LMAX Digital volumes have been on the slide this week, though we continue to chalk this up to a necessary breather after the bitcoin surge to fresh record highs. Total notional volume for Tuesday came in at $836 million, 28% below 30-day average volume.

Bitcoin volume slid down to $406 million, 37% below 30-day average volume, while ether volume continued to hold up a little better despite coming in below 30-day average volume. On Tuesday, ether volume came in at $274 million, 18% below 30-day average volume.

Looking at average position size over the past 30 days, we’re seeing average bitcoin position size at $13,293 and average position size for ether at $6,075.

Volatility has been slowly picking up since finding a bottom in July. We’re now looking at average daily ranges in bitcoin and ether of $3,045 and $240 respectively.

We’re seeing a small round of profit taking in crypto markets following the latest surge in the price of bitcoin. A lot of the good news has now been priced, and perhaps the market is back to treading a little more cautiously with regulatory headwinds still an issue and macro pressures potentially adding further stress.

We’ve seen some outperformance in the price of ether relative to bitcoin in recent sessions, and this could have something to do with reports of a network upgrade that will make the Ethereum blockchain faster and more energy-efficient.

Meanwhile, the SEC is poised to rule on stablecoins and pressure Congress into specifying that these coins should be regulated like bank deposits, and that Congress should have authority over tokens such as Tether.

Well know blog Zerohedge has been out talking up bitcoin, calling it the hedge for all seasons given the unrelenting central bank money printing we’ve been seeing over the past several years.

Another story making headlines is the news of Bakkt partnering with Mastercard to bring cryptocurrency payments to the masses. The goal is for banks to issue debit or credit cards that will allow people to pay with bitcoin and earn crypto as rewards.

According to a CoinShares report, investors pumped a record $1.47 billion of new money into digital asset investment products last week.