Trading

Chinese investors are channeling excess liquidity into metals futures, driving sharp gains in copper, gold, and silver despite weak factory demand. As China's M2 money supply rose 8.5% year-on-year in December while quarterly GDP grew 3.9% in late 2025, speculative trading has surged across metals like silver, aluminum, nickel, tin, and steel wire rod. Copper recently climbed above $14,500 per ton before sliding to $12,750 on the London Metal Exchange, with analysts warning that prices remain largely driven by speculation rather than real consumption.

On Friday morning in Asia, Bitcoin briefly touched $60,000 before stabilizing near $64,000, a roughly 10% daily decline after a near $10,000 move and $1.39 billion in leveraged liquidations. CoinMarketCap's sentiment index fell to a record 5, while Strategy posted a $12.4 billion fourth-quarter net loss as its 713,000-plus BTC holdings traded below a $76,052 cost basis.

A newly created wallet placed $4 million in USDC on Hyperliquid and opened a 3x leveraged short on Solana, aligning with a broader bearish market structure as SOL trades below key price levels. While price action remains confined in a descending channel with RSI near 23 and support around $90, derivatives data show top traders still heavily positioned long, creating a potential setup for further downside and long liquidations.

On February 5, Hyperliquid's HYPE token climbed 6.2% after the project confirmed an integration with Ripple's technology stack, helping it outperform a broadly weaker crypto market. Over the same 24-hour period, XRP slid close to 11% amid risk-off sentiment, derivatives liquidations, and pressure on other major altcoins, even as Ripple-related developments supported other areas of the ecosystem.

Bitcoin extended its slide to a $60,500 low after failing to hold above $72,000, dropping over 10%. It now trades below $68,000 and the 100 hourly simple moving average, with resistance at $66,000 and $67,200. A failure below $62,500 and $61,200 could send price back to $60,500 and the $60,000 support.

Zcash traded around $245 after losing the $300 support level, with price action drifting toward the $240–$244 area that now forms a key short-term floor. If this zone fails to hold, the next potential downside region sits in the $200–$210 band, while any rebound faces resistance between $260 and $280 and a major hurdle at $300.

On Thursday, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) set a $10 billion daily trading record as Bitcoin fell 12% in the past 24 hours. The ETF dropped 13%, its second-worst day since launch, and saw $373.4 million in net outflows on Wednesday. Bitcoin traded near $64,000 after an intraday low of $60,300.

On February 6, 2026, reports said Binance and Bybit temporarily paused withdrawals during a sharp market sell-off. Bitcoin fell over 13% to below $64,000, and a Binance outage earlier in the week lasted about 20 minutes before services were restored. Binance emphasized liquidity strength as He Yi and Changpeng Zhao addressed social media-driven withdrawal calls.

Heading into early February 2026, Midnight (NIGHT), Hyperliquid (HYPE), and Monero (XMR) are bucking weak altcoin sentiment with accumulation and catalyst-led strength. Midnight's Q1 2026 'Kūkolu' phase was outlined in a January update, while HYPE's CMF turned positive and open interest climbed to $793M around Jan. 26–27. Monero's MFI points to fading sell pressure near $305 after an 11-day, 30% drop.

Crypto market sentiment slid to extreme fear as the Fear and Greed Index printed 11. On 4 February, U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs saw about $545m in net withdrawals, while Ethereum funds lost around $79m. Rising volatility and weak price action reinforced a risk-off tone across majors and altcoins.