Weekly Market Commentary
Major stories:
Cryptocurrency markets traded sharply lower this week with BTC/USD down to almost $60,000 before recovering to $70,600 now. ETH/USD similarly traded briefly below $1,800 before recovering to $2,050 currently. U.S. economic data was mixed with private jobs data for January weak but consumer sentiment unexpectedly strong. The Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged at its next meeting on March 18.
Trading Update:
Funding rates are currently negative on major exchanges, averaging around -10% annualized. BTC futures are trading at an annualized basis of 2% on Binance, 3% on OKX and 5% on CME, while the ETH futures basis is at 3% on Binance and OKX and 5% on CME. Through Thursday, BTC ETFs had net outflows of $689M and ETH ETFs had net outflows of $149M. On Deribit, 3-month options implied volatility rose sharply this week with BTC ending at 49% and ETH at 72%.
Other News:
Hyperliquid plans to support prediction markets and options. MetaMask has integrated with Ondo Finance giving access to tokenized equities. Ripple received an EU license in Luxembourg. Tether acquired a 12% stake in Gold.com for $150M and also invested $100M in Anchorage at a $4.2B valuation. CME is reportedly collaborating with Google on a tokenized cash solution. Proshares has listed the first ETF tracking the CoinDesk 20 Index. BitMine added 41,000 ETH last week, Strategy bought 855 BTC for $75.3M and increased the dividend on its STRC preferred stock to 11.25%.
