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As the world focused on the Israel-Iran war and its impact on the crypto market, a serious $50M Telegram scam looted individuals. A massive over-the-counter (OTC) fraud made through a popular social media platform called Telegram resulted in millions being drained from investors and Aza Ventures. Now, the on-chain experts have disclosed the individual behind.
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The post Crypto Market Crash: $800M Wiped Out as BTC, ETH & XRP Drop! appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
The crypto market took a sharp hit on March 4, losing $800 million in value as prices dropped. After briefly crossing $3 trillion, the total market cap fell 9% to $2.77 trillion, with trading volume also dipping 14% to $177 billion. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP initially jumped after Trump announced plans for a U.S. crypto reserve, but the excitement faded quickly. New tariffs on Mexico and Canada added pressure, causing a market-wide sell-off and reminding investors how sensitive crypto remains to economic shifts.
Interestingly, while the whole crypto is on bear more, large holders—commonly referred to as whales—began shifting vast amounts of crypto to exchanges. This came right after Trump announced his plans to include other crypto assets in the crypto reserve plan. According to CryptoQuant, hourly inflows of XRP soared to 193 million tokens, primarily from wallets executing transactions of over 1 million XRP each. Bitcoin inflows skyrocketed from a typical 500-1,000 BTC per hour to an astonishing 6,739 BTC. Meanwhile, Ethereum saw a similar pattern, with nearly 300,000 ETH sent to exchanges within a single hour.
When institutional or large investors move assets to exchanges, it typically signals selling pressure. Most long-term investors keep their holdings in cold storage, meaning large transfers to exchanges often precede a sell-off. This massive inflow coincided with price swings across the market, indicating that traders likely took advantage of the Trump-induced rally to offload assets.
CryptoQuant analysts noted that despite the short-lived price spike, real spot demand remains weak. Bitcoin’s apparent demand, a key metric tracking the balance between newly mined coins and existing supply, has been in decline since late 2024. This trend has pushed demand into contraction for the first time since September 2024, raising concerns about Bitcoin’s ability to sustain rallies.
Retail accumulation has also slowed since November, further reducing buying pressure. Without fresh capital entering the market, sustaining upward momentum in crypto prices will be difficult.
Trump’s support for crypto has created buzz about new rules and big investors jumping in, but the market’s reaction shows traders are still unsure. If more people don’t start buying, prices could have a hard time staying up, even with all the excitement around the U.S. crypto reserve plan. Now, investors are waiting to see if this move will bring long-term growth or just more price swings.
Crypto options expiry this week concerns over $3.5 billion in notional value. The high volume of expiring options is expected to create short-term volatility in the market.
These expiring options coincide with rising global uncertainty amid geopolitical tensions, so traders and investors should prepare for the impact.
With over $3.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum options expiring today, data on Deribit shows BTC contracts account for most of it. Today, 27,959 Bitcoin option contracts will expire, sending up to $2.9 billion in notional value down the drain.
The maximum pain level is $106,500, slightly above Bitcoin’s price as of press time. Option traders will experience the most losses at this level.
Meanwhile, these expiring Bitcoin contracts have a put-to-call ratio of 0.91, highlighting the prevalence of Call (purchase) options rather than Put (sale) options. This means traders are leaning bullish rather than bearish.
At the same time, 246,849 Ethereum contracts will expire today, accounting for $617.6 million in notional value.
According to data on Deribit, these expiring options have a put-to-call ratio of 1.14. The maximum pain level or strike price is $2,650. Notably, Ethereum’s put-to-call ratio is above 1, showing a prevalence of Put (sale) options rather than Call (purchase) options.
Ethereum’s put and call options distribution suggests a market tilt toward protecting against ETH price drops, based on the higher put-call ratio of 1.14.
As of this writing, Bitcoin was trading for $104,342, well below its strike price of $106,500. In the same way, Ethereum was also trading below its maximum pain level of $2,650. ETH was exchanging hands for $2,515 as of press time.
According to the Max Pain theory in crypto options trading, as options near their expiration, the underlying asset’s price tends to gravitate toward the strike price. Here, the greatest number of options (calls and puts) would expire worthless, causing maximum financial loss (or “pain”) to option holders.
This theory hinges on the assumption that market makers or large institutional players (smart money), often on the other side of options trades, may influence the underlying asset’s price through trading or hedging activities. Their actions push prices toward the max pain points.
It happens as market makers profit when options expire worthless, as they collect the premiums without paying out.
Greeks.live analysts highlight bearish dominance, as seen with multiple traders shifting to buy puts for protection. Deribit notes that ETH upside flows are heading into expiry.
“ETH upside flows are strong heading into expiry. Will traders keep chasing it after Friday, or is this where it cools off?” Deribit posed.
This contrasts with Ethereum’s max pain point, indicating potential volatility given that option expiries often trigger price swings as traders adjust positions. This is especially true when flows defy max pain expectations.
“The group appears divided on market direction, with bears dominating the conversation as multiple traders have shifted to buying puts for protection,” analysts at Greeks.live wrote, highlighting market sentiment.
Analysts at Greeks.live attempt to explain the Put protection strategy, which is displayed among traders who are hedging for downside risk.
According to the analysts, traders are buying put spreads and protective puts, positioning themselves strategically after months of bullish sentiment.
High volatility environment is creating attractive opportunities for put protection, with traders anticipating two standard deviation events and significant price wicks from unexpected news catalysts,” they added.
Catalysts in this regard include US-China trade deals, recent economic indicators such as US CPI inflation data, and developments in the Israel-Iran war.
According to JPMorgan, escalations in the Middle East could derail the Fed’s push to a 2% inflation target.
The post Over $3.5 Billion Crypto Options Expire Today Amid Strong Ethereum Upside Flows appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Ripple Labs-affiliated coin is in the spotlight as the XRP trading volume and price show bearish consolidation on the daily chart. At the time of writing, the XRP price had slipped by 0.16% in 24 hours and is now changing hands for $2.191. The digital currency moved from a low of $2.18 to a high of $2.2 before settling at the current level. The XRP volume may determine its next major shift amid the close trading range shift.
XRP trading volume is one of the core metrics that gauges investor interest and adoption trends. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the volume has dropped by 32.5% to $1,445,253,443.43. This drop is unusual, as the coin has recorded mostly high volume for most of the week.
Beyond XRP, other tokens within the Ripple ecosystem, including RLUSD, have also seen a drop in volume. Market data shows that the stablecoin has dropped 57.87%, with just $23,583,892.16 traded in 24 hours.
There has been a correlation between the XRP price and RLUSD volume, as reported on different occasions. For instance, when the stablecoin volume rallied by 45% in 24 hours on April 24, speculation mounted that the XRP price could reclaim a 45% high. Although this forecast has yet to materialize, the odds have always remained high.
With trading volume now down, whether or not the bullish momentum can be sustained remains unknown.
A number of events in the Ripple Labs ecosystem are set to change the outlook of the coin remarkably. The acquisition of Hidden Road for $1.25 billion and the hype around the firm’s bid on Circle remained on the horizon.
While these trends can shape the broader ecosystem sentiment around the XRP price, the historical outlook might help determine what to expect for the rest of May.
According to Cryptorank data, the coin’s average growth rate is over 25%, setting it up for a potentially bullish run. Thus far this month, despite the broader market volatility, the coin has recorded a marginal growth of 0.21%.
If history repeats itself and XRP trading volume reverts to positive, the Ripple coin may see a breakout. Despite the XRP ETF decision delay from the US SEC, the eventual approval of the product can help shape long-term settlement around the coin. With Paul Atkins now the Chairman and the commission’s pro-crypto stance, the expectation of the ETF approval remains high.
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