Asia Colour

Is this the calm before an impending storm? The market continues to grind lower even after the SEC announced the establishment of a Crypto Regulatory Task Force. BTC has broken below $106K and is currently hanging by a thread around the $102K level.

XRP and SOL jumped 3.4% and 4.1%, respectively, after a screenshot of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) webpage offering XRP and SOL futures appeared on X. While CME later clarified that the leaked webpage was an error and no decision had been made regarding XRP or SOL futures contracts, the creation of such a webpage strongly suggests that the launch of these contracts is drawing closer.

On the options front, the desk observed growing interest in the Jan $95K strikes as the market scrambled for downside protection after BTC lost momentum during yesterday’s US session. This stood in stark contrast to the bullish market sentiment observed earlier in the day, when traders were gradually building topside positions during the Asia and London hours. With no major catalysts before next week’s FOMC meeting, the market is likely to remain range-bound until there is more clarity on how the recent weak CPI reading has influenced the Fed’s upcoming policy decisions.