LMAX Digital volumes got off to a slow start this week. Total notional volume for Monday came in at $265 million, 29% below 30-day average volume.

Bitcoin volume printed $140 million on Monday, 30% below 30-day average volume. Ether volume came in at $77 million, 21% below 30-day average volume.

Looking at average position size over the past 30 days, we’re seeing average bitcoin position size at $5,132 and average position size for ether at 2,928.

Volatility is finally showing signs of turning up from multi-month lows. We’re looking at average daily ranges in bitcoin and ether of $679 and $66 respectively.

The repricing of Fed bets has been a big story in global markets in recent sessions, and crypto markets have not been immune to fallout from this repricing.

The market is now waking up to the fact that the Fed will not be easing up as expected, with the terminal rate pushing through 5% and odds for 2 rate cuts in the second half of the year being reduced to just one rate cut.

And so, all of this has led to risk off flow and broad US Dollar demand, with this price action opening some profit taking on crypto long positions.

As far as today goes, the Fed Chair is expected to make an appearance and the market will be paying close attention to any updates that hint at the central banker shifting back towards a more dovish take.

On the crypto front, the big stories right now revolve around Tether minting more USDT, anticipation of the Ethereum Shanghai-Capella upgrade in March, and some new, interesting activity on the bitcoin blockchain.

The news of an uptick in USDT has been viewed as a positive, with the development reflecting increased demand from new entrants looking to take on exposure in the world of crypto.

As far as the Ethereum upgrade goes, this too is viewed as a positive. The introduction of new features, including the ability to unstake will likely result in more liquidity being passed through the system, which makes for a healthier market overall.

Finally, and not without controversy, there has been an increase in activity on the bitcoin network attributed to a new protocol called Ordinals. Ordinals is using the bitcoin blockchain to facilitate the creation of NFTs. Some view this a threat to bitcoin, while others see it as a source for new revenue.