Mantra blamed the 90% crash to 70 cents on forced liquidations on crypto exchanges, while blockchain sleuth Spot On Chain pointed to a significant movement of coins to crypto exchange OKX three days before the crash. Meanwhile, OKX's CEO Star Xu called the OM token collapse a major scandal for the entire crypto industry, stressing that all on-chain data is publicly available for scrutiny across major exchanges.
In other news, data tracked by IntoTheBlock showed a renewed uptick in transaction volumes on Virtuals Protocol, a blockchain project enabling the creation, ownership, and deployment of AI agents. Data tracking platform Arkham Intelligence said that Mechanism's Capital Andrew Kang doubled his bullish bet on BTC, now holding a long worth $200 million.
New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) discussed the relative stability of the crypto market and its orderly behavior during last week's carnage in the traditional markets, saying it could become a self-reinforcing virtuous cycle.
Still, some investors anticipate a range-bound trading pattern for bitcoin (BTC) due to concerns that the U.S.-China trade tensions will not be resolved quickly. This follows President Trump's late Friday decision to exempt certain products from Chinese tariffs, a gesture perceived as a willingness to negotiate.
"BTC continues to consolidate within the $80k-$90k range and could continue trading sideways, adopting a "wait and see" approach to the tariff situation,' QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast, noting the weekend demand for the $100K calls.
Per Bloomberg's Lisa Abramovicz, there is deep skepticism in cheering Trump's late Friday pivot. "This is still a sell rallies environment. Tariff uncertainty, growth weakness, a Fed risking policy errors in both directions and fund outflows all suggest wider spreads ahead," Abramovic quoted Deutsche Bank's Credit Analyst Steve Caprio as saying.
Some market participants expressed concerns about the dwindling demand for the spot bitcoin ETFs, which registered an outflow of over $700 million last week, according to data source Farside Investors. "ETF demand is cooling. A sharp drop in bitcoin spot ETF assets signals institutional outflows. Watch this trend closely," blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant said on X.
Lastly, major U.S. equity indexes, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, appeared headed for the death cross, a bearish technical pattern involving the 50-day simple moving average's (SMA) move below the 200-day SMA and the dollar index looked oversold as per the 14-day relative strength index. Both observations called for caution in risk assets.
The key events and data to watch out for the week ahead are Monday's stock market reaction to Trump's tariff exclusions, Wednesday's U.S. retail sales and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech and earnings reports on Wall Street on Friday. Stay Alert!
