It's MONDAY! I'm going to try and make sure to get a market update out every week on Monday just to help people see where liquidity is sitting, what sectors are seeing growth, and how sentiment is looking going into the week. This week is going to be a little more frothy than usual simply because we are headed into the new year 2026 and there are tons of factors that take place on fiscal close/open. So... without further talking, here is the TLDR from my research. (sourcing from multiple blockchain news sites, financial sites, X posts / sentiment, indicators, and government updates) The market has started to show signs of momentum after the holiday-thin trading. Bitcoin had a brief surge above $90,000 in early Asian hours before pulling back amid low liquidity. Up modestly from recent lows, but showing year-end caution. Volatility spiked due to short liquidations and easing geopolitical tension (or the lack of new tension) but trading volume remains ~30% below average. I believe that this is why volatility is so high. BTC: Still trading in range with no major breakouts ETH: Consolidating below $3,000 resistance SOL: Slight gains and holding steady (I believe due to institutional interest) XRP: Slightly underperforming even though we have new ETF inflows. Zcash: +5-17% gains in recent sessions. Shielded transactions rising, open interest hitting highs. The privacy narrative is starting to build more momentum. Market sentiment is STILL in Extreme Fear. This is most likely due to leverage wipes, tax-loss harvesting, and the holiday trading liquidity. Overall, the market seems to be consolidating in low-liquidity conditions with fear at a high. Intraday pumps show that there is bid strength. Watch for year end close and new January inflows. As always, DYOR. (this is not financial advice).

Beware

We had a little bit of gains this morning that are being wiped out by the current dip intra-day. Seems to be some holiday-thin trading volume and continuous caution from investors. Volatility is (obviously) elevated during these times, especially due to about $24 Billion in Bitcoin options that are due to expire today. Good news with these is that there is currently a 3:1 call/put ratio, which just means that there's more bullish sentiment than bearish. Other crypto assets are trading sideways or negative on the day which aligns with the ongoing fear in the market. Fear and Greed index is sitting at "Extreme Fear" and bears:bulls analyst ratio on X is about 6:4 signaling that overall community sentiment is bearish. To me, these are always the times I look to get good entry. When everyone else is scared or fearful or thinks that we are going to crash, that's my metric to start looking on the up side. HOWEVER, I know full and well that I could be wrong and the market could dip more. That's why it's very important to make sure you are not investing more than you are willing to lose. My Thesis: BTC is a long term hold. Do I think it'll be significantly higher in 5 years than it is today? Yes. I'm okay with going through some volatility on the way there. What are your thoughts on where we sit in the market right now?

Note the markets are down for the 9:00 sell off.

Saw this yesterday and decided I had to share. The SEC just told financial companies: if you're holding crypto for customers, you need to actually control it. No more passing it off to someone else. They're saying you need direct access and the ability to move it. Basically: you need the keys. And if there's a security problem? You have to stop holding that crypto until it's fixed. Why you should care: You know that saying "not your keys, not your crypto"? The SEC just said the same thing to Wall Street firms. These big companies now need written plans for stuff like: - What happens if the blockchain splits - What to do if there's an attack - How to protect crypto if the company goes under If billion-dollar firms need security plans... regular people probably should too. This is just something to think about if all your crypto is sitting on Coinbase or RobinHood and you don't really understand what that means. Does this change how you think about where you keep your crypto?