Welcome again to today’s market bulletin! We’ve gathered the most relevant trends and developments shaping the crypto and finance world, all in one place. Clear, concise, and focused, here’s what you need to know to stay on top of the markets this week. Let’s begin:
Surfing the Market, with the ETH and ADA.
Don’t miss about BTC’s fragile rebound to $71.5K and BNB’s fresh spotlight in Grayscale’s Crypto 5 ETF!
Stacks is under the spotlight.
A short article about The same sh*t ever: every BTC dump brings back the same narrative.
ADA found support over the 2023 lows after dropping a -75% within the last months. The aproach to the main downtrend resistance will be key to test the strength:
ETH bounced with top strength over the $1,800 support range but until it recovers the $2,300 support zone we are not out of risk:
BTC Rebounds Above $71K, but Derivatives Still Flash ‘Fear’
Bitcoin has bounced to around $71,500 after plunging toward $60,000, recovering a big chunk of its recent crash. Even so, futures and options data show that pro traders remain wary, with demand for leveraged upside still muted. The move looks more like a cautious relief rally than a full-throated return of bullish conviction.
Highlights
Historic snapback: BTC has jumped roughly 17% off the lows, marking one of its strongest rebounds since previous crisis-style sell-offs, but spot still lags recent highs and traditional risk assets.
Soft futures basis: The annualized premium on Bitcoin futures has slipped near 2%, well below the 5–10% zone that typically signals healthy appetite for leveraged long exposure.
Options skew at panic levels: A sharp tilt toward puts has pushed the 30-day skew to about 20%, indicating traders are paying up for downside protection despite the price bounce.
Leverage washed out, not rebuilt: Open interest in BTC futures is roughly flat in coin terms versus last week, suggesting many traders have not rushed back into large speculative positions after the liquidations.
Fear of hidden damage: Desk commentary points to lingering worries that one or more big funds, market makers, or lenders may still be nursing losses from the $1.8 billion in forced long liquidations.
Until derivatives metrics normalize and options traders stop overpaying for insurance, the market is likely to treat this move as a fragile bounce rather than the start of a new leg higher. If BTC can hold above key support while futures basis and skew improve, confidence in a more durable recovery should slowly return, but another wave of bad news could quickly flip sentiment back to full risk-off.
BNB Added to Grayscale’s Crypto 5 ETF in Quarterly Rebalance
Grayscale’s CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF (ticker: GDLC) is adding BNB to its portfolio as part of its scheduled index rebalancing. The move follows a rules-based review by CoinDesk Indices, which concluded that Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Solana and BNB best meet the fund’s market-cap, liquidity and custody criteria. The reshuffle trims other holdings and removes Cardano, further cementing BNB’s status among the top large-cap crypto assets tracked by U.S.-listed products.
Highlights
Rule-based reshuffle: The change comes from GDLC’s regular CoinDesk 5 Index rebalancing rather than a discretionary bet, keeping the ETF tightly aligned with its underlying methodology.
ADA out, BNB in: Cardano has been dropped from the fund after failing updated inclusion screens on factors like size, liquidity and custody support, with BNB taking its slot.
New allocation mix: After the rebalance, GDLC holds roughly 74% Bitcoin, 13% Ether, about 5% BNB, and smaller weights in XRP and Solana, keeping BTC and ETH dominant while adding diversified L1 exposure.
BNB’s institutional nod: Inclusion in a U.S.-listed, large-cap crypto basket underscores BNB’s growing market role and ability to meet institutional-grade listing requirements.
Signal for multi-asset funds: The update highlights how index products are evolving alongside the market, with rebalances quietly shifting which networks get represented in mainstream crypto ETFs.
Project Research: STACKS
ORIGIN
Stacks is a Layer-2 blockchain built on top of Bitcoin to bring smart contracts, decentralized apps (dApps), and programmable capital to the world’s most secure base layer. Instead of building a separate blockchain, Stacks leverages Bitcoin’s battle tested security while enabling developers to build applications that settle and anchor to Bitcoin’s immutable ledger. The network’s guiding belief is that Bitcoin shouldn’t just be a store of value, it should be a productive asset that can power DeFi, identity systems, and a full stack of decentralized finance use cases.
In 2025, @Stacks continued this evolution with major network upgrades and ecosystem growth, increasingly positioning itself as the default layer for Bitcoin smart contracts and DeFi.
OPERATIVE
At a technical level, Stacks uses a Proof-of-Transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism that uniquely ties its security and block production to Bitcoin. PoX anchors transactions to Bitcoin’s chain while enabling STX holders to participate in network validation through stacking a process where tokens are locked to support consensus and earn Bitcoin rewards. In 2025, the protocol delivered several key upgrades that significantly enhanced the network:
Nakamoto Upgrade: A major architectural rollout approved by the Stacks community that brings near-instant transactions and stronger Bitcoin finality while reducing dependence on Bitcoin block times. This upgrade enhances transaction speed, reduces reorg risk, and better aligns Stacks with Bitcoin’s immutable security model.
Clarity 4: The latest version of Stacks’ smart contract language launched in late 2025, giving developers safer, more powerful tools for building Bitcoin-native dApps with enhanced logic and security features.
Dual Stacking: Delivered later in the year, this improvement increases yield opportunities for users by combining BTC and STX stacking incentives, strengthening economic alignment and lowering barriers for Bitcoin holders to participate in network security.
The ecosystem also saw deeper integrations and liquidity expansion. sBTC Stacks’ native tokenized Bitcoin used in smart contracts and DeFi., has grown substantially, with a large portion deployed into active protocols. Circle’s USDCx launched on Stacks, bringing institutional-grade dollar liquidity and enabling cross-asset DeFi markets against Bitcoin collateral.
Stacks also expanded developer reach with global onboarding tours, workshops, and hackathons aimed at bringing new builders into the Bitcoin smart contract ecosystem.
SUMMARY
Stacks transforms Bitcoin from a simple settlement layer into a programmable financial platform.
By building smart contract capabilities that settle on Bitcoin and securing them through PoX, Stacks unlocks new possibilities for decentralized finance, DeFi liquidity, and Bitcoin productivity, all while leaning on the most secure blockchain in existence. The network’s recent upgrades, especially Nakamoto and Clarity 4, have dramatically improved performance, developer experience, and ecosystem robustness. With growing DeFi products, tokenized BTC usage (sBTC), and institutional integrations like Circle’s USDCx, Stacks is shifting from experimental to Bitcoin’s execution layer for real financial use cases.
COMPETITORS
Stacks sits in a niche between secure Bitcoin anchoring and programmable DeFi layers. Its closest competitors are other smart contract platforms like Ethereum, Base, and Optimism, but Stacks’ unique edge lies in native Bitcoin integration and PoX consensus, giving it unparalleled trust assumptions for Bitcoin based financial applications.
The same sh*t ever: every BTC dump brings back the same narrative
At this point we can officially call it a classic. Every time BTC has a sell-off, the majority goes straight into panic mode and the narrative gets activated: “it’s going to zero,” “this is the end,” “it’s been an honor trading with you guys” (like they’re the Titanic musicians playing while the ship sinks). And it happens every single time, as if it were the first.
And it’s on those days of maximum fear and pessimism that the market finds a bottom (at least for a bounce). Then we all go back to asking ourselves why the hell we didn’t buy down there. But what’s funny is that as crypto evolves, the people spreading FUD also evolve, their narratives get more and more convoluted.
The FUD of every BTC drop
2013–2014: “China banned Bitcoin”
A classic! This one kept coming back in the following years. Half the time it wasn’t even true, but people panicked anyway.
2017–2018: “Bitcoin is a bubble,” “this is like Tulipmania”
Ah yes, the tulip comparison, how could we miss it? This mostly came from economists who didn’t understand crypto (or refused to) and were determined to apply whatever they read in their economic-history textbooks no matter what.
2020: “Bitcoin will disappear with COVID”
In the middle of the pandemic, with the market nuking 50% in minutes, everyone thought this was it for humanity and therefore for speculation in this asset.
Spoiler alert: that day marked the cleanest bottom in BTC history.
2021–2022: “Bans, energy consumption, Elon Musk, miners, regulation”
As you can see, the theories get more “sophisticated”:
the SEC will ban it, Chinese miners left forever, Elon’s tweets killed crypto.
Meanwhile Wall Street was going through a one-year bear market of its own.
2022: “FTX blew up the entire ecosystem, Bitcoin will never recover”
No doubt this mattered, but it actually cleansed the market. Far from the “everything will capitulate” predictions, it ended up being the exact bottom for BTC.
2023–2024: “ETFs are useless,” “weak halving,” “whales are selling”
First they said Wall Street wouldn’t get involved because it wasn’t a serious asset. Then when Wall Street did get involved, they said ETFs would do nothing.
So… which one is it?
This week, with BTC dropping to 60K: “Derivatives are creating more BTC, so the 21M cap isn’t real”
The cherry on top. Sounds like a joke, but nope.
Now the “market experts” (who still can’t understand crypto even while it literally sits at the same table as Wall Street) say derivatives increase the supply of BTC, that there aren’t 21M but many more, and that you can “print paper BTC” with futures. Yep, you heard that correctly.
Did gold or silver stop being scarce because they have derivatives? Did they pump like some shitcoin because of futures? Anyway, that day was the bottom, at least for a bounce, whatever.
Conclusion
Cycles evolve, fears don’t.
If there’s one constant in markets, it’s human behavior: panic → capitulation → bottom → recovery → euphoria. Every. Single. Time.
So next time you see panic all over X, don’t just get your longs ready near the bottom, reply to them with the meme of the guy in the noose saying “First time, huh?” with a smile.
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