“The virus escaped and everybody died. Trouble was, they didn’t stay dead.” — Alice, a fictitious character from the Resident Evil movie series.

Much like the zombies in the campy Resident Evil films, crypto refuses to “stay dead” and has come back even stronger! What’s even more surreal? Just like the twist that lurks around the corner of the film, the frenetic bullish pace seen in August is likely to slow down in the near term.

Taking Stock

Crypto markets have made a 180 degrees U-turn versus previous months, outperforming pretty much everything whether you’re looking at month, quarter, or year-to-date. The question now is whether this could be a dead cat bounce or whether we’re looking at a new all-time high (ATH) soon. However, multiple signs point towards a sustainable rally, for now…

Macro

This week we saw the release of July’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) stateside. No big surprises versus estimates at 5.4% year-on-year — it appears the spike has stalled as of now. Treasury yields have dipped slightly for short unwinds, reflecting concerns that the…

“This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object,” — The Joker

The quote from an insane fictitious genius perfectly encapsulates the mood in crypto this week. By virtue of decentralization, crypto has long been touted to be censorship-resistant, but rulings by TradFi’s regulators tend to be the final say.

What happens when both of these supposedly “immovable” forces meet heads on? It appears that the inevitable clash is imminent, and drama ensues. Grab your popcorn, as we have front row seats saved just for you!

Gensler and the Infrastructure Bill

We invite all quest seekers to take up their arms and accept the challenge, all for the hoard of (digital) treasures — a mountainous prize pool of 7,500,000 USDT and dozens of other covetable rewards.

A fantastical trading battlefield is set for Bybit’s World Series of Trading 2021 — scour through global cities, wander where only the brave go, and come face-to-face with dragons and their treasure hoards.

This time, we’re not stopping simply at a prize pool. Raiding the dragon’s lair is no easy task and can only be matched with an equally worthwhile reward. …

In trading, we frequently talk about “picking up pennies in front of a steamroller.” This is especially applicable to the selling of out-of-the-money (OTM) option premiums. When price volatility remains low, such a strategy generates some yield income (pennies). When juxtaposed against the steamroller of unpredictable spikes in volatility, this then wipes out all accumulated yield income and principal.

This concept has been especially applicable to crypto markets since May, as BTC prices have basically stagnated around $30,000–$35,000. You can sense how “bored” the sentiment is by observing how the 30-day IV has steadily declined below a flatlined RV.

The past week has been confusing for the bulls and bears — and we hold strong arguments on both sides of the fence.

Arguments for the Bulls:

• With Goldman Sachs releasing pro-crypto client surveys, institutional narrative has clearly improved.
• Elon Musk’s sudden U-turn on Bitcoin, Ether & Doge
• Private market clearly not giving up, with monster valuations
• BTC and ETH jumped by 1.65% and 1.96% respectively on July 25

Arguments for the Bears:

• Massive put buying flows around $20,000 region; the put options expire in December
• Push for stablecoin regulations by Yellen and Jerome Powell
• On-chain exchange inflows don’t look…

We bring you Bybit Daily Bits — A tiny step towards trading the world.

Chart of the Day

Buckle down, as it looks like we are in for further price seesaws in the ETH market. According to Glassnode, ETH has experienced five major drawdown periods this year, marked by the highlights in red above. The current one has lasted longer than any drawdowns ETH has seen since February 2021.

A brief look at ETH’s daily returns shows that we are in the midst of dampened volatility. …

We bring you Bybit Daily Bits — A tiny step towards trading the world.

Chart of the Day

A Steep Surge. The estimated annual inflation rate for ETH is climbing upwards in the aftermath of the Ethereum London hard fork announcement. At the height of the bull market in March and April 2021, the numbers sank as low as under 1%. Now, with the EIP 1559 proposal set to go live in August, potential fluctuations to ETH’s supply have driven expected inflation rates to exceed 3.5%.

Theoretically, EIP 1559 results in approximately 75% of ETH’s supply being burned as it…