Crypto World
Why the crypto crash has nothing to do with stocks
Something strange happened in early June 2026. The crypto market shed roughly $250 billion in 72 hours, with Bitcoin and Ethereum both suffering double-digit losses, in one of the most violent deleveraging events in recent memory.
Summary
- Crypto lost roughly $250B in 72 hours while major U.S. stock indices remained near record highs.
- More than $5.4B in leveraged longs were liquidated over five days, strengthening the leverage-shakeout explanation.
- Crypto-specific leverage, ETF outflows, sentiment, and forced selling explain the crash better than an equity-market decline.
- The decoupling shows crypto remains vulnerable to internal market mechanics despite growing institutional integration.
And while crypto burned, the traditional financial markets it is supposed to move with did not flinch. Major U.S. stock indices continued trading near their all-time highs, showing zero signs of the systemic stress you would expect if a genuine risk-off wave were sweeping global markets. This divergence is the most analytically interesting feature of the entire selloff, and it has split observers into camps.
Some see proof of manipulation, others a pure crypto-specific liquidity shakeout, and others a warning that crypto is front-running a macroeconomic turn that equities have not yet priced. The one explanation that does not fit the evidence is the simplest one everyone reaches for: that crypto crashed because the broader market did. It did not, because the broader market did not crash. This piece works through what the decoupling actually means, why it happened, and what it tells you about what crypto has become.
The divergence, precisely
Start with the two facts that do not fit the usual story, because their coexistence is the whole puzzle.
Fact one: crypto suffered a severe, fast collapse. Roughly $250 billion evaporated from the total digital asset market capitalization in 72 hours. Bitcoin fell from the $70,000s toward $61,000, Ethereum dropped under $1,800 and touched lower, and major altcoins fell double digits, with Solana, Cardano, and others down sharply. Over a billion dollars in leveraged positions were liquidated in cascades. By any measure, this was a genuine crypto crisis, not a routine pullback.
Fact two: traditional markets were calm. While crypto bled, major U.S. stock indices continued to trade near their historical highs. There was no equity crash, no credit-market stress, no spike in the volatility indices that signal genuine financial fear, no flight to safety of the kind that accompanies real systemic risk-off events. The stock market, in other words, behaved as though nothing was wrong, because from its perspective nothing was.
This coexistence breaks the explanation most people reach for instinctively. When crypto falls hard, the reflexive assumption is “risk assets are selling off” or “the macro environment turned.” But that explanation requires the broader risk-asset complex to be selling off too, and it was not. Stocks, the largest and most liquid risk-asset class, sat near record highs throughout. So whatever drove crypto down, it was not a general flight from risk that swept everything, because everything did not get swept. The crypto crash was, to a striking degree, a crypto event. Understanding why requires looking at what is specific to crypto, and that is where the real explanations live.
Explanation one: the leverage shakeout
The most concrete and well-supported explanation is that this was a crypto-native liquidity event, driven by the leverage that exists inside crypto markets and almost nowhere else at the same intensity.
Crypto markets carry leverage that traditional markets do not permit at the same scale. Retail and professional traders alike can take positions many times their capital through perpetual futures and other derivatives, and during the calm, rising stretch before the crash, that leverage accumulated. Funding rates ran hot, open interest swelled, and the market filled with crowded long positions, each carrying a liquidation price not far below the current level. This built a structure that was fragile in a way the stock market simply was not, because equities do not carry the same density of leveraged, auto-liquidating positions.
When the price started falling, that structure did what it always does: it cascaded. Falling prices hit the first cluster of liquidation points, forcing automatic selling, which pushed prices lower, hitting the next cluster, in a self-reinforcing chain that ran far faster than any human could react. More than $5.4 billion in leveraged long positions was reportedly liquidated over five days, with daily losses peaking above $400 million on June 4. This is a purely internal crypto mechanism. It does not require the stock market to do anything, because it is generated entirely by the leverage structure inside crypto itself. A leverage shakeout of this kind can crater crypto while equities sit untouched, precisely because the fragility lives in crypto’s own plumbing.
This explanation fits the divergence perfectly. If the crash were driven by a leverage cascade unique to crypto’s market structure, you would expect exactly what happened: a violent crypto collapse with no corresponding move in traditional markets, because the mechanism is endogenous to crypto. The $250 billion did not flee to safety in bonds or cash in a way that would show up in traditional markets; much of it simply evaporated as leveraged positions were wiped out and forced selling drove prices down. The shakeout interpretation says the crash was real but mechanical, a deleveraging event that cleaned out excess instead of delivering a verdict on crypto’s value or a reaction to the outside world.
Explanation two: the manipulation theory
The decoupling has also fueled a louder, more conspiratorial explanation, and while it deserves skepticism, it deserves a fair hearing because the divergence is what gives it oxygen.
The manipulation argument runs roughly as follows: the crypto market is smaller, less regulated, and more concentrated than traditional markets, which makes it more susceptible to deliberate price manipulation by large players. The fact that crypto crashed in isolation, without any corresponding macro event in traditional markets, is read by proponents as evidence that the move was engineered, that large actors deliberately triggered cascades to liquidate over-leveraged retail positions, hunt stop-losses, and accumulate at lower prices. The thinness of weekend and off-hours crypto liquidity, the concentration of derivatives activity on a handful of venues, and the documented history of manipulation in crypto’s past all feed the suspicion.
There is a legitimate kernel here that should not be dismissed entirely. Crypto markets really are more manipulable than deep, regulated equity markets, liquidation cascades can in fact be triggered and exploited by large players who can see where stop-losses and liquidation points cluster, and the practice of pushing price into liquidation zones to harvest forced selling is a real phenomenon, not pure fantasy. To that extent, “manipulation” in the narrow sense of large players exploiting the leverage structure is plausibly part of what happened.
But the strong version of the theory, that the entire crash was a coordinated engineering operation, overreaches and should be treated with caution. The selloff has ample non-conspiratorial explanation: record ETF outflows, a hawkish Fed outlook, genuine geopolitical risk from U.S.-Iran tensions, the Saylor sale denting sentiment, and the leverage cascade. When sufficient ordinary forces explain an event, attributing it to deliberate manipulation requires extraordinary evidence that proponents generally do not provide.
The divergence from stocks does not prove manipulation; it is equally well explained by the leverage shakeout, which is mechanical, not orchestrated. The honest position is that exploitation of the leverage structure by large players is real and probably occurred at the margins, while the grand-conspiracy version is an understandable but unsupported leap that the decoupling alone cannot justify.
Explanation three: crypto is front-running something
The third explanation is the most unsettling, and it takes the decoupling as a warning, not a quirk: that crypto, as a faster and more sentiment-driven market, is pricing in a macroeconomic turn that equities have not yet acknowledged.
The logic rests on crypto’s nature as a leading-edge risk asset. Crypto trades 24/7, is dominated by retail and fast-moving capital, and responds to sentiment shifts faster than the slower, institution-heavy equity markets. In this framing, the forces weighing on crypto, the hawkish Fed outlook with markets pricing a high probability of zero rate cuts, the geopolitical risk from Middle East tensions, and the capital rotation toward the AI trade, are real macroeconomic headwinds.
The capital-rotation argument has gained additional support from claims that money has moved toward private AI investments such as SpaceX and Anthropic. In this reading, Bitcoin is not falling because equities are weak; it is falling partly because the strongest speculative capital is chasing opportunities elsewhere.
Crypto is simply reacting to the macro forces first. The stock market, on this view, is complacent, sitting near record highs while ignoring the same risks that crypto is already pricing, and the divergence is a sign that crypto is the canary rather than the anomaly.
If this is correct, the implication is serious: it would mean the crypto crash is an early warning that equities are due for their own repricing, and that the calm in traditional markets is temporary. There is historical precedent for risk assets at the speculative edge turning before the broader market, and crypto’s sensitivity to liquidity conditions makes it a plausible early indicator of tightening financial conditions that have not yet hit stocks. The strong jobs report that crushed rate-cut hopes is exactly the kind of macro shift that would eventually pressure equities too, and crypto may simply have reacted to it faster and harder.
The counterargument is that crypto has a long history of crashing on its own for its own reasons without predicting anything about equities, and that treating every crypto selloff as a macro omen is a pattern that mostly generates false alarms. Crypto’s higher volatility and internal leverage mean it moves more for endogenous reasons, so a crypto crash is far more often just a crypto crash than a leading indicator of a stock market turn.
The front-running thesis is plausible and worth taking seriously precisely because the macro headwinds are genuine, but it is also the kind of narrative that feels compelling in the moment and is usually wrong about timing. The truthful assessment is that crypto could be front-running a macro turn, but the base rate for “crypto crash predicts stock crash” is low, so this explanation should be held as a real possibility rather than a confident forecast.
What the decoupling actually tells us
Stepping back, the most durable lesson of the divergence is not which explanation wins but what the decoupling reveals about crypto’s nature in 2026.
For years, the dominant narrative was that crypto had become “just another risk asset,” moving in lockstep with tech stocks and the Nasdaq, its independence eroded by institutional adoption and ETF integration. The June selloff complicates that story. A market that crashes $250 billion while stocks sit at record highs is not moving in lockstep with anything.
The decoupling demonstrates that crypto retains a distinct market structure, driven by internal forces, leverage cascades, ETF flows, sentiment shifts, and crypto-specific catalysts like the Saylor sale, that can override its correlation with traditional markets entirely. Crypto is correlated with equities until it is not, and the moments when the correlation breaks are revealing: they show that crypto’s own plumbing, especially its leverage, can dominate everything else.
This cuts in a counterintuitive direction for the maturation narrative. The institutionalization of crypto through ETFs was supposed to make it more stable and more tightly integrated with traditional finance. But the June crash shows that integration is partial and conditional. ETF flows became a major driver, yes, but the underlying market still carries the leverage and sentiment-driven fragility that produces violent, isolated moves.
Crypto in 2026 is a hybrid: institutionalized enough that ETF flows move it, but still crypto-native enough that a leverage cascade can crater it while the institutions’ other holdings sit calm. The decoupling is the proof that the old crypto market structure did not disappear under the institutional veneer; it is still there underneath, capable of taking over.
The practical takeaway for anyone trying to read crypto is to resist the reflexive “risk-off” explanation when crypto falls in isolation. When crypto crashes and stocks do not, the cause is almost certainly something internal to crypto, leverage, flows, or a specific catalyst, rather than a broad macro event, because a broad macro event would show up in stocks too.
The June 2026 crash was, on the best available evidence, primarily a crypto-native leverage shakeout, amplified by ETF outflows and a hostile macro backdrop, with large players plausibly exploiting the cascade at the margins and a live but unproven possibility that crypto is front-running a turn equities have not priced.
What it was not is a simple case of crypto following the stock market down, because the stock market did not go down. That single fact, crypto crashing alone while equities held their highs, is the most important thing the selloff revealed, and it says crypto is still its own animal, integrated with traditional finance but not yet tamed by it.
This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile. The figures and analysis described reflect data available as of June 2026. Always do your own research and consult with qualified financial professionals before making investment decisions.
The primary cryptocurrency has staged a minor resurgence over the past week, with its valuation briefly rising to nearly $67,000 and now hovering around $65,000.
However, some analysts warn that this is unlikely to mark the start of a new bull run, envisioning a major collapse in the near future.
Same as 2022?
BTC, which plunged below $58,000 at the end of June, has rebounded by double digits in the following several weeks. And while bulls eagerly await the end of the bear market, the analyst who uses the X moniker BATMAN shut down that optimism.
They believe the cryptocurrency’s recent price increase mirrors the one from the autumn of 2022, which was followed by a massive crash to roughly $16,000.
“Side by side, this level looks concerning. It mirrors a similar bullish pump from 2022 that led to nothing afterward. History might not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme,” they stated.
Of course, one should keep in mind that the drop below $20K at that time was driven largely by the meltdown of the once-prominent crypto exchange FTX: something that sent shockwaves through the entire digital asset sector.
For their part, X user Kabuki believes that the latest price setup represents a classic bull trap. They think BTC could dump to as low as $47,000 by August before starting a major uptrend move that could take it to over $200,000 by the start of next year.
Monitoring These Vital Levels
X user Ted also gave his two cents, noting the decline from the local high of almost $67K to the current $65K. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of the lower target, arguing that BTC could surge to $67,500-$68,000 if it stays above.
Meanwhile, Bitfinex’s analysts pointed to a key reaction zone between $67,900 and $68,300, where the short-term holder realized price and the second-quarter opening level have lined up. They believe a decisive breakout above or below that range could determine the asset’s direction in the near future.
It is important to note that the renewed institutional interest gives hope that Bitcoin hasn’t completely lost its momentum and might soon post fresh gains. According to SoSoValue, the inflows into spot BTC ETFs have surpassed outflows in the past seven consecutive days, something unseen since April.
The development shows that pension funds, hedge funds, and other conservative investors have increased their exposure to the asset, prompting BlackRock, Fidelity, and many other financial giants that have launched such products to purchase Bitcoin, thereby backing their shares. The situation was much different toward the end of June, when spot BTC ETFs saw a weekly outflow of around $1.8 billion.
The post 2022 vs. 2026: Analyst Warns Bitcoin’s Recent Rally Could End in a Massive Crash appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Senate Republicans circulated a revised 616-page Crypto Bill draft on July 22 that includes a White House-backed ethics provision, but no Democrat has publicly endorsed the latest text. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to move the bill to the Senate floor before the August recess, although it remains unclear whether Republicans can secure the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation.
- The ethics provision bars the president, vice president, members of Congress, senior executive branch officials, and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring certain digital assets while in office.
- The provision designates the U.S. attorney general as the primary enforcement authority and does not authorize state attorneys general to enforce the ethics rules.
- The ethics restrictions would expire in 2029 unless extended by Congress.
- Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, meaning they would likely need support from at least seven Democrats if all senators vote.
The ethics language was negotiated between Senate Republicans and the White House and reflects a compromise the Trump administration was willing to support.
Under the proposal, crypto platforms could be required to avoid listing digital assets issued or sponsored in violation of the ethics rules, while the attorney general could pursue civil enforcement against officials and parties that knowingly violate the provision.
For many Democrats, however, the enforcement structure remains the central concern. They argue that relying solely on the Department of Justice provides insufficient independent oversight, particularly given President Donald Trump’s crypto-related business interests. Those concerns intensified after Trump’s annual financial disclosure reported substantial income tied to crypto ventures, including World Liberty Financial and his memecoin-related businesses.
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Alsobrooks Calls DOJ Only Enforcement ‘An Unserious Offer’
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D, Md.), one of the Democrats who has participated in negotiations on crypto legislation, said this week that any enforcement mechanism limited to the Department of Justice is “an unserious offer.” She added that she could not support the bill under its current ethics language while leaving room for further negotiations before a floor vote.
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 21, 2026
UPDATE: Sen. Angela Alsobrooks said that the White House proposal to have the DOJ enforce the CLARITY Act’s ethics provisions is an “unserious offer.”
She also said she will not support the bill if it is the only enforcement option, per Eleanor Terrett. pic.twitter.com/Cb0TwfACeR
The main disagreement is over enforcement. Democrats have repeatedly sought to give state attorneys general independent authority to enforce the ethics provisions. The revised Republican draft instead reserves enforcement authority to the U.S. attorney general, preventing states from bringing their own actions under that section of the bill. Democratic lawmakers have argued for months that stronger and more independent oversight is necessary.
A group of Democratic senators, including Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Ruben Gallego, and Mark Warner, has also said the current CLARITY Act draft remains inadequate on ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, and market integrity. Their support could prove critical if Republicans hope to advance the legislation.
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Thune’s Floor Timeline Puts Pressure on Both Sides of the Crypto Bill
Thune’s plan to pursue a floor vote before the August recess appears designed to increase pressure on negotiators rather than signal that the bill already has sufficient bipartisan backing. When asked whether the legislation was ready, Thune said he was hopeful but acknowledged that further discussions and possible revisions could still be necessary.
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 23, 2026
UPDATE: The CLARITY Act is heading toward a Senate vote, even without Democratic support.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune plans to bring the crypto bill to the floor as soon as next week, even if no deal is reached with Democrats, per Bloomberg.
The Senate now has just 12… https://t.co/smqbz9EhuQ
The strategy could force lawmakers to either reach a compromise quickly or publicly demonstrate that bipartisan support remains out of reach. If the bill fails to advance before the Senate leaves for the August recess, negotiations could resume later in the year, although the legislative timeline would become less predictable.
The broader crypto regulation package would establish clearer jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC, create a regulatory framework for digital assets, and include provisions affecting decentralized finance developers and blockchain infrastructure participants. While Republicans hoped the revised ethics language would attract Democratic support, negotiations remain ongoing, and the bill’s prospects are still uncertain.
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The post Crypto Bill Stalls as Democrats Reject DOJ-Only Ethics Enforcement appeared first on Cryptonews.
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Crypto World
BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy pledge $15 million to prepare Bitcoin for quantum threats
A total of nine companies have formed a consortium pledging a combined $15 million over three years to support Bitcoin security research and open-source development.
Companies in the newly formed Bitcoin Security Consortium include major crypto market participants including BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy, Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets and Galaxy.
The group will focus partly on preparing Bitcoin for advances in quantum computing and will publish material tracking the state of Bitcoin security work for investors and the public.
The $15 million will not be held or allocated by the consortium, but instead member will choose which developers, researchers or organizations it funds. The group said it will not direct Bitcoin development or take positions on proposed protocol changes.
“Bitcoin Core developers do incredibly important work,” BlackRock digital assets head Robert Mitchnick said, adding that the group would make additional funding available for Bitcoin’s long-term security.
The announcement did not disclose individual contributions, initial recipients or how much of the funding represents new commitments.
Michael Saylor’s Strategy announced the launch of the Bitcoin Security Consortium, a group of financial institutions and Bitcoin companies supporting the long-term quantum security of the Bitcoin network.
The consortium pledged an aggregate $15 million over the next three years to support developers securing the Bitcoin network against the threat of a quantum computing breakthrough, Strategy announced in a Thursday press release.
Other founding members include Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Block, Blockstream, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets and Galaxy. The consortium’s day-to-day work will be coordinated by Mike Schmidt, who serves in a volunteer capacity and is the executive director of Brink, a non-profit that supports Bitcoin open-source developers.
On Wednesday, Galaxy Digital pledged up to $5 million in grants for developers working on Bitcoin’s quantum security and elected a council of quantum-advisory experts to research quantum-resistant migration solutions.
Bitcoin’s quantum security is a growing concern in the community, though the timeline of a quantum breakthrough remains hotly debated. In November 2025, Blockstream CEO Adam Back said that Bitcoin faces no meaningful quantum threat for at least the next 20 to 40 years.
In contrast, an April report from investment manager Bernstein said that Bitcoin has about three to five years to prepare for a post-quantum security upgrade.
BlackRock’s global head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, said that Bitcoin core developers do “incredibly important work” and that the asset management company was pleased to make “significant additional funding available to support Bitcoin’s long-term security needs.”
Magazine: Bitcoin’s quantum upgrade path: What BIP-360 changes and what it does not
The European Union agreed on Thursday to its 21st sanctions package against Russia. EU persons are now barred from transacting with 11 unnamed crypto operators and 94 banks and financial institutions.
While names of the 11 crypto platforms have been withheld, the EU has revealed that they mostly operate in Belarus and Nigeria, acting as conduits to funnel money between Russia and countries blocked from doing business with it.
Previously, Brussels was limited to sanctioning individual firms. It now has the power to bar crypto services from an entire nation or jurisdiction if it is viewed as a hub for laundering Russian financial transactions, an unprecedented development in the battle against sanctions evasion.
Stablecoins and The Garantex Trail
This package is the latest in a series of moves to tighten the net on crypto services tied to the ruble. Earlier this year, the A7A5 stablecoin, which acted as a bridge between sanctioned exchanges Garantex and Grinex, was designated, followed by the RUBx token and digital ruble.
The UK moved in parallel, sanctioning the HTX (formerly Huobi) exchange in May over alleged ties to A7 and Garantex. A Global Ledger report found HTX had processed around $21 billion in ‘high-risk’ crypto transactions over the last 5 years, with almost $8 billion of it tied to Russian actors and darknet markets.
Broad Scope: Banks, Oil And The Shadow Fleet
The package designates 94 financial institutions, including 32 banks and the Moscow stock exchange, freezing their EU-held assets and banning transactions with them. It also targets vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet for the first time.
I welcome the agreement on the 21st sanctions package against Russia.
At a time when Ukraine has built military momentum, our sanctions continue to weaken the economic foundations of Russia’s war effort.
We’re adding 32 more Russian banks to our transaction ban list.
As well…
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 23, 2026
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed a freeze on oil cap prices at $44.10 a barrel ‘so that the Russian war machine does not benefit from market shocks,’ adding that Brussels also plans on banning Russian combatants from entering the EU.
The post EU Hits Russia With Toughest Crypto Crackdown Yet appeared first on CryptoPotato.
An ongoing hacking spree has claimed another three victims in the past 24 hours, with a total of over $35 million lost.
Verus bridge has lost over $7.5 million, just two months after being hit by a similar hack which claimed $11 million. Proceeds of the May exploit were partially returned following a 25% bounty offer.
Now, AFX is offering a 30% bounty in response to losing $24 million USDC from its Arbitrum bridge.
In an increasingly bleak landscape for legitimate security researchers, such generous offers are, at best, insulting, and, at worst, may even tempt those with such skills to the dark side.
Read more: Across, Allbridge, TeleSwap lost $5.7M to bridge hacks in past week
Verus bridge hacked again
Following the return of 75% of the funds lost in May’s hack, the assets were sent from the recovery address back into the Verus bridge just 14 days ago.
In the early hours of Thursday, a wide range of assets (tBTC, ETH, USDC, scrvUSD, MKR, USDT and EURC) totaling $7.5 million were withdrawn from the bridge in a single transaction.
According to blockchain auditor SlowMist, both exploits share a root cause of “flawed cross-chain import validation,” though with slightly different attack vectors.
This time it looks much less likely that Verus will see the money again, however. The attacker has since deposited a total of 3,916 ETH (over $6.6 million) to Tornado Cash.
Read more: Bridge hacks back in vogue as Verus exploit brings 2026 total to $329M
AFX’s USDC bridge drained of $24M
Late on Wednesday, AFX’s USDC custody bridge on Arbitrum was drained of over $24 million. Security firm BlockSec believes this to be a “malicious use of authorized validator keys,” which were used to sign “the bridge’s 5-of-7 validator quorum.”
Responding to the incident, AFX stated it had suspended bridge operations and is “investigating the root cause.”
It reassured users that its “AFX trading infrastructure, mainnet, and the Arbitrum network itself have not been compromised.”
AFX has also offered a 30% bounty, worth $7.2 million, for the return of the remaining funds, “as a white hat bounty.” Security expert Taylor Monahan, again, questions the wisdom of such a move.
Read more: More oracle exploits as Ostium loses over $20M
Another audit firm, Peckshield, notes that the exploiter has since swapped the funds for over 12,000 ETH, worth approximately $24 million. Funds remain in the attacker’s address on Ethereum.
Since the beginning of last week, bridge exploits have claimed at least $40 million.
BSquared staking contract emptied
Finally, BTC-for-AI-agents project BSquared was hacked for almost $4 million due to “unauthorized access to the staking contract’s upgrade authority.”
The team has promised affected B2 stakers will be fully compensated, and is offering the standard 10% bounty.
Read more: Supra patched oracle on 11 other chains before $9M Hedera exploit
The contract was drained of $3.86 million worth of B2 tokens on BNB Chain. According to blockchain investigator Specter, which flagged the theft, the tokens were swapped to WBNB, bridged to Ethereum and moved to privacy protocol Zcash.
They claim that the privileged role has been active for over a year, which may point to an inside job.
Got a tip? Send us an email securely via Protos Leaks. For more informed news and investigations, follow us on X, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.
XRP price climbed from around $1.11 to $1.14 during the past week, briefly testing resistance near $1.16 before easing back despite its bullish prediction. The move looked constructive, but buyers are now facing a key ceiling. A decisive break above recent highs could open the door toward $1.32. Otherwise, the rally risks fading as short-term traders lock in profits.
The latest advance follows nine consecutive weeks of net inflows into XRP investment products, totaling about $17.2 million. However, the pace of fresh inflows has slowed. The most recent weekly figure fell to roughly $12 million, suggesting institutional demand remains positive but is no longer accelerating.
Price can lead fund flows for a while, yet that relationship becomes less reliable when inflows begin to cool. As a result, traders chasing strength should watch whether demand catches up. If it does not, momentum could fade even if the technical picture still appears healthy.
Meanwhile, the CLARITY Act and the U.S. regulatory outlook remain important catalysts for XRP. Clearer rules could strengthen institutional conviction and support another leg higher. On the other hand, delays or weaker-than-expected progress may encourage investors to stay cautious despite the recent price recovery.
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XRP Price Prediction: Push to $1.65? Or is the Handle Getting Too Long?
XRP is working through a potential cup-and-handle pattern that has been developing since early July. However, the neckline now sits closer to the $1.16 to $1.17 area. The recent consolidation since July 21 still resembles the handle, provided buyers defend the current support. Meanwhile, lighter selling volume during the pullback suggests profit-taking rather than aggressive distribution.
Support is clustered around $1.12 to $1.13, where recent lows have attracted buyers. A stronger floor sits near $1.05 if selling pressure increases. On the upside, immediate resistance stands between $1.16 and $1.18, followed by $1.32. A breakout above that level could expose the next resistance near $1.46.
The earlier breakout from the $1.14 area came with a noticeable jump in trading volume. That move established a benchmark for meaningful market participation. As a result, traders will likely watch for another volume spike before treating any breakout as sustainable.
The bullish case calls for XRP to reclaim and hold above $1.18 on a daily close. If buying momentum strengthens, the price could revisit $1.32 before testing $1.46. The base case keeps XRP trading between $1.12 and $1.18 as traders wait for fresh regulatory or macro catalysts.
The bearish prediction emerges if XRP price closes below $1.12 on rising volume. That would weaken the handle setup and increase the risk of a move toward $1.05. MVRV data also adds an interesting twist. Negative 30 day and 365 day MVRV readings suggest many holders remain underwater, a condition some contrarian investors see as an opportunity rather than a warning.
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LiquidChain Eyes Early-Stage Entry as XRP Tests Resistance Ceiling
XRP at $1.50 is a different bet than XRP at $1.10. The asymmetry has compressed. That’s exactly when traders with a higher risk appetite start looking at earlier-stage setups where the entry price hasn’t already priced in the narrative. ETF inflow dynamics benefiting established assets don’t always filter down to infrastructure plays at presale prices, which is partly the point.
The next generation of infrastructure won't stand alone. — LiquidChain (@getliquidchain) July 21, 2026
It'll connect everything around it. 
⟁https://t.co/vqvBcdSQYC pic.twitter.com/mWc9fGndPd
LiquidChain ($LIQUID) is a Layer 3 infrastructure project positioning itself as a unified execution environment that merges Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single settlement layer.
The architecture powers Unified Liquidity Layer, Single-Step Execution, Verifiable Settlement, and Deploy-Once Architecture, which targets the fragmentation problem that makes multi-chain DeFi operationally expensive. Current presale price is $0.01482. Total raised stands at $915K.
DYOR applies harder here than on a liquid mid-cap. For traders who’ve done the work, the LiquidChain presale details are worth reviewing directly.
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The post XRP Price Breaks Resistance, But ETF Flows Warn Bulls appeared first on Cryptonews.
Dogecoin is trading under $0.073, moving little over the past 24 hours after another quiet session. Even so, the meme coin remains under pressure from last week’s pullback. Still, TD Sequential buy signals have appeared consecutively on the weekly chart, a setup that analyst Ali Martinez says has often preceded strong rallies.
The pattern has caught traders’ attention because consecutive weekly buy signals are rare. Martinez noted this type of cluster has historically come before major directional moves. Whale activity and derivatives data also remain mixed. Open interest has eased slightly, while spot taker CVD briefly favored buyers before that momentum faded.
Elon Musk liking a DOGE-related memecoin post created fresh headlines, but little changed on the chart. Price barely reacted, leaving technicals as the main focus. For now, traders appear more interested in whether the weekly signal confirms than in social media-driven speculation.
Meanwhile, the wider crypto market has offered little support. Bitcoin failed to hold above $66,500, keeping risk appetite in check across major altcoins. Dogecoin also remains below the $0.088 area, which previously acted as an important support level. Until that zone is reclaimed, bulls still have work to do.
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Can Dogecoin Price Break $0.075 Resistance This Week?
Dogecoin is consolidating in a tight range near $0.073 after several quiet sessions. Short-term forecasts still point to limited movement, with the price expected to remain inside a narrow band through this week. Even if buyers regain control, the projected upside remains modest unless trading volume picks up.
Support sits around $0.0722, followed by $0.0712 and the stronger floor near $0.0705. Meanwhile, resistance stands at $0.0740, $0.0746, and $0.0757. Those levels could slow any recovery before DOGE challenges the $0.088 area that previously acted as key support.
Technical indicators still lean cautiously. The 50-day moving average continues to slope lower, reflecting the recent downtrend. Even so, the weekly TD Sequential buy signal remains active, giving bulls a reason to watch for a reversal instead of chasing momentum too early.
The bullish case is straightforward. Dogecoin needs to defend $0.0705, attract stronger volume, and close the week above $0.0754. That could open the door toward $0.0793. Otherwise, the base case remains sideways trading between $0.0705 and $0.0755, while a break below support would leave sellers firmly in control.
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Maxi Doge Eyes Early-Stage Upside as DOGE Tests Critical Resistance
DOGE at $0.074 with a $1 billion OI overhang is a trade, not a position. The asymmetry that existed at lower prices has compressed. Even a successful squeeze to $0.076 represents roughly 4% upside from here, meaningful on leverage, limited in spot. Traders looking for a larger risk-reward multiple are scanning earlier on the curve.
Maxi Doge ($MAXI) is an ERC-20 meme token built around a trading community thesis: the 240-lb canine juggernaut persona embodies 1000x leverage culture, and the project channels that into structured community mechanics.
The presale has raised closer to $5 million at a current price of just $0.000283, with a dynamic staking APY live for holders. Differentiating features include holder-only trading competitions with leaderboard rewards, a Maxi Fund treasury allocated to liquidity and partnerships, and meme-first marketing that leans into gym-bro culture without apology.
Research Maxi Doge before the next stage reprices.
Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio
The post Dogecoin Flashes Heavy Buy Signals, Price Yet to Move appeared first on Cryptonews.
Ethereum price has remained trapped below $2,000 as rising oil prices, renewed interest-rate concerns and BitMEX’s planned shutdown have tempered bullish sentiment despite continued spot ETF inflows.
Summary
- Ethereum price remains below $2,000 as higher oil prices revive Federal Reserve rate-hike concerns.
- Spot ETF inflows and positive capital flows continue to support ETH above $1,900.
- A break above $1,955 could target $2,030, while losing $1,860 would weaken the recovery.
According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price traded near $1,927 on July 23 after reaching an intraday high of $1,941. The token has recovered more than 27% from its June low near $1,514, but repeated failures around $1,955 have kept the psychological $2,000 level beyond buyers’ reach.
Oil supplied the latest macro pressure as Middle East tensions pushed crude prices higher for a fifth consecutive session. West Texas Intermediate rose above $90 a barrel after attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis on Saudi oil tankers raised concerns about regional supplies. Higher energy costs could feed inflation and reduce the Federal Reserve’s room to keep monetary policy unchanged.
Rate traders have already adjusted their positions. The probability of a September Fed hike rose to 79% from 68% per data from the CME FedWatch tool. Expectations for the July meeting remain centered on no change, but another oil-led inflation increase could lift Treasury yields and pressure risk assets such as Ethereum.
U.S. equities also weakened after Alphabet raised its 2026 capital-spending forecast to between $195 billion and $205 billion. The company recorded negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion as quarterly expenditure doubled to $44.9 billion, while its shares fell in premarket trading.
A retreat across technology stocks could limit speculative demand in crypto markets because both sectors remain sensitive to interest-rate expectations.
ETF demand has kept Ethereum above its rising support structure
Institutional flows have provided a counterweight to the macro uncertainty. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $72.64 million in net inflows on July 22, according to SoSoValue. BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust accounted for $53.47 million, showing that regulated products continued to attract capital even as ETH struggled below $2,000.
BitMEX added a separate source of uncertainty after announcing that it would cease operations on Sept. 23 following a strategic review by parent company HDR Global Trading. The exchange told customers to close positions and withdraw funds before the deadline. BitMEX helped popularize perpetual swaps and has served more than 2 million professional and institutional traders since its 2014 launch.
Position transfers and forced closures at BitMEX could temporarily reduce liquidity or move leverage to rival exchanges. However, the announcement does not mean Ethereum’s global perpetual market will close, because Binance, Bybit, OKX and other venues operate larger derivatives businesses.
Ethereum’s daily chart remains constructive above the Supertrend support at $1,744.73. The indicator has stayed green during the July advance, while the Chaikin Money Flow reading of 0.12 shows that buying volume has exceeded selling volume over the indicator’s measurement period. Price must still close above the nearby $1,941–$1,955 ceiling before the daily structure opens a route toward $2,000.
According to analyst Ted Pillows, spot-market demand has protected the recovery’s main support zone.
“Spot demand is strong and the key support zone hasn’t been lost. IMO, Ethereum could begin its next move up in a few days.”
Pillows placed $2,030 as the first major upside barrier, followed by $2,179 and a heavier supply zone near $2,400. His chart also identified support between roughly $1,834 and $1,897, with lower demand areas around $1,730 and $1,540.
The 4-hour chart shows ETH compressing beneath $1,955.40 while holding an ascending trendline drawn from the June 26 low. Buyers have also defended the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement at $1,860.86, leaving the sequence of higher lows intact. A 4-hour close above $1,955 would clear the recovery high and place $2,000–$2,030 within reach.
Momentum has weakened before that test. The 4-hour Relative Strength Index has fallen to 57.46 from its recent highs and sits below its signal average of 63.30. MACD has also registered a bearish crossover, with the MACD line at 13.48 beneath the 15.94 signal line and the histogram at minus 2.46. Neither indicator confirms a trend reversal, but both show that buyers have lost speed near resistance.
Break below $1,860 would invalidate the immediate breakout setup
CoinGlass’s three-day liquidation heatmap places the largest nearby short-liquidation concentration around $1,958–$1,965. A move through that band could force bearish positions to close and accelerate a test of $2,000. The strongest downside liquidity sits near $1,895–$1,905, with another dense pocket around $1,875.
Failure to hold the rising 4-hour trendline would expose the $1,860 Fibonacci level first. A close below that support would weaken the higher-low structure and raise the risk of a decline toward $1,786.63, followed by daily Supertrend support near $1,745. Losses below $1,745 would invalidate the current recovery thesis and reopen $1,682.
Oil supply disruptions, a higher September rate-hike probability, and forced position reductions before BitMEX closes remain the main external risks. Ethereum needs sustained spot volume above $1,955 to confirm a breakout; without it, liquidity around $1,900 may continue to pull price back into the established range.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
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