What happened today?

If you looked at Bitcoin’s price right now (about $105k), you’d probably think it was a pretty casual weekend for the industry, and you’d be wrong. We’re not sure whether it was further tariff news, fears of unrest in the Japanese stock market, or just market makers doing what they do, but Sunday into this morning saw some wild whipsaw price action. In the span of just 14 hours, BTC rose 2% before falling 2.5% before rising 3% before dropping 5%… and now we are trading just over the prices we ended last week at. Volatile is an understatement as billions in liquidations hit the market, dropping the open interest on Ethereum by over 10% or about $1.6B just on the initial downward movement. This tells us there were a lot of late longs on high leverage which FOMO’d in on the huge pump last week, as that is a shockingly high number for what was a relatively small move in isolation.

On a far lighter note, if you’ve ever felt bad about selling something too early, you should take a look at the German Government’s BTC trading activities. Last July at nearly the perfect bottom, Germany liquidated $2.89B worth of BTC at an average price of $57,900. As you can see on the chart above, their execution was abysmal and resulted in market panic, driving BTC briefly under $50k all while they shoved market seller orders continuously rather than sell it on auction or at least via a more sophisticated market maker. I believe when this happened we discussed in this newsletter that peak panic moments like that tend to create at least local market bottoms, and with Bitcoin trading almost 100% up since then it seems that held true. In dumping their stack last summer, Germany forwent over $2B worth of potential profits. I’m sure they used the sale to fund something useful though!

Tweet of the Day

Sure <insert your bags> are great, but have you considered buying <insert my bags>?

Biggest Headlines

The Beluga intern has been hard at work gathering all the most important crypto news stories so you have them in one place!

The Majors

• JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon says bank will allow clients to buy Bitcoin

Alt Coins and Stocks

• The rise of vibe coding on Solana

• Aave TVL surges to $30 billion, signaling renewed strength in Ethereum DeFi

Regulatory

• Stategy and co-founder Michael Saylor face class action lawsuit involving alleged securities law violations

• Senate Dems gear up resistance as Stablecoin Bill meets test most think will succeed

Random

• Jito validator tips hit $3.6 million daily as Believe ecosystem siphons activity from pump.fun

Beluga Starter Packs

Beluga is excited to offer two Starter Packs from our partners at Hemi, a leading Bitcoin L2, and BONK, the largest memecoin community on Solana. Head to the Beluga Starter Pack page to claim points and more!

The content on this site is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. While Beluga strives to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information, there may be discrepancies when comparing our data to that of financial institutions, service providers, or specific product websites. Always consult with a professional before making any financial decisions.

Will McKinnon is the Head of Content for Beluga and has spent every day for many years trading coins. For that reason there are too many to name, however his largest holdings by a significant margin are Ethereum and Bitcoin. NFA DYOR

*Polyester is a marketing partner of Beluga, and Beluga’s CEO is an investor in the company.