The cryptocurrency market's Fear and Greed Index dropped to 11 on Dec. 16 from 16 the previous day, indicating extreme fear, Alternative data cited by BlockBeats show. The index ranges from 0 to 100 and is calculated using volatility (25%), market trading volume (25%), social media sentiment (15%), market surveys (15%), Bitcoin's share of total market cap (10%) and Google search trends (10%).

FOREX.com market analyst Fawad Razaqzada said markets expect around 50,000 jobs added in November and the unemployment rate may rise to 4.5%, BlockBeats reports. He noted any downside surprise could pull forward Fed rate-cut expectations and support gold.

Several high-profile crypto traders adjusted leveraged positions on Hyperliquid as markets declined on December 16, Coinbob popular address tracking shows. Address "pension-usdt.eth" opened new 3x leveraged BTC long positions around 00:00 with holdings of about $85.76M at an average entry of $86,300, becoming the largest BTC long on the platform after generating roughly $2.8M in profit from four round-trip trades on December 15. The whale labeled "终极空头" partially closed BTC short positions worth about $8.6M with realized profit of roughly $2.37M, leaving $61.88M in BTC shorts with $18.46M unrealized gains (542%) and a liquidation price of $104,000, ranking second on Hyperliquid's BTC short leaderboard. Trader "Paul Wei" executed four new BTC long trades from December 15 evening through December 16 morning, now showing an unrealized loss of about 7% with BTC longs representing 15% of a $100,000 portfolio and cumulative profit since November 16 of $3,100. Address "BTC OG 内幕巨鲸" holds an ETH long position of about $564M at an average entry of $3,167 with unrealized losses of $40M (-37%), alongside losing BTC and SOL longs, for total positions of roughly $680M and the top spot on Hyperliquid's ETH long leaderboard.

A whale transferred 12.43M ASTER tokens to Binance approximately 9 hours ago, valued at $11.67M, on-chain analyst Ai 姨 (@ai_9684xtpa) reports. The entity accumulated the tokens on December 10 at $0.8688 per token and moved them at $0.9705, facing a potential loss of $1.367M at current market levels. ASTER is trading at $0.806, below CZ's reported entry cost of $0.913 per token.

Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder Tom Lee said on Dec. 16 that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with AI, represent exponential growth opportunities, BlockBeats reports. He noted this outlook makes current stock prices highly sensitive to changing risk perceptions. Lee added that market pullbacks should be regarded as buying opportunities.

Address 0xb31, known as the "BTC OG Insider Whale," holds an unrealized loss of about $49.5M on roughly $680M in leveraged positions with $48.36M in remaining margin as of December 16, Coinbob popular address monitoring cited by BlockBeats shows. The main positions include a 5x ETH long worth $564M at an average entry of $3,167 with $39.81M in unrealized losses and a liquidation price at $2,078, a 5x BTC long of $85.96M at $91,500 with $5.46M in losses, and a 20x SOL long of $31.52M at $137 with $2.81M in losses. The address transferred $70M from a Binance wallet to Hyperliquid between the night of December 7 and the morning of December 8 to open the ETH long at an earlier average of $3,048, then added $50M on December 10 and $110M on December 12. The address previously held over 50,000 BTC dormant for eight years before rotating some into ETH and drew attention by placing a $500M BTC short hours before the October 11 drop, reportedly earning nearly $100M, while BitForex CEO Garrett Jin said the address is related to one of its clients.

A major whale fully closed its ETH long position on December 16, realizing a loss of about $5.86 million as the market declined, Onchain Lens data show. The address not only gave back earlier gains but now shows a cumulative loss of roughly $2.4 million.

a16z transferred 276,000 COMP worth $7.6 million to Coinbase Prime on December 16, on-chain analyst EmberCN reports. The firm acquired 1 million COMP, representing 10% of the token's total supply, in March 2020 as lead investor in Compound. a16z's on-chain addresses now primarily hold 64 million UNI valued at $325 million and 19.51 million OP worth $5.71 million, with no remaining COMP holdings, the data show.

Kevin Warsh moved into the lead to become the next Federal Reserve chair on Dec. 16, overtaking Kevin Hassett, with his nomination odds rising from 7% to 48% while Hassett's fell from a high of 85% to 42%, Polymarket data show. On Kalshi, Warsh's probability climbed from 10% to 52%, and Hassett's slipped from a high of 81% to 39%. Asked last Friday afternoon whether Warsh now tops his list for the Fed chair role, Trump said "Yes, I think he is, I think both Kevins are great," and added, "And I think there are a few other very good candidates." JPMorgan's CEO backed Warsh as the next Fed chair, calling him a "great chairman," while CNBC, citing people familiar, reported that Hassett had been viewed by markets as a "quasi front-runner" to replace the current chair but has recently faced skepticism from senior figures who can directly influence former President Trump's decision, and that this pressure may explain why candidate interviews were canceled in early December and then rescheduled, with Warsh's interview completed last week.