We’re coming off a week of exceptional volume at LMAX Digital. Total notional volume from Monday to Friday of last week came in at  $7.3 billion, up 22% from the previous weekly volume.

Bitcoin volume was also up, albeit more mildly, coming in at $3.7 billion from $3.67 billion in the previous week.  Ether volume continued to shine bright, up to $2.2 billion last week, as compared to $1.4 billion the week before.

As far as average position sizes go, looking at bitcoin over the past 30 days, average position size comes in at $9,862. Average position size for ether over the past 30 days comes in at $4,770.

Total notional volume at LMAX Digital over the past 30 days comes in at $35.1 billion.

The market was enthusiastic about the breakout in the price of ether, but was still somewhat cautious, with bitcoin holding within a consolidation. But now that bitcoin has taken out its own key resistance and is establishing back above $50,000, it’s inviting a fresh wave of demand.

We’re seeing the arrival of new players who have been looking to get involved but have been waiting for a little more confirmation. We’re also seeing existing players feeling good about increasing exposure after the market has once again proven resilient into weakness.

We do think the recent run of outperformance in ether is somewhat justified given how the Ethereum blockchain has been responsible for so much of the adoption in 2021. Whether it’s decentralized finance or NFTs, market participants are connecting a lot more with crypto because of these products.

But we do still feel there needs to be some treading with caution going forward, particularly with the US equities market running hot and getting closer and closer to a point where we could see a nasty reversal. The rise of inflationary pressure is not making it easy for the Fed and this could result in a less attractive market environment for risk assets.