THE WEEKLY WRAP
Crypto markets took a breather this week, with total market capitalisation slipping 0.73% as the sector consolidated after one of its biggest weeks of the year.
Sentiment cooled off slightly but stayed in Greed territory. The Fear and Greed Index eased from 73 to 62, pulling back from last week's spike but still firmly bullish.
ETF flows stayed positive but slowed down. Bitcoin ETFs recorded US$924.48 million in net inflows, down from last week's US$1.92 billion. Ethereum ETFs brought in US$824.42 million, actually up on last week's US$697.18 million.
BTC vs GOLD vs NASDAQ vs ETH vs VAS
🟡 Gold: +2.06%
🔵 Nasdaq: +15.75%
🔴 Vanguard Australian Shares: +4.41%
🟠Bitcoin: -10.49%
⚪ Ethereum: -17.75%
Crypto gave back ground this week. Bitcoin slipped from -9.68% to -10.49% year-to-date, while Ethereum fell further, from -16.40% to -17.75%.
Gold had a sharp reversal too, dropping from +8.34% to +2.06%. Nasdaq extended its lead, climbing from +14.10% to +15.75% and remains the strongest performer of the five year-to-date. Australian shares barely moved, easing from +4.45% to +4.41%.
Source: TradingView, BTC, GOLD, NASDAQ, VAS, ETH
BITCOIN:
Michael Saylor says "we're back." After a 10 week pause with zero Bitcoin purchases, Strategy's cash reserve has grown to $6.69 billion against $6.71 billion in debt, effectively flattening its leverage to 0.1%. The next purchase disclosure lands Monday, so we'll find out soon whether the buying actually resumes.
The timing lines up with Friday's options expiry too. $6.58 billion in Bitcoin options rolled off on Deribit right around the $80,000 strike, adding extra chop to a week that already had plenty.
It's not just Strategy eyeing the bottom. A fresh Glassnode chart shows every wallet cohort, from holders with under 1 BTC right up to whales with over 10,000, leaning into accumulation mode at the same time. That kind of alignment across every wallet size doesn't happen often, and it's showing up right as price turns higher.
Source: glassnode.com
ETHEREUM:
Ethereum is ranging at the top of its recent breakout, sitting just under $2,470 with range highs around there and support down near $1,900. After running from $1,900 to $2,550, price has gone sideways for the last few days. It's coiled at the top of the range and ready to make its next move, either a break higher, or a pullback back into the range if buyers can't hold this level.
Source: TradingView, ETH/USDT
Robinhood Chain (which is an ETH layer 2 on ARB) just had its biggest day since launch. On August 30, the chain hit $874.8 million in DEX volume and 5.5 million transactions, its highest since mainnet went live on July 1. It briefly out-earned Ethereum and Hyperliquid in daily app revenue, behind only Solana. About half that volume came from a single token launchpad, so it's more speculative memecoin trading than the tokenized stocks Robinhood built the chain for, but the record itself is real.
ALTCOINS:
What a difference a week makes. SocialFi went from last week's biggest winner (+50%+) to this week's biggest loser, down 3.42%.
DePIN was the only sector in the green, up 1.80%. Everything else finished red.
DeFi held up best, down just 0.69%, thanks to UNI ripping 18.51% higher while the rest of the market slumped. SOL also had a solid week, up 8.54%. HYPE and VVV both added 2.03%.
POL was the worst performer, down 17.83%. ETHFI dropped 14.50%, and SUI fell 12.43%.
PEPE gave back 11.80% after last week's monster run, dragging Meme down 2.56% overall.
AI and RWA both finished down just over 3%, and Gaming eased 1.53% lower.
Source: https://defillama.com/narrative-tracker
UNISWAP:
UNI jumped 18.51% this week, breaking above $5 for the first time in seven months, and the timing lines up with everything else in the ETH section above.
Uniswap is now the dominant AMM on Robinhood Chain, so a chunk of that record $874.8 million in DEX volume ran straight through Uniswap's pools. Uniswap governance also switched on protocol fees across v2, v3 and v4 pools on Ethereum and eight other chains earlier this year, with that revenue automatically funding UNI buybacks and burns through a contract called TokenJar. Over 100 million UNI have been burned this way so far.
More volume on chains like Robinhood Chain feeds more fees, and more fees feeds more buybacks and burns. Whether that's driving this week's move or just riding alongside it, the numbers are moving in the same direction at the same time.
