Beyond Elon Musk’s Neuralink: Two Public Stocks With a Stake in the Brain Race
Two public companies, the developments to watch, and the risks worth understanding before investing.
Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).
Editor’s Note: Over the last year, I’ve been building a basket of trade ideas around one of the most fascinating technologies I’ve ever seen: brain-computer interfaces. These systems let the brain communicate directly with machines, opening the door to turning thoughts into actions and even speech.
For decades, mapping the human brain has been one of science’s biggest challenges. We’re still a long way from having all the answers. But companies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink are pouring money into the technology, and the investment opportunities are starting to take shape.
It’s one of the most compelling themes I’ve tracked. And in today’s essay, I’ll show you two ways to get exposure to it right now.
But here’s the thing: I don’t want you to stop with these two names. I want you to know how to find opportunities like these for yourself.
That’s why next Wednesday, October 14, I’m going live with my $10K to $100K Challenge.
I’ll walk you through everything my playbook has to offer — from the principles behind our trades to the charts, tools and process I use to look for an edge in the market.
And here’s the best part: You don’t need $10,000 to get started. I’ll show you how to apply the same approach to smaller trades, including opportunities where you can keep the amount at risk below $500.
Click here to reserve your free spot for the $10K to $100K Challenge. I hope to see you there!
Now, let me show you the two opportunities I’m watching today…
In 2024, a man was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The ALS – often called Lou Gehrig’s disease – took away his ability to speak.
The subject, Terry, was desperate to find an answer that would allow him to regain his speech.
Then he joined a clinical trial at Neuralink, Elon Musk’s company developing devices that let the brain communicate directly with a computer.
These devices are called brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs. In Terry’s case, the goal was to turn the brain signals involved in speaking into words a computer could say aloud.
And it worked. Using the implant and a computer-generated voice, Terry was able to tell his wife, “I love you.” ALS hadn’t restored his ability to speak naturally; the technology was speaking for him. But he could communicate those words again. Think about what that means for someone who has lost his voice.
If you’d like to invest in this medical innovation, though, you run into a problem: You can’t buy Neuralink on the stock market. It’s still private.
So where else can we look?
That’s the question I’ve been working through on my free show, Masters in Trading LIVE. Back in April, I shared a basket of 14 public companies to research around this developing field. Some make medical equipment. Others provide tools scientists use in their research. Their connections to brain-computer interfaces vary, and that matters when you’re deciding what to buy.
And there’s real money going into the field. OpenAI is backing Merge Labs, another company developing brain-computer interfaces. Synchron raised $200 million to advance its technology toward commercial use. Neuralink is getting plenty of attention, but other businesses are working on different ways to connect the brain to a machine.
Today, I’ll show you two public companies on my watchlist: one with a direct connection to a brain-interface developer, and another that makes research tools I’m following as a more speculative idea. I’ll explain why each interests me, what could drive the stock’s price, and the risks you need to understand.
You don’t have to wait for a Neuralink IPO to start researching opportunities around this field. But you do need to know what you own and why you own it.
A Small Research Company With a Big Launch Ahead
The first company I have my eye on is a small, highly volatile name that has already experienced some serious moves over the last year.
When I discussed it on my recent livestream, the stock had climbed from $0.72 to $1.20 in roughly two weeks. That’s about 67%. These small companies can move really quickly.
But a stock moving higher is only the start of the research. What does the company do? What’s changing? What could give it another reason to move?
Quantum-Si Inc. (QSI) makes equipment that helps scientists identify proteins by reading their building blocks. Proteins do much of the work inside our cells, and studying them helps researchers understand disease and develop treatments.
That puts QSI on the biological-research side of my watchlist. It’s a broader, more speculative idea than a company developing brain-interface hardware. I’m following its research tools and upcoming product launch. I’m not counting on a Neuralink contract or assuming that progress in brain interfaces will produce sales for QSI.
On the show, I also pointed out a jump in trading activity. About 20.5 million shares changed hands on September 29, compared with a daily average of about 2.85 million over the preceding 100 trading days. That’s more than seven times the usual activity.
That kind of change in volume is exactly the sort of thing I pay attention to.
When the volume changes, I want to know why. It doesn’t tell me that everyone buying is right, or that the stock will keep going up. But it does tell me there’s more activity to investigate.
And you need to understand how early this business still is. QSI reported just $344,000 in revenue last quarter It had roughly $170 million in cash and investments at the end of June, but the launch of its next-generation protein-analysis equipment, called Proteus, has already slipped from late 2026 to the second quarter of 2027. It still has to deliver the equipment and build sales.
It’s an early, high-risk, high-reward bet. (Full disclosure: I hold a personal position in QSI.)
My approach with a company this small is to keep the position small enough that losing the entire investment wouldn’t hurt my financial plans. There’s room for significant growth if the business succeeds. There’s also a real chance it doesn’t.
The Chipmaker Helping Build Another Way Into the Brain
The second stock I want to show you has a direct connection to brain-computer interfaces – and has been one of my favorite small-cap healthcare names for a while now.
I’ve been walking through this one on Masters in Trading LIVE, because there’s more to the business than you might realize at first glance.
Here’s what makes Butterfly Network Inc. (BFLY) so interesting…
Butterfly puts ultrasound technology on a chip. That lets it make handheld scanners doctors can use to look inside the body, instead of relying on a large machine wheeled around a hospital.
But medical scans are only one use for that technology.
On September 1, Butterfly announced an agreement with Merge Labs—the brain-interface company backed by OpenAI that I mentioned earlier. Merge will use Butterfly’s ultrasound chips to develop its own ways to communicate with the brain.
That’s the connection I want you to understand. Butterfly has an actual agreement with a company developing brain interfaces. The deal includes payments for access to its technology, hardware purchases, and potential royalties if future products reach commercial sales. Butterfly can also license its technology to other companies in the field.
So we have a public company that could earn money helping other businesses build their devices. We can research it today, even while those developers remain private.
And Butterfly already has customers putting its chips to work beyond its handheld scanners.
Back in June, BFLY revealed that its chip is powering Midjourney’s new full-body imaging platform. That’s a scanner designed to use ultrasound to create images throughout the body.
Butterfly previously disclosed that the partnership could generate up to $74 million in payments over five years. That’s meaningful potential revenue from a single deal.
We’re also seeing progress in the numbers. Butterfly reported second-quarter revenue of $32.6 million, up 39% from a year earlier. Licensing its technology helped drive that growth. The company still reported a loss, so growing sales and becoming profitable are two separate things we need to watch.
That gives me something concrete to follow: Are its partners moving forward? Is Butterfly signing more agreements? And are those agreements turning into revenue?
And there’s another catalyst on the calendar: its next earnings report, expected on October 30. On my recent livestream, I showed viewers that traders were pricing in a substantial move around earnings.
But an expected move doesn’t tell you the direction. The stock can move sharply lower, too.
Stocks move when they have a reason to move. With Butterfly, we have business developments and an earnings report to investigate. Then we have to decide whether the opportunity is worth the risk and how much we’re comfortable putting into the trade.
Finding the Opportunity – and Planning the Trade
This is the work I do on Masters in Trading LIVE. We take an interesting story and start asking questions. What does the company actually sell? What could change its business? Why is trading activity picking up? And what are we risking if we’re wrong?
Finding a company worth watching is the beginning. Then we have to work through the trade.
That’s what I’ll be showing you on October 14 at 8 p.m. Eastern. I’m holding my free $10K to $100K Challenge, where I’ll explain the strategy behind some of my biggest trading opportunities and how you can start putting that method to work.
Click here to reserve your free spot for the $10K to $100K Challenge.
We’ll go deeper into how I spot unusual activity that can reveal where big investors are placing their bets and then use that information to identify specific trades. I’ll also explain how you can participate without starting with $10,000, including opportunities that involve risking less than $500.
This is the strategy behind past recommended trades with gains like 779% on Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) and 1,076% on Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY). Those are individual past results, but they show why I’m so excited to teach you the process.
I’ve spent 28 years in professional trading, starting at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and later working as a market maker at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. What I want to do now is make those lessons useful to you.
For Terry, the promise of this technology is deeply personal: communicating again after ALS took away his ability to speak. His experience shows why researchers keep working on these devices and why investors are paying attention.
Our job as traders is to figure out which businesses can turn that progress into sales, and which trades make sense for us. You can start doing that work while Neuralink is still private.
Join me on October 14, and I’ll show you how I approach the next step.
Remember, the creative trader wins…
Jonathan Rose
Founder, Masters in Trading
P.S. I just gave you two companies to investigate and explained why their connections to this developing field are different. That willingness to work through the details is one reason I encourage you to join me on October 14 at 8 p.m. Eastern for my free $10K to $100K Challenge, which will take you deeper into how I find opportunities and plan my trades. Reserve your spot here.
