Coinbase Launches Perps, dYdX Transitions to Public Benefit Structure
Market Update
- U.S. equities are moving lower as interest rates have resumed their climb. The S&P and Nasdaq had fallen 0.8% at time of writing, while both short and longer-term rates increased. The US30Y bond saw the biggest jump in its yield, reaching 5.02%, just under YTD highs. The rise in rates coincided with the release of inflation figures in the U.K and E.U., along with China's GDP data. The spike in U.K. rates is particularly significant due to inflation remaining at 6.7% from the previous month, which is higher than the anticipated 6.6%. On the other hand, the inflation rate in the Eurozone dipped from 5.2% to 4.3%, meeting forecasts. China's economic growth decelerated, albeit not as much as predicted, registering 4.9% annualized in the third quarter. Additionally, it's a noteworthy day for corporate earnings, with Tesla and Netflix scheduled to release their reports after market close. $BTC had climbed back towards $29k overnight but has now retraced to $28.2k, falling 1.1% over the last day. $ETHBTC has found support at the 200-week moving average, bouncing 0.96%, while $ETH fell 0.37% in USD.
- Coinbase has launched perpetuals trading on its new "Advanced" platform for eligible retail customers outside the US. The new derivatives product will offer contracts in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, and XRP, settled in USDC stablecoin. This move aims to tap into the massive crypto derivatives market, which is dominated by offshore players. The platform features a maximum leverage of up to 5x for some contracts and up to 3x for others, with plans to introduce more tokens soon. Regulatory oversight is provided by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, with financial safeguards in place through an insurance fund and a liquidity support program. The crypto derivatives market's massive size and growth trajectory, combined with Coinbase's strategic moves into this space, presents an optimistic outlook for Coinbase's business expansion and competitive stance in the global crypto market.
- dYdX Trading Inc. ($DYDX), known for operating one of the largest decentralized exchanges, has recently transitioned to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), relinquishing trading fee revenue from its soon-to-be-launched v4 platform. Despite its notable profitability over recent years, dYdX opts for this structural shift to align better with community interests, marking a significant stride towards full decentralization. The change comes on the heels of competitor Uniswap's decision to implement a 0.15% fee on specific token swaps. Antonio Juliano, dYdX's founder and CEO, emphasized that while the company won't profit from the v4 platform, it would continue to earn from previous platform versions. He envisions most trading activities migrating to the new version post-launch. The v4 platform, currently on testnet, is set to go live on mainnet in the upcoming weeks on dYdX's Cosmos-based appchain, dYdX Chain, heralding a new era where trading fee revenues will benefit network node operators and token stakers instead. This transition underscores dYdX's enduring commitment to democratizing financial opportunities through open-source software as it steps closer to achieving full platform decentralization.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
dYdX looks to have found solid footing near lows which have marked support going back since July. While trends remain negative from early September technically speaking, they've been largely range-bound since June, with support near $1.75 and resistance which currently lies near $2.00. At present, this appears to be an attractive area of support yet again after it last bottomed near these levels in August. Thus, despite a neutral consolidation pattern, the risk/reward seems favorable at current levels, given a well-established risk level at $1.75. The ability to exceed $2.00 should drive prices initially higher towards $2.30 which has significance from mid-August. Furthermore, the ability to exceed that level would argue for a push back up towards $3.65.
Daily Important Metrics
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All metrics as of October 18, 2023 12:47 PM
All Funding rates are in bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $554B | $28,360 | ↓ -0.31% | ↑ 71% | |
 ETH | $189B | $1,569 | ↓ -0.02% | ↑ 31% | ↓ -40% |
 SOL | $9.8B | $23.63 | ↓ -1.86% | ↑ 139% | ↑ 68% |
 ADA | $8.7B | $0.2458 | ↓ -0.67% | ↓ -0.40% | ↓ -72% |
 DOGE | $8.3B | $0.0586 | ↓ -0.58% | ↓ -16% | ↓ -88% |
 MATIC | $4.8B | $0.5138 | ↓ -1.24% | ↓ -33% | ↓ -104% |
 DOT | $4.5B | $3.68 | ↓ -0.09% | ↓ -15% | ↓ -87% |
 LINK | $4.1B | $7.38 | ↑ 0.43% | ↑ 33% | ↓ -38% |
 NEAR | $985M | $0.9987 | ↓ -0.94% | ↓ -22% | ↓ -93% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| GBTC | ↓ -13% | $22.20 | ↑ 0.20% | ↑ 168% | ↑ 97% |
| BITW | ↓ -46% | $12.25 | ↓ -0.41% | ↑ 128% | ↑ 57% |
| ETHE | ↓ -24% | $11.65 | ↑ 1.70% | ↑ 145% | ↑ 74% |
| BTCC | ↑ 0.34% | $5.20 | ↓ -0.57% | ↑ 72% | ↑ 0.42% |
News
QUICK BITS
The Block DYdX won’t profit from v4 as it becomes public benefit corporation dYdX will not earn trading fee revenue from its upcoming v4 platform as it has moved to become a public benefit corporation. |
MARKET DATA
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