Aster vs HyperLiquid: A Tale of Leverage, Gold, and Government Shutdowns 😱💰

What to know:

By James Van Straten (All times ET unless otherwise noted, because time zones are just another human construct, right? 🌍⏳)

If Monday’s crypto shenanigans are any hint of what October might bring, buckle up, folks! It’s like the market decided to throw a party, but forgot to invite the U.S. equities and metals. 🎉🚀

Bitcoin, the ol’ reliable, jumped 5% from Friday’s fear-fest to a cool $114,000, proving that sentiment shifts faster than a politician’s promises. But hey, it’s already back to $112,800-probably waiting for gold to stop hogging the spotlight. 🌟💎

Speaking of gold, it’s out here breaking records like it’s 2008 all over again, hitting $3,870. Meanwhile, the dollar index (DXY) is sulking below 98, which is great news for risk-takers. But let’s not forget the elephant in the room: a U.S. government shutdown looming like a storm cloud over crypto policy. 🌩️💼

Robinhood (HOOD), the S&P 500’s new darling, saw its shares jump 12% on Monday. September might’ve been a snooze fest for crypto, with the CoinDesk 20 Index barely budging, but October-aka “Uptober”-is knocking on the door. Stay sharp! 🔍🚪

What to Watch

For the full scoop, check CoinDesk’s week-ahead note. They do the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. 📅📖

Token Events

Again, CoinDesk’s got you covered. Because who has time to track all this? ⏳📊

Conferences

Singapore’s the place to be this week. Sonic Summit 2025, Digital Assets Summit 2025, and Tokenized Capital Summit 2025-all happening on Sept. 30. Pack your bags! 🌏✈️

Day 2 of 2: Sonic Summit 2025 (Singapore)
Sept. 30: Digital Assets Summit 2025 (Singapore)
Sept. 30: Tokenized Capital Summit 2025 (Singapore)

Token Talk

By Oliver Knight (because someone’s gotta make sense of this madness)

Aster and HyperLiquid are duking it out in the derivatives ring. Aster’s trading volume hit $64 billion, while HyperLiquid’s stuck at $7.6 billion. Why? Aster’s offering 100x to 300x leverage-because who doesn’t love a little extra risk? 🎲💥
Max Arch from BoltLiquidity says traders are chasing leverage like it’s the last slice of pizza. But will Aster’s high-risk strategy backfire? Only time will tell. 🕰️🍕
Wash trading on Aster? Only 6%, says Arch. Skeptics, eat your hearts out. 🧼💦
ASTER and HYPE tokens are taking a beating, thanks to a broader altcoin sell-off. $200 billion vanished last week-crypto’s version of a magic trick. 🎩🐇

Derivatives Positioning

The market’s bullish again, with open interest and basis picking up. Binance is still the big dog, with $12.7 billion in BTC futures. 🐶💪
BTC options are a mixed bag. Short-term puts are in demand, but call volume is dominating-traders are hedging and speculating like it’s their job. 🤹♂️📈
Funding rates are positive on Binance and OKX, meaning longs are paying shorts. Classic bull market behavior. 🐂💸
Liquidations hit $316 million in 24 hours, with ETH and BTC leading the charge. Binance’s heatmap says $115,000 is the level to watch. 🔥🔍

Market Movements

BTC: Down 1.3% at $112,840.60 (24hrs: +0.71%) 🪙📉
ETH: Down 2.13% at $4,138.84 (24hrs: +0.71%) 🦄📉
CoinDesk 20: Down 2.34% at 3,971.18 (24hrs: -0.16%) 📊📉
Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate: Up 12 bps at 2.93% 🌱📈
BTC funding rate: 0.0056% (6.1276% annualized) on Binance 📈💰

DXY: Unchanged at 97.82 (because even indexes need a break) 🏖️
Gold: Up 0.76% at $3,884.40 (still the prom queen of assets) 👑✨
Silver: Unchanged at $47.01 (silver’s just happy to be here) 🥈😊
Nikkei 225: Down 0.25% at 44,932.63 (Japan’s taking a nap) 😴🇯🇵
Hang Seng: Up 0.87% at 26,855.56 (Hong Kong’s on the move) 🚀🇭🇰

Bitcoin Stats

BTC Dominance: 58.88% (0.12%) 🌟
Ether to bitcoin ratio: 0.03673 (-0.33%) 🦄🆚🪙
Hashrate: 1,041 EH/s (miners are busy bees) 🐝💻
Hashprice: $50.55 (not bad, not bad) 💰
Total Fees: 3.32 BTC / $376,516 (someone’s making bank) 💸

Technical Analysis

Bitcoin’s bouncing around like a ping-pong ball, testing the 20-day EMA and now holding above daily EMAs. Bulls, your move! 🐃🎯
Key level to watch: $116,000 to $118,000. Break that, and it’s party time. 🎉
But if it dips below $114,870, we might revisit Monday’s lows. Stay tuned! 📉🍿

Crypto Equities

Coinbase (COIN): Closed at $333.99 (+6.85%), now at $328.09 (-1.77%) 📉
Circle (CRCL): Closed at $133.66 (+5.25%), now at $132.03 (-1.22%) 📉
Galaxy Digital (GLXY): Closed at $34.29 (+10.97%), now at $33.64 (-1.90%) 📉

Crypto Treasury Companies

Strategy (MSTR): Closed at $326.42 (+5.62%), now at $318.77 (-2.34%) 📉
Semler Scientific (SMLR): Closed at $29.24 (+3.29%), now at $29.20 (-0.14%) 📉

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

Daily net flows: $518 million (cha-ching! 💰)
Cumulative net flows: $57.3 billion (that’s a lot of zeros) 🤑
Total BTC holdings: ~1.31 million (hodl strong! 💪)

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net flows: $546.9 million (ETH’s not playing second fiddle) 🦄💰
Cumulative net flows: $13.69 billion (still impressive) 👏
Total ETH holdings: ~6.46 million (stacking up nicely) 📚

2025-09-30 15:32