What happened last week

BTC saw limited price movement this week following last weeks surge and stubbornly holds the support at 34’000. ETH was slightly more volatile as we saw altcoins picking up this week, lagging a bit behind which is common during these “fundamental rallies”. Friday morning looks slightly less positive than the rest of the week with BTC at the time of writing testing the support at 34’000 again and with derivatives markets remaining bullish we see no reason why BTC would not hold 34’000 despite weekend trading recently mostly being in favor of alts. The latest FOMC meeting which was somewhat ambiguous also marked the ending of the blackout period and hence volatility could pick up on speeches from various central bank speeches which today includes ECB, BoE and Fed.

We also closed October this week on a very positive note, October become the second best month so far this year after January. Generally, October is a very good month for BTC, only having printed monthly losses twice since 2013.

In terms of geopolitics, tensions are yet to ease in the middle east. The president of the Republic of Belarus, Lukashenko, said the Ukraine-Russia war is now at a stalemate. And tensions have in fact been increasing on Chinas southern borders as militant groups from Myanmar have seized control of some border towns.

SBF was also found guilty of all the 7 charges brought against him with each of them carrying a minimum sentence of 5 years meaning a minimum of 35 years and according to Coindesk a maximum sentence of 115 years. SBF is expected to appeal. Although only >200 traders have taken the bet, prediction markets seem to be in favor of a 20-30 years sentence.

According to Claims Market, the current claim pricing of FTX has reached a maximum of 57%, Celsius is about 35-40%, Genesis is about 50%, Alameda is 10%-15%, and 3AC is only 7% to 9%. The increase in FTX’s claim pricing may be related to the skyrocketing valuation of the AI companies it previously invested in according to Wu Blockchain.

Key developments:

• Strong monthly close of BTC with Oct. Performance of +28.6%. Closing month with a price of $34’650.
• Moderate monthly close of ETH with Oct. Performance of +8.7%. Closing month with a price of $1’815.
• Significant monthly close of SOL with Oct. Performance of +79.5%. Closing month with a price of $38.40.
• Crypto inflows this week the highest in more than a year according to Coinshares
• Fed's decision: Unchanged interest rates eased market worries.
• Market sentiment: Anticipation of potential rate cut despite Fed's rate hike possibility boosts confidence.
• Bond yields and crypto: Price shifts linked to U.S. bond auctions due to yield impact.
• Funding rates rise up to 55% per annum: Reflects strong bullish sentiment and resurgence of cash and carry strategies.
• Uptober lived it’s narrative, as prices have clearly increased throughout the crypto sphere
• BTC whitepaper had it’s 15 years anniversery on the 31st of October.