Val Katayev

I've generated over $1 billion in sales using ONE strategy.

Used it in every recession - 2000, 2009, and 2020.

I've never shared it publicly before.

This thread might make you a millionaire.

I keep seeing “natural diamonds crashed 70%.”

I run companies that work with hundreds of jewelers. I’d love to know where that number comes from, because it doesn’t show up anywhere I look.

The 1 carat natural index fell about 10% last year. It has risen two months in a row since August.

Rough diamonds is where the real damage is. De Beers’ realized price is down 37% this year and they’ve lost money every year since 2023. That’s the miners’ problem and not what a customer pays.

The only diamonds down 70% or more are lab-grown. Those have fallen more than 80% in a decade, and a 1 carat D VVS now wholesales for $87. Somewhere along the way “lab-grown collapsed” became “diamonds collapsed.”

What the stores actually report: natural diamond sales at US independents up 9% in Q1. Average ticket up 25% to over $4,000. Natural still 85% of the diamond dollars.

And the “down from peak” charts all measure from 2022, when people had stimulus checks, no travel, and two years of postponed weddings. Against 2019 the drop mostly disappears.

Natural diamond demand is fine. The headline is about a different product.

At the top end it’s the opposite of a crash.

5 carat prices rose 8% in the first quarter. Christie’s June sale sold every lot. On the branded side, Cartier and Van Cleef grew even more, at 14% last year on jewelry alone.

The customer with real money moved out of handbags and into stones.

If there’s one video or piece of knowledge that you would want to follow, to set yourself up for success, this is it.

FWIW, I don’t go to the bathroom often either.

A23

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