Over the past week, markets continued to fluctuate around developments in U.S.-Iran negotiations and expectations for Fed policy. Easing geopolitical tensions briefly pushed oil prices lower, while the U.S. 10 year Treasury yield climbed toward 4.56%. U.S. equities extended their divergent rally, whereas the crypto market remained broadly weak. BTC and ETH ETFs continued to post net outflows, reflecting cautious institutional positioning. Onchain liquidity further concentrated in leading DEXs and stablecoin infrastructure, while the Aave lending market gradually moved back toward normalization. Emerging chains such as MegaETH and Plasma continued absorbing incremental liquidity flows. In derivatives, the market maintained a low leverage, weak range bound structure, with BTC open interest remaining near local lows. DVOL declined, while 25D Skew stayed in negative territory, indicating that the market still retains defensive pricing for downside risks.
Highlights from Last Week’s Market Overview:
- Market Focus: U.S.-Iran negotiations and Fed policy expectations continued to drive market volatility. Treasury yields climbed toward 4.56%, U.S. equities maintained a structurally divergent rally, while the crypto market remained broadly weak.
- Liquidity Analysis: BTC ETFs recorded approximately $1.26B in weekly net outflows, while ETH ETFs saw around $216M in net outflows, reflecting continued cautious institutional positioning. TradFi onchain and CEX derivatives activity remained concentrated in macro assets such as gold and crude oil, while trading related to AI and tech equities also gained share.
- Onchain Insights: Onchain liquidity further concentrated in leading DEXs such as Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and Aerodrome. The stablecoin market increasingly shifted toward a repricing framework centered on settlement efficiency and regulatory compatibility, while the Aave lending market gradually normalized and new chains such as MegaETH and Plasma continued absorbing structural liquidity flows.
- Derivatives Tracking: BTC derivatives maintained a low leverage, weak range bound structure, with open interest remaining subdued. DVOL declined while 25D Skew stayed negative, indicating that the market continues to retain defensive pricing for downside risks.
- Institutional Updates: Institutional spot and futures market share remained stable, while BTC/USDT and ETH/USDT market share increased 5% week over week. The new zero interest lending program was officially launched, raising the per client borrowing limit to 10 million USDT. CrossEx is also set to integrate its first DEX in June, while Spot SBE, OMS 3.0, and CrossEx infrastructure upgrades continue progressing.
- Outlook for This Week: Key events to watch include PCE, Tokyo CPI, PMI releases, as well as token unlocks for HUMA and YGG and their potential impact on market liquidity and risk sentiment.
Discover more details today → Gate Institutional Weekly: Wash Takes Office as Fed Chair, Aave Lending Demand Continues to Migrate (May 18–24, 2026)
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Gate Team
May 27, 2026
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