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Why Trump’s bull stampede in markets is just starting: Former TD Ameritrade CEO

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Investors have plenty of reasons to stay the course and remain bullish under Trump 2.0, according to Joe Moglia.

Moglia is particularly upbeat on the potential for dereguluation and tax cuts by the returning president , which in turn should support stock prices.

“Everything [Trump] is doing helps lay the base for a very solid several years going forward,” said Moglia.

His bullishness extends to the crypto space too.

“We’re going to have a bunch of investors potentially looking at a whole new asset class,” he said. With an increased demand for crypto, “you almost cannot not be in it,” he added.

Still, there are potential speed bumps investors need to be mindful of in 2025.

In addition to geopolitical risks, the direction the administration takes on various issues has lasting impacts. “When somebody is as aggressive as Trump and his people, that probably means you’re going to make some mistakes,” he said.

He expects that there will be “growing pains, but we should pick ourselves up and keep going.”

Moglia’s career trajectory and market savviness are impressive.

While in college, he found himself needing to support his new family and took a variety of jobs, including as a cabbie and truck driver. The former high school football player then built a 16-year coaching career that included stints at Lafayette College and Dartmouth College.

His market acumen eventually gained him entry to Merrill Lynch's MBA training program, where “there were 26 of us,” he said. “Twenty-five MBAs from Harvard [or] Stanford and one football coach.”

While at TD Ameritrade, part of the mission was “to bring financial literacy to every family,” he said.

Moglia stepped down as chairman in 2020 when TD Ameritrade was sold to Charles Schwab.

Although Moglia believes markets don't have to be overcomplicated, recent performance is sure to have plenty of heads swiveling into next year.

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After recent sizable run-ups, markets took a beating across the board on Wednesday on news that the Fed now forecasts fewer rate cuts in 2025 .

Overall this year, market madness has been helped by Magnificent Seven names such as Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Meta ( META ). On a year-to-date basis, for example, Mag Seven component Amazon ( AMZN ) is up nearly 50%, while Nvidia is up over 167% .

“Part of the reason they’re so big is because people have been piling into the stocks,” said Moglia of the Mag Seven. “If you asked people what these companies do, they probably have no idea, they’re just buying them.”

Brian Sozzi fields insight-filled conversations and chats with the biggest names in business and markets on Opening Bid . You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service .

Grace Williams is a writer for Yahoo Finance.