Ethereum’s Roller Coaster: A Wild Ride Amongst Crypto Chaos!

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Well, well, well! It seems our dear friend Ethereum has decided to don its best party hat and join the crypto soiree, rising 0.43% after a certain trader named Garrett Jin decided to make waves by shifting a staggering $540 million over to Binance. Talk about making an entrance!

What to know:

  • Turns out, when Garrett Jin shows up with that kind of cash, the market takes notice-who knew? The oversold conditions were ripe for a bit of a rebound, like a rubber band ready to snap back.
  • Meanwhile, our friends HYPE, ZEC, and XMR decided to take a little tumble, each dropping over 3%, while DOGE took a nosedive of 10% in just 24 hours. ZRO? Oh dear, it’s down a whopping 34% in five days. Someone hand me a tissue!
  • Gold may be strutting around at $5,000, down from January’s lofty highs but still managing to outperform both silver and crypto. U.S. markets are taking a snooze today for a holiday, so perhaps they’ll wake up refreshed.

The crypto market appears to be having a case of the Mondays, holding its breath despite U.S. equity futures rising by about 0.25% since the clock struck midnight UTC. A curious sight indeed!

Bitcoin is trading at $68,710, having lost a delicate 0.1%. Meanwhile, altcoins like HYPE, ZEC, and XMR are feeling the heat, each down more than 3%. It’s a real party crasher!

Now, let’s chat about Ether-the scrappy little fighter rising 0.43% since the witching hour, clawing its way back towards the illustrious $2,000 mark after a rather grueling weekend sell-off prompted by Mr. Jin’s escapades.

Onchain whispers reveal that a wallet attributed to our main man Jin deposited more than $540 million worth of ether into Binance over the weekend, leading to quite the sell frenzy. The dominoes fell swiftly, causing quite the ruckus!

As it turns out, that selling pressure conjured up some oversold conditions, which ultimately paved the way for Monday’s little recovery dance. Who knew the market enjoyed a good jig?

Gold, being the show-off, is changing hands at $5,000 on this fine Monday, down from its peak of $5,600 but still managing to outshine silver and crypto, which have seen declines of 36% and 21% respectively during this wacky ride.

With U.S. markets closed today for a public holiday, one can only imagine what shenanigans the traders are up to in their absence.

Derivatives positioning

  • The crypto futures market continues to see capital fleeing faster than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, with notional open interest (OI) dropping to $98 billion.
  • De-risking is the name of the game, as OI falls 1% and 2.7% in bitcoin and ether futures, respectively, over the last 24 hours. XRP, DOGE, SUI, and ADA are also falling like bad habits, each seeing declines of over 6%!
  • In a surprising twist, OI in gold token XAUT futures rose by 8% as traders flock to traditional assets like bees to honey.
  • BTC and ETH‘s 30-day implied volatility has pulled off a miraculous reversal, dropping from an eye-watering 50% to nearly 100%. This indicates a mass exodus of volatility fears, suggesting brighter days ahead-fingers crossed!
  • The gap between ether and bitcoin’s implied volatility indexes is starting to widen, meaning folks are bracing for bigger swings in ether. Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
  • Funding rates for various alternative tokens like XRP, TRX, DOGE, and SOL remain negative, hinting that traders are leaning toward bearish short positions. If the market holds strong, these bears may find themselves in quite the pickle, potentially leading to a “short squeeze” higher!
  • SOL futures on CME are showing an annualized premium near zero, suggesting that buy-side pressure is fading faster than a magician’s rabbit. BTC and ETH futures are hanging on with slight premiums, however.
  • On Deribit, someone splurged $3 million in premium for the $75,000 strike bitcoin call option-what a bold bet on the market!
  • Still, put options tied to BTC and ETH remain a tad pricier than calls across the board, indicating lingering concerns about downward spirals. Always something to worry about, isn’t there?

Token talk

  • The altcoin market experienced a familiar drift lower on Sunday, akin to a tumbleweed rolling through an old western town, before showing a slight recovery on Monday morning.
  • Our beloved memecoin is down over 10% in the past 24 hours but has managed to steady itself since midnight UTC, while XRP has risen a smidgen by 1% despite losing 8% of its value since the crack of dawn Sunday.
  • Layer zero (ZRO) is losing its steam after an early February rally, plunging over 34% in the past five days, including a 10% drop in just 24 hours. This nosedive follows the introduction of a native blockchain in cahoots with Wall Street heavyweights Citadel Securities and DTCC. Quite the plot twist!
  • The heavily bitcoin-weighted CoinDesk 5 (CD5) Index crept up by 0.38% since midnight UTC while the altcoin-dominated CoinDesk 80 (CD80) slipped by a modest 0.17% over the same time span, showcasing the ongoing altcoin weakness.

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2026-02-16 14:10