$1 billion disappeared because someone said three letters - Producer Price Index. An astonishing event happened this week: $1 billion was settled within hours. And all because the U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) rose slightly more than expected. What I heard is true. It wasn't an explosion at a mining farm, or a ban on Bitcoin in some country, or even a tweet from Elon Musk. The number just appeared in the report, and traders lost their minds.
Even Bitcoin dropped below $112,000, despite being recently told that it "wouldn't drop below $100,000." Well, sure. We were also told that coffee prices wouldn't rise if Starbucks raised their wages.
So, while Bitcoin was trying to remember its identity - is it a future asset or just a trendy alternative to gold, Ethereum ETFs received an unexpected gift in the form of incoming flows worth $729 million. Institutions wondered: "Oh my God, are you in a panic? Great, buy!". Why does this matter? Because cryptocurrencies, which were previously promoted as being independent of any system, are now reacting to macroeconomic news faster than the bond market. We live in a world where Bitcoin fears inflation, and Ethereum rejoices when everyone is anxious.
And the most important question:
Is this the end of the love for cryptocurrencies, or the beginning of a new game?
If you ask old Bitcoin users, they will say: "Hold on to it." And if you ask traders, they will say: "Set stop-loss orders and pray to God." Or speculators: buy in panic and sell in euphoria, just like every savvy speculator has done over the past 300 years.
Meanwhile: the market is not about technology, nor about freedom, nor about blockchain. The market is a stage. And the best seats are the most expensive. Especially when the Producer Price Index (PPI) is behind the scenes.
#Market_Disruption
