Q9 Markets: Checking Out
29th October 2021
Q9 Capital: www.q9capital.com
- Minor negative returns across most assets
- ETH prints fresh ATH
- Shiba Inu rises +60,000,000% over the year
Crypto markets checked out this week (and so did I, but more on that later) with most major assets posting minor negative or flat returns. Ethereum was the exception with a 5.7% rise to finish the week at $4,287, whilst posting another ATH. The market focus seems to be shifting to ETH 2.0 — Ethereum’s impending transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake mechanism — and the possibility of an ETH ETF in the wake of the recent launch of Bitcoin futures ETFs in the US.
Funding rates for Bitcoin are elevated again, yet BTC refuses to budge this week, suggesting that market players were buying the dip with leverage instead of going to the spot market.
Shiba Inu and Dogecoin are battling it out for top dog status amongst the meme coins. Shiba Inu coin soared to a new record on Wednesday, capping a surge of over 60,000,000% over the past year, making it the 10th biggest crypto by market cap — one spot behind Dogecoin.
Shiba Inu (SHIB), 1 Year
Checking In and Checking Out
At this point there are few people left arguing that crypto is just a fad that will disappear. In fact, there is so much going on it’s hard to keep up. One week it’s Bitcoin, then its NFTs, and the next it’s some dog meme coin. But if you believe it’s here to stay it’s probably more important to be involved than to be an expert. Most people aren’t “crypto professionals”, we have other things to do, or sometimes nothing to do, which is exactly what we need sometimes.
Although crypto never sleeps, I sometimes do and this week have been enjoying a week off to take in the Hong Kong autumn. The humidity is low, skies are bright, and temperatures are warm, making it the perfect time of year to be outdoors following the crushing heat of summer. Although HKs incredibly restrictive quarantine measures make it almost impossible to travel round the region at the moment, spending time on HKs vast number of beaches, mountains, islands, and enjoying the cities legendary culinary delights certainly make up for it. What most first-time visitors don’t immediately realize is that over 70% of Hong Kong is mountains and sprawling country parks. Getting away from the hustle and bustle of the world’s most densely populated city and out to nature is almost effortless.
Next week’s Q9 markets brief will be back in full.
Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong
In the News…
- SEC will not approve leveraged Bitcoin ETF:
- US Treasury to say SEC can regulate Stablecoins
- Hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones says gold losing the race against crypto as inflation hedge
- Tesla hints it may soon resume support for crypto payments
- El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele tweeted that his government had “bought the dip,” picking up an additional 420 BTC, which is equivalent of around $25 million.
- Nigeria prepares To launch digital currency eNaira on Monday
- BTC could become world reserve currency, says senator Rand Paul
Legacy Markets
Oil futures rose +0.5% and the SPX posted modest gains of +1%. Elsewhere, 10-year US treasury yields slipped 12 bps and the US dollar index dropped -0.4%. The Gold & Silver index was unchanged
Crypto Markets
- BTC/USD fell -2.6% while ETH/USD rose +5.7%. The total market cap of the crypto universe continued to stay north of $2.5tln while Bitcoins dominance dropped below 45%
- LINK/USD rallied +6.9%. Top DeFi names continued to underperform ETH
- Annualised volatility dropped to 61% for BTC and spiked to 97% for ETH
Flows
- Continued profit booking on client pad (4.8x sellers vs buyers) on modest volumes
- Two-way flow in BTC and net sellers in ETH, EOS & SUSHI
- Mild buying activity in LINK
Q9 Capital: www.q9capital.com
