Total notional volume at LMAX Digital was up big in the previous week. Total notional volume from Monday through Friday came in at $6.46 billion, 170% higher than the week earlier.

Breaking it down per coin, Bitcoin volume came in at $4.4 billion in the previous week, up 175% from a week earlier. Ether volume jumped to $1.5 billion, up 213% from the week earlier.

Total notional volume over the past 30 days comes in at $17.9 billion.

Looking at average position size over the past 30 days, we’re seeing average bitcoin position size at $7,088 and average position size for ether at $2,592.

Volatility is trying to work its way out from yearly low levels. We’re looking at average daily ranges in bitcoin and ether of $2,000 and $152 respectively.

More nasty price action over the weekend, with bitcoin and ether breaking down below massive barriers at $20,000 and $1,000 respectively. We had anticipated such a breakdown in our recent commentary, given the broader macro picture and likelihood tthe market would want to take out stops below these levels.

We’re actually more relieved with the prospects for bullish reversal now that these levels have been taken out. There is simply less of an excuse for the market to continue to break lower at such extended levels now that we have finally seen those much talked about psychological barriers having been breached.

As far as developments on the crypto front go, we’re still hearing about all the fallout from Terra, Celsius, and 3AC. We expect all of this weakness in the market will open the door for more stories around crypto operations with practices that were at best, far too loose with their management approaches. But overall, we don’t believe the contagion poses any systemic risk and will be looking to direction in traditional markets for a better indication of where we go from here.

Clearly there is a lot of downside pressure in the global economy right now, with inflation on the rise and central banks forced to contend with this dangerous threat. But we also see many market participants stepping in to take advantage of the latest slide in bitcoin, recognizing the longer-term value proposition of an asset that should indeed be in demand when risk is coming off.

The outlook for ether is less certain right now, and we see ether being far more exposed to additional fallout in traditional markets given the higher sensitivity to risk sentiment. Having said that, there is a bright future around web3 technology and decentralized finance, and we also may see investors looking to take advantage of the dip in ether in anticipation of what lies on the horizon.

Technically speaking, we believe bitcoin should start to find support in this zone between the previous record high from 2017 and the 2019 high, which comes in between $14,000 and $20,000. We will use this area as a proxy for insight into direction in other crypto markets going forward.