ethustd

Positioning in futures and options shows traders looking to protect against further declines.
#BTCUSTD
#ETHUSTD
What to know:
Bitcoin is facing renewed selling pressure, dropping 2% in 24 hours, with ether, XRP, solana and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) registering similar losses.Positioning in futures and options shows traders looking to protect against further declines.Internet computer, render and bittensor were among AI-related tokens to benefit from renewed investor interest in the sector, boosted in part by Nvidia’s earnings report.Decred (DCR), a token built for autonomy and decentralized governance, extended gains even as the broader market led by bitcoin BTC$65,614.61 struggled.The token has risen 16% in the past 24 hours and now trades at $34.58, the highest since November, CoinDesk data show. It's the best-performing top-100 token over the past four weeks, having gained more than 80% after a Feb. 8 change to its treasury rules.Bitcoin, for its part, is facing renewed selling pressure, trading just around $67,000, a weak follow-through after bouncing to $70,000 on Wednesday. The cryptocurrency is down 2% and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) registering similar losses.Market participants remain cautious and are continuing to seek put options, or downside protection, in bitcoin. Deribit said that ETF holders and corporate treasuries are buying put options at the $60,000 strike expiring in six to 12 months.Analysts said institutional flows are improving but not yet decisive, and traders should avoid taking big risks."Long-term investors may consider staggered accumulation (SIP-style allocation) near support zones rather than deploying lump sums at resistance," Vikram Subburaj, CEO of crypto exchange Giottus.com, said in an email to CoinDesk.Derivatives positioningCumulative crypto futures open interest (OI) has fallen back to recent multimonth lows of around $93.5 billion. The drop shows how quickly the optimism sparked by Wednesday's bitcoin price bounce has fizzled out.Major tokens, including bitcoin and ether, have seen capital outflows from futures as notional OI declined more than their spot prices.The market-wide long-short ratio continues to show a dominance of shorts, or bearish bets.OI in tether gold (XAUT) dropped another 11% extending the decline from early this week. Gold-linked assets seem to have fallen out of favor lately.Most large-cap tokens, including BTC and ETH, are again seeing negative perpetual funding rates. That means bearish plays are dominating the market once more.Participation in CME bitcoin futures is falling, as shown by open interest hitting the lowest levels this year.On Deribit, one-month bitcoin puts still trade at a 7% premium to calls in a sign of lingering concerns of further spot price declines. The same is true for ether.Bitcoin put spreads, a bearish strategy, accounted for 75% of the total block flow over 24 hours. In ETH's case, traders chased put spreads and straddles (volatility strategies).Token TalkThe DFINITY Foundation proposed burning 20% of cloud engine revenue, introducing a deflationary element tied directly to network usage for Internet Computer (ICP).The remaining 80% of revenue would be routed to node operators, replacing fixed emissions with performance-based incentives. The idea is to make ICP’s token supply more responsive to real demand.ICP’s price moved up roughly 6% in the last 24-hour period, from around $2.41 to $2.56. It’s down from a high of $2.7 seen during the period. The price appears to be influenced not just by the foundation's proposal, but also by Nvidia’s blowout earnings.Those earnings boosted sentiment surrounding artificial intelligence-linked assets, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang saying AI is only getting better.ICP, often marketed as a decentralized alternative to traditional cloud AI infrastructure, was among several AI-linked tokens, including render (RENDER) and bittensor (TAO), to benefit from renewed investor interest in the sector.
#ETHUSTD #BTC

Iran wants to make a “deal” more than the U.S., President Donald Trump said Tuesday stateside, ahead of another round of talks with Tehran around its nuclear program and amid a build up of American forces in the Middle East.
Tehran’s refusal to commit to not developing nuclear weapons remains the key sticking point holding up an agreement, Trump said at a pre-address meeting hours before the State of the Union speech in Washington, D.C, CNBC’s Joe Kernen reported.
In his State of the Union address late Tuesday, Trump said that “They [Iran] want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: We will never have a nuclear weapon.”
The U.S. and Iran are expected to hold talks on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland, with a focus on Iran’s nuclear program. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,” Trump said in his address.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he was still working on the proposal and political leadership in Tehran has yet to sign off on it. He said the proposal would consist of elements that accommodate both sides’ “concerns and interests.”
Araghchi added that the proposal will be discussed in Geneva and both sides will work on a text to try and reach “a fast deal.”
The earlier rounds of negotiations failed to deliver a meaningful breakthrough and tensions continued to run high with Trump threatening limited airstrikes on Iran.
Following the second round of negotiations in Geneva last week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a post on X on Sunday that the recent talks had “yielded encouraging signals” but warned that Iran was prepared for “any potential scenario.”
Tensions have escalated sharply in recent weeks as Washington builds up its military presence in the region and Trump warning that “really bad things” would happen unless Tehran agreed to a deal over the future of its nuclear program.
The State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel at the U.S. embassy in Beirut on Monday amid renewed warnings of airstrikes from Trump.
Last Friday, Trump said that he was considering limited airstrikes on Iran while dangling a deadline of two weeks for Tehran to reach a nuclear deal.
Iran has signaled that it was prepared to make concessions on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions and acknowledgement of its right to enrich uranium, Reuters reported citing a senior Iranian official.
The official said that Tehran would consider a combination of sending half of its most highly enriched uranium abroad, diluting the rest and taking part in creating a regional enrichment consortium. But in doing that, it demanded the U.S. to recognize Iran’s right for nuclear enrichment and lifting economic sanctions, according to Reuters.  
Oil prices edged higher, extending gains amid concerns of an impending military action against Iran in the absence of a deal. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 45 cents, or 0.66% to $66 a barrel, while Brent futures gained 47 cents, or 0.66%, to $71.2.
Further escalation could push prices for the U.S. crude beyond $70 and potentially toward $80 per barrel, said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank, while noting that “geopolitically driven rallies” tend to prove temporary and any sharp upside move may give way to a correction.
#BTC
#ETHUSTD