand for GPUs and compute power and its impact on financial markets. He notes the rapid development of indices, exchanges, ...
Too many conflicting property rights frustrate growth, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, discusses how excessive and conflicting property rights can undermine sustained economic growth, referencing the work of Ben and Kara Dimitruk. He ...
Mike Bird: Central banks drive surge in gold price from 2024
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, observes that the rapid increase in gold prices from 2024 onward was fueled by central bank accumulation of gold as an alternative to traditional ...
Investment banker reactions to SpaceX IPO show key industry attitudes, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, examines how Wall Street's strong support for the SpaceX IPO reflects the culture and motivations within investment banking. He references his ...
Mike Bird: Stablecoins and deregulated banks not yet major Treasury market forces
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, examines the roles of stablecoins and deregulated banks in the U.S. Treasury market. He finds that although these groups are often discussed as ...
Investment democratization may mean more than low-entry funds, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, raises questions about what investment democratization truly means. Bird queries whether it refers to concepts such as market sentiment, research ...
Mike Bird: Bitcoin earnings per share have been flat
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, points out that Bitcoin earnings per share have remained quite flat over this ...
S&P earnings forecasts suggest strong economic recovery, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, observes that S&P earnings expectations are currently at levels suggesting the U.S. economy is emerging from a severe recession. This implies that ...
Mike Bird: Crypto loses countercultural appeal without gaining traditional investor demand
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, writes that crypto has lost its countercultural and rebellious identity but has not attracted enough interest from mainstream, conventional ...
New Giga-IPOs cannot replicate historic compounders, Mike Bird argues
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, writes that the wave of large-scale Giga-IPOs highlights deeper issues with public markets. He points out that most IPO gains come from a handful ...
Mike Bird: Eleven U.S. companies now hold trillion-dollar market capitalizations
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, highlights that there are now eleven American companies with market capitalizations in the trillions of dollars. In comparison, only three companies ...
Gilt selloffs often indicate growth expectations, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, discusses how a mild selloff in gilts is often interpreted as a sign investors expect government spending plans to drive economic growth. He ...
Mike Bird: Financialisation of compute emerges as major market trend
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, observes that efforts to financialise computing power are among the most compelling developments currently unfolding in markets. This growing trend ...
A $1 trillion company emerges in seventh largest market, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, observes that the seventh largest stock market globally is now home to a $1 trillion company and is close to having two such firms. He adds that ...
Mike Bird: Real estate on UK supermarket balance sheets often exceeds market value
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, criticizes the ongoing 'War on Prices' in the UK, describing it as especially misguided within the supermarket sector. He highlights that ...
Understanding politicians is key to avoiding losses, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, discusses why investors have a strong incentive to understand politicians due to the financial risks involved. He explains that research is ...
Mike Bird: Stock index gains remain valid even if driven by a few sectors
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, addresses the perspective that rallies in stock indexes are not authentic when they are led by a specific group of stocks. He contends that gains ...
Calls to move beyond bond market reliance will likely have consequences, Mike Bird notes
Mike Bird, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, points out that attempts to move away from dependence on the bond market may not be well received by market participants. His remarks suggest that ...
