The Evening Brief: Saturday quiet; whale flows shift direction as leverage cools
No news drove Saturday's session. The desk's boards show bitcoin and ether edged lower on light flows, while whale accumulation reversed sharply this week: after three weeks of consistent buying pressure onto exchanges, the week ending October 17 flipped to $67 million moving off exchanges.
Saturday saw no news move the market. Per the desk's boards, Bitcoin down 0.47% over 24 hours, Ether down 1.20% over 24 hours, and Solana down 1.16% over 24 hours. Across the week, Bitcoin down 1.26% over seven days, Ether down 2.62% over seven days, and Solana down 4.36% over seven days. Over the month, Bitcoin up 7.06% over thirty days, while Ether up 0.19% over thirty days and Solana up 5.86% over thirty days. Among movers, XMR up 1.47% over 24 hours and HBAR up 1.20% over 24 hours led gainers; ZRO down 9.51% over 24 hours, FIL down 6.70% over 24 hours, and STX down 6.09% over 24 hours topped losers.
The desk's spot ETF data showed spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $82.4M on the day, October 16, and spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $228.4M over the week through October 16. Ethereum spot ETFs have posted three consecutive days of outflows, with last five sessions net of $320.1 million out.
Whale activity on the desk's Whale Watch board painted a striking reversal. However, the weekly lens tells a different story: in the week ending October 17, $67 million moved off exchanges, a pivot after three consecutive weeks of accumulation onto trading venues. The week ending October 10 saw $1,503 million move onto exchanges; the week ending October 3 saw $804 million onto exchanges; the week ending September 26 saw $428 million onto exchanges. This week's shift, per the board, reversed that direction.
On leverage, the desk's boards show funding remained calm. Bitcoin funding stood at 0.0053% over 8 hours at OKX, or 5.8% annualized. Ether funding was 0.0028% over 8 hours, or 3.1% annualized. Both assets held long-skewed positioning: Bitcoin's long-to-short ratio at OKX sat at 1.81, and Ether's at 2.42. Liquidations over the past 2 hours on OKX totaled 100 events across BTC, with $1,413,504 in long liquidations and $45,978 in short liquidations; for ETH, 100 events posted $1,047,794 in long liquidations and $148,428 in short liquidations. Fear and Greed per the desk's index was 55, labeled Greed, within a 30-day range of 53 to 78.
Weekly whale flows reversed direction this week, $67 million of bitcoin moved off exchanges in the week ending October 17, breaking a three-week streak of accumulation onto trading venues, while spot ETF outflows persisted and leverage funding remained calm.
Saturday brought no news, and the market drifted lower on thin flows. Spot ETF outflows persisted, with $82.4 million out on October 16 and $228.4 million out over the week, while leverage funding remained subdued and long-heavy across Bitcoin and Ether. The coming week will test whether whale de-risking accelerates or stabilizes.
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