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Crypto market on edge as China asks banks to dump US Treasuries

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Crypto fear and greed index

The crypto market remained on edge on Monday, Feb. 9, as the recent recovery faltered, and after China continued to decouple from the U.S.

Summary

  • The crypto market remained under pressure on Monday as US government bond yields rose.
  • China asked banks and other financial services in the country to reduce their exposure to U.S. debt.
  • The futures open interest in the crypto industry continued to fall, while the Fear and Greed Index retreated.

Bitcoin (BTC) retreated below the key support level at $70,000, while the market capitalization of all tokens fell by 2.75% in the last 24 hours. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index remained in the extreme fear zone, while positions worth over $356 million soared to $356 million.

China urges banks to reduce exposure to US Treasuries 

Bitcoin and the broader crypto market retreated on Monday as other risky assets pulled back. Futures tied to the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 Index also retreated, paring back some of the gains made on Friday.

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This price action happened as Chinese regulators asked financial institutions, including banks, to reduce their exposure to U.S. Treasuries. It also urged those with a high exposure to these assets to reduce them.

According to Bloomberg, the new measures have been framed as a way to diversify their risks rather than the ongoing geopolitical tensions between the two economies. Officials are worried that higher holdings of US Treasuries may expose these companies to higher volatility in the future. 

China’s government has also continued selling its own US government bonds in the past few years. It now holds $682 billion in US Treasuries, down from over $1 trillion a few years ago.

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Worse, some European governments also considered using their large holdings of U.S. Treasury securities as leverage during the recent Greenland crisis. Many European countries, such as the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Luxembourg, hold trillions of U.S. dollars in bonds.

Continued selling of U.S. Treasuries as the government debt has jumped, is one reason why long-term bond yields and gold prices have soared in the past few years. The 30-year rose to 4.90%, while the gold price jumped to above $5,000 as the rally continued.

Crypto Fear and Greed Index remains in the fear zone

Crypto market traders are still fearful that the recent plunge will resume. For one, the Crypto Fear Index has dropped to the extreme fear zone of 9. 

Crypto fear and greed index
Crypto Fear and Greed Index | Source: CMC

The volume in the crypto industry has also dropped sharply in the past few days. According to CoinMarketCap, trading volume dropped 12% over the last 24 hours to $100 billion.

Most importantly, futures open interest has retreated to $96 billion, down from last year’s high of over $255 billion. Falling futures open interest is a sign that investors are continuing their deleveraging, which often leads to lower crypto prices.

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Crypto World

$80M Hyperliquid Whale Bet Predicts Bitcoin Crash and Oil Rally

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$80M Hyperliquid Whale Bet Predicts Bitcoin Crash and Oil Rally

Key takeaways:

  • A Hyperliquid whale placed an $80 million bet against Bitcoin and the S&P 500 while going long on Brent crude oil prices.

  • The whale’s history of massive losses and inconsistent signals suggests the trade could fall on the wrong side of the market.

Bitcoin (BTC) showed strength on Wednesday, bouncing back from Tuesday’s $66,000 low after President Donald Trump teased a potential ceasefire in the US and Israel-Iran war. Even with Bitcoin trading above $68,000, one whale used Hyperliquid DEX to place an $80 million bet on a market collapse. 

Traders are now watching closely to see if this whale’s massive position signals a looming Bitcoin price drop.

Hyperliquid whale 0x94d373…c933814 position. Source: CoinGlass

The Hyperliquid whale, linked to address 0x94d373…c933814, carefully built this nearly $80 million leveraged position between Tuesday and Wednesday. The trade includes a $40 million short (sell) on Bitcoin futures near $68,760, a $2 million short on synthetic S&P 500 Index contracts, and a $37 million long (buy) in synthetic Brent oil contracts.

Crude Brent oil (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD (right). Source: TradingView

The whale’s aggregate position leverage stood at 7 times, indicating high conviction. The Bitcoin futures liquidation price was $80,083, while the Brent oil position would be forcefully terminated above $93. The timing of the trade is curious as S&P 500 Index futures gained 4% between Tuesday and Wednesday as traders anticipate the US and Israel-Iran war dissipating over the next few weeks.

On Wednesday, President Trump said “Iran’s New Regime President” is considering a “ceasefire,” although the conditions to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz remain unknown. Iran demands reparations and sovereignty. Thus, one could assume that the Hyperliquid whale is counter-trading the market’s optimistic take, betting that Brent crude oil prices will jump while Bitcoin loses its value.

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This Hyperliquid whale previously lost $40 million

This address belongs to a particularly unlucky whale, or at least one who has been extremely unsuccessful since late January. The Hyperliquid whale apparently uses bots for execution, given the sheer number of small trades that build into huge positions, but it still managed to lose $37 million in its first month of activity in December 2025.

The same user was flagged by X user ‘lookonchain’ on Feb. 5 after taking a massive loss on leveraged bullish bets on Ether (ETH), Bitcoin, Solana (SOL), and XRP (XRP). 

Source: X/lookonchain

According to the analysis, the whale had previously made $25 million in profits from shorts in multiple cryptocurrencies, but decided to flip the position on Feb. 4, resulting in a $40 million loss. There is no way to know exactly what triggered this entity to place those bets, but the event proves that even whales can misinterpret the market.

Related: Warren Buffett bought $17B in US T-bills: A bad omen for Bitcoin price?

The erratic signals from President Trump regarding a potential full-on invasion and the war in Iran leave room for opposing views. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied there were talks for a ceasefire but confirmed to Al Jazeera on Tuesday that there was an intention to end the war, according to CNBC.

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Given the history of this whale’s market positioning and its track record of losing trades, it’s possible that the current $80 million bet may fall on the wrong side of the market.