TradFi

The market remained under pressure from elevated interest rates and weakening risk appetite, with BTC and ETH falling 2.42% and 3.37%, respectively. U.S. spot BTC ETFs returned to net inflows of approximately $301 million, while ETH ETFs continued to record net outflows of around $221 million. Gate TradFi weekly trading volume rebounded to over $110 billion, with U.S. stocks remaining the core segment, while stronger bid-side support emerged for XAUT at lower price levels. On-chain activity weakened broadly, with DEX trading volume, stablecoin supply, LST TVL, and protocol revenue all declining, while Aave borrowing and interest rates remained stable, indicating active risk reduction rather than liquidity stress. In derivatives, BTC OI declined after a midweek surge, while stronger demand for puts and negative 25D Skew across all maturities indicated continued downside hedging demand, with the market remaining in an orderly deleveraging phase overall.

Temporal Markets turn continuous price movements into directional trades with clearly defined start and end times. Outcomes over five-minute, 15-minute, one-hour and four-hour windows are settled according to predefined rules. Trading activity in short-horizon markets goes beyond one-off predictions, with participants engaging in frequent, small-ticket trading across consecutive market cycles. As stocks, indices and commodities enter the market, trading hours, liquidity and settlement become more complex. Gate Event Contracts provide a product example spanning BTC, ETH and stocks, showing how centralized platforms can support short-horizon directional trading. Temporal Markets could extend further into TradFi assets and second-level intervals, raising higher demands for trading fairness and risk management.

Markets remained cautious last week ahead of key events including the FOMC meeting and the release of GDP and PCE data, with BTC and ETH falling 1.97% and 4.48%, respectively. U.S. spot BTC and ETH ETFs continued to record net outflows, although redemption pressure eased significantly. Gate TradFi trading activity rebounded, with the trading share of indices and ETFs increasing. On-chain capital remained broadly tilted toward deleveraging, as stablecoin supply, LST TVL, and Aave borrowing balances all declined, while activity on EVM DEXs and in derivatives markets showed signs of recovery. BTC open interest edged higher and funding rates remained positive, but Put trading dominated and short-dated negative Skew deepened, indicating that long positioning remained resilient while the market continued to maintain strong protection against near-term downside risks.

In September, the crypto market shifted from the rapid rebound seen in August to range-bound trading at elevated levels. Gate Simple Earn holdings increased by approximately 14% month-over-month, driven jointly by demand for fixed-term USDT products and flexible BTC and ETH products. Meanwhile, Idle Earn continued to expand its product lineup with the addition of USD1, offering an annualized yield of up to 8.16%. Gate Dual Currency Investment also demonstrated a clear yield advantage, with the 2-day BTC Sell High product outperforming the market average by 30.1 percentage points. Among Quand Fund, Stellar Core Smart-Invest delivered the strongest performance, with a cumulative return of 19.2%. Stock trading remained dominated by U.S. equities, while holdings were highly concentrated in leading assets such as SpaceX and SK Hynix.

Last week, markets were characterized by strong U.S. equities, weak crypto, and on-chain deleveraging. Economic resilience and elevated oil prices kept U.S. Treasury yields high, while AI-related momentum and solid earnings expectations continued to support U.S. stocks. BTC and ETH, by contrast, were weighed down by high interest rates, ETF redemptions, and deleveraging pressure. On-chain liquidity also contracted, with DEX trading volume, stablecoin supply, LST TVL, and Aave borrowing all declining, while large institutional players actively reduced leverage and shifted capital across protocols in search of higher yields. Derivatives markets remained defensive as well: BTC open interest declined, funding rates hovered near zero, 25D Skew turned negative across all tenors, and DVOL rose notably during the price sell-off.

In September, global capital markets shifted from broad recovery to sharper dispersion as resilient US activity, energy-driven inflation, and Middle East tensions reset the rates outlook. The Federal Reserve resumed tightening with a 25-basis-point hike, while the 10-year Treasury yield briefly moved above 5%. Higher discount rates weighed on traditional sectors, small caps, and gold, even as capital remained concentrated in AI and large technology companies with clearer earnings visibility. In crypto markets, both spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs registered monthly net inflows, but allocations tilted more decisively toward Bitcoin. Risk reduction ahead of the Fed meeting was followed by a rapid post-decision recovery, underscoring institutional preference for liquidity and allocation certainty over higher-beta exposure. On-chain, NEAR Intents used ZEC liquidity to validate its intent-network expansion; Circle’s Arc mainnet ignited a Launchpad boom that cooled rapidly after launch; and E

Risk assets delivered mixed performance in September. BTC and ETH gained 6.4% and 8.84%, respectively, while an equal-weighted basket of seven crypto assets returned 18.93%, led by ZEC’s 69.65% monthly surge. Over the same period, the Nasdaq rose 1.86%, the U.S. Dollar Index gained 2.03%, and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield increased by 54 basis points. U.S. spot BTC and ETH ETFs recorded net inflows of $2.65 billion and $832 million, respectively, while stablecoin supply and DeFi TVL both expanded. Gate futures data showed that open interest in BTC and ETH perpetual contracts declined by 1.85% and 8.97%, respectively, with funding rates remaining moderately positive. These conditions point to simultaneous spot-market inflows and a reduction in leveraged exposure. Among the four strategies tested, time-series momentum generated a cumulative return of 21.1% over the first nine months of the year, while cross-sectional momentum led in September with a 22.1% return. The volatility-managed

The Federal Reserve’s September 2026 rate hike was primarily driven by persistent inflation, resilient economic growth, and a robust labor market. Higher interest rates affect the crypto market by raising risk-free yields, strengthening the U.S. dollar and real interest rates, and tightening liquidity, although price performance depends more heavily on the gap between policy expectations and actual outcomes. Compared with 2023, crypto markets have shown no consistent directional response following rate hikes: BTC has generally demonstrated greater defensive resilience, ETH is influenced by both staking yields and on-chain activity, while SOL and altcoins tend to exhibit greater volatility and price sensitivity. Overall, a single rate hike is insufficient to determine the broader market trend. Going forward, key indicators to monitor include the interest-rate path, U.S. Treasury yields, stablecoin supply, and changes in market leverage.

Lower oil prices and easing trade risks supported U.S. equities and crypto assets, but the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rising above 5% continued to weigh on valuations. BTC and ETH ETFs saw significant inflows, while stablecoin supply expanded in tandem, although trading activity across DEXs and TradFi markets cooled. On-chain capital increasingly concentrated in structural opportunities such as USDC, SOL staking, and tokenized equity-backed lending. In derivatives, BTC advanced while OI and options open interest declined markedly, funding rates temporarily turned negative, and DVOL fell while Skew remained negative, indicating that despite partial deleveraging, demand for downside protection persisted.

Global equity markets are shaped by a combination of economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates, technology investment, and regional industry cycles. Yet U.S., Japanese, South Korean, and Hong Kong equities have exhibited markedly different return profiles. U.S. equities have sustained their long-term advantage on the back of corporate earnings growth, AI-related capital expenditure, and the structural dynamics of major equity indices. Japanese equities have benefited from corporate governance reforms and improving capital efficiency, while South Korean equities have demonstrated strong earnings leverage to the semiconductor and export cycles. Hong Kong equities, meanwhile, continue to seek room for valuation recovery amid the interplay of Chinese corporate earnings, U.S. dollar financial conditions, and risk premia. Using market data since 2016, this report further compares the four markets across returns, volatility, drawdowns, and correlations, and evaluates the practical effec

Stock-paired memes are becoming a new tool for Launchpads to differentiate themselves. By combining tokenized-stock pairings, treasury rewards, and social trading, they connect public-company narratives with on-chain liquidity and speculation. The growth of platforms such as Pons and Long.xyz indicates that this model has spread across multiple chains and can be amplified through CEX distribution. Yet these tokens are not stocks, and holders do not possess underlying equity rights. Limited float, dependence on trading volume, price de-pegging, and social manipulation constrain their long-term value. At the same time, stock-paired memes may represent only the earliest stage of on-chain innovation involving tokenized stocks.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points, while the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield climbed to around 5%. BTC and ETH came under pressure early in the week but significantly outperformed most traditional risk assets on a weekly basis. Weekly BTC ETF flows improved from net outflows to roughly flat, while ETH ETFs shifted to a net outflow of $141 million. Total stablecoin supply contracted slightly, with USDe and USDS capturing structural inflows. The earlier explosive growth driven by stock-related Meme trading began to cool. LSTs broadly recovered, while Aave’s outstanding borrowings increased by 2.2%. BTC OI rose by 6.42%, with funding rates remaining positive throughout the week. BTC’s 7-day 25D Skew climbed to +3.30%, while DVOL declined by 8.33% from the beginning of the week.