The Federal Reserve cut 25 basis points to 4.25%; FOMC guidance is dovish, and markets now price a 94% chance of an October cut.
Bitcoin moved back above $117,000 intraday; $118,000 remains the dominant liquidation/resistance zone.
Spot ETF flows flipped: Bitcoin ETFs recorded $51.28 million net outflow on Sept 17 (first outflow after seven days of inflows). Ethereum ETFs were roughly flat with $1.89 million outflow.
Exchange deposits: three distinct waves of inflows exceeding $25 million per block in the past 48 hours. This is indicative of partial spot selling into the bounce.
Derivatives split: BTC and SOL perp open interest declined (less speculative long exposure); ETH, XRP, and BNB OI rose, highlighting reallocations within leverage pools.
The HKMA handed its first approvals to the banks that already print the Hong Kong dollar. That tells you everything about what these tokens are meant to be.
Geopolitical pressure from the Strait of Hormuz standoff continues to weigh on BTC, which has failed to sustain gains above $72,500 even as whale selling dries up and leveraged shorts accumulate.
BTC retreated from a weekend high near $73,000 after the U.S. announced naval interdiction of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, compounding an already fragile market structure.
DRW founder Don Wilson's blunt critique of MEV cuts to a deeper flaw: blockchain market design has drifted into engineering complexity that extracts value without improving price discovery or capital allocation.
