The $5 Trillion Shock That Set Bitcoin—and Retail Traders—on Fire
Actionable Market Insights
Why this report matters
Bitcoin’s recent rally may look like a typical retail-driven move, but the spark came from something far more systemic.
While Asian traders have dominated price action, a quiet policy shift in Washington may have added fuel to the fire.
Volumes have exploded, funding rates are stretched, and obscure tokens like STRIKE are seeing billions in daily flows.
Yet most traders are missing what truly lit the fuse—and what could keep Bitcoin climbing long after summer ends.
The numbers point to a powerful macro force that aligns almost perfectly with Bitcoin’s breakout.
If you want to understand what’s really driving this market and how far it could go, keep reading.
Main argument
Retail speculation in crypto is running at full throttle, but the initial spark came from elsewhere.
Even if trading volumes ease over the summer, there’s still plenty of explosive fuel waiting on the horizon.
The Asian time zone has overwhelmingly driven the latest crypto rally.
While Bitcoin is up +16% overall, Asian trading hours alone contributed +25% to that gain, meaning Europe (-6%) and the U.S. (-3%) saw net declines due to profit-taking.
Although some of this may be due to treasury-related news emerging after U.S. market hours, the more likely explanation is heightened enthusiasm and aggressive buying from Asian traders.
A similar pattern is evident in Ethereum, which is up 63% over the past month—an impressive move, but nearly all of it (+96%) occurred during Asian trading hours.
In contrast, Europe (-26%) and the U.S. (-7%) again showed signs of selling into strength.
This dynamic is particularly noteworthy as retail traders have piled into leveraged long positions via perpetual futures.
With funding rates now at their highest levels since the December 2024 peak, there's a growing risk of an unwinding of leveraged long positions, especially if the cost of holding these positions exceeds daily price gains.
Since the rally began just two weeks ago on July 9, open interest has surged by $6.0 billion for Bitcoin, $8.0 billion for Ethereum, and $2.2 billion for Solana.
Funding rates have also climbed sharply to 19%, 13%, and 18%, respectively, placing them in the 92nd, 71st, and 81st percentiles historically.
But there is a way to navigate this consolidation as we explain below.
https://update.10xresearch.com/p/the-5-trillion-shock-that-set-bitcoin-and-retail-traders-on-fire-b65b
