Coindesk

Activity in PowerTrade's options market for alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins) picked pace this week as heightened market volatility prompted traders to seek derivatives for hedging and speculative opportunities.Trading volume in XRP options has soared to over $5 million this week, with most activity concentrated in short-dated expirations, data shared by PowerTrade shows. Flows have been balanced between put options at strikes ranging from $1.80 to $1.98 and calls at strikes $1.80 to $1.93."This activity suggests traders are positioning for significant short-term price movement—either from regulatory developments or a breakout pattern—with a nearly even balance between bullish and bearish structures," Bernd Sischka, head of institutional sales at PowerTrade, told CoinDesk.The two-way flow is consistent with the volatile market action, characterized by XRP...

The U.S. dollar index (DXY) has fallen below 100 and gold has surged to new all-time highs as escalating tariffs have heightened global economic uncertainty. Consequently, asset prices have taken a hit—most notably in the tech sector and cryptocurrencies. Since reaching its all-time high of $109,000 in January, bitcoin (BTC) has declined approximately 26%. When compared to the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks, bitcoin’s drawdown sits right in the middle, signaling its growing maturity as an asset. Tesla (TSLA) is currently the worst performer, down nearly 50% from its peak. NVIDIA (NVDA) follows with a 31% drop. Apple (AAPL), Bitcoin, Meta (META), Google (GOOG), and Amazon (AMZN) have all declined around 26%, while Microsoft (MSFT) stands out with a relatively modest...

World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project backed by U.S. President Donald Trump's family, has denied reports that it sold ether (ETH) earlier this week.It was reported on Wednesday that a wallet closely linked to World Liberty Financial, which is tagged by blockchain data firm Arkham as potentially belonging to the project, sold $8 million worth of ether after surpassing $125 million in unrealized losses.In a statement to CoinDesk, a World Liberty Financial spokesperson said: "The claims that World Liberty Financial has sold any of its holdings are wholly inaccurate. WLFI has not sold any positions as currently reported. Speculation to the contrary is false."Ether has since rebounded since that sale at $1,465, currently trading at $1,553 after the crypto markets...

Tokenized gold, such as Tether’s XAUT and Paxos’ PAXG continued to be a favorite of crypto investors in Asia as investors seek a safe haven despite a de-escalation in trade war tensions.On-chain data shows that Tether’s XAUT was a top-10 market performer out of all digital assets. Tether’s tokenized gold, the largest by market cap, is up 3.4% in the last 24 hours.CoinGecko data shows the sector is up 4.3% in the last 24 hours, compared to the CoinDesk 20, an index of the performance of the largest digital assets, which is down 2%.The price of gold initially moved down during the early hours of the Asia trading day, after breaching an all-time high during the end of U.S. hours....

For years, Wall Street criticized bitcoin (BTC) for its volatility, but the situation has dramatically changed as President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies diminish the appeal of U.S. assets.Since Trump's Liberation Day tariff announcement on April 2, the seven-day realized volatility of the S&P 500, Wall Street's benchmark equity index, has surged from an annualized 50% to 169%, according to data from TradingView. That's the highest level since the coronavirus crash in 2020.BTC's seven-day realized volatility has doubled to 83%, yet it remains significantly lower than the S&P 500, hinting at the cryptocurrency's possible evolution as a low-beta hedge against stocks. The cryptocurrency also looks significantly less volatile than the S&P 500 on a 30-day basis."Equity markets experienced a...