Tag Archives: get

Stocks hit record highs while US$300M in crypto longs get liquidated: What’s next?

Stocks hit record highs while US$300M in crypto longs get liquidated: What’s next?

While major US stock indexes closed at all-time highs, capping off their best monthly performance since 2020, the digital asset space is currently digesting a sharp, painful correction in leverage. This split personality in the market suggests that while institutional capital remains confident in the earnings power of megacap technology firms, speculative traders in the crypto derivatives market are being forced to reset their risk exposure.

The narrative of the day is not one of universal fear, but rather a selective rotation in which fundamental earnings in stocks are overpowering macroeconomic headwinds, while crowded speculative positions in crypto are being flushed out by technical resistance levels.

The cryptocurrency market experienced a significant deleveraging event over the last 24 hours, characterised by a violent flush of long positions. Data indicates that approximately US$326.71 million in leveraged positions were liquidated, with the overwhelming majority of this pain concentrated on the buy side. Specifically, US$285.87 million of these liquidations came from long positions, compared with just US$40.84 million from short positions. This means that roughly 87.5 per cent of the liquidated value resulted from traders betting on price increases who were forced out of their positions as prices dipped.

The brunt of this activity hit the two largest assets by market capitalisation. Ethereum saw roughly US$308.85 million in liquidations, while Bitcoin saw about US$204.96 million across major venues such as Binance, Hyperliquid, OKX, and Bybit. Some broader estimates place the total liquidation figure closer to US$500 million over a similar window, underscoring the intensity of the sell-off.

This liquidation cascade was not driven by a fundamental collapse in the value of these assets but rather by a technical failure at key resistance levels. Bitcoin has repeatedly failed to sustain a break above the US$77,000-US$80,000 range. This area has become a formidable ceiling where profit-taking by short-term holders meets dense clusters of leveraged long risk around the US$74,000 to US$75,000 levels.

When the price rejected this resistance, market mechanics triggered a cascade of margin calls, forcing traders to sell and driving prices further into the liquidation maps. Ethereum appeared even more technically fragile, trading below key moving averages and failing to hold resistance before rolling over. The result was a classic long squeeze, in which the market punished overly optimistic leverage rather than reflecting a change in the underlying spot demand for the assets.

In stark contrast to the volatility in digital assets, the traditional stock market rallied to record highs, driven by robust earnings reports that seem to justify lofty valuations. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted their best monthly gains in six years, fueled by the continued dominance of megacap technology firms. Alphabet led the charge with a 10 per cent surge after reporting a strong Q1 revenue beat and announcing an aggressive capital expenditure guidance of up to US$190 billion for 2026.

Amazon also contributed significantly to the rally, reporting a 17 per cent revenue increase to US$181.5 billion and seeing its cloud computing division, AWS, accelerate growth to 28 per cent. Apple shares also rose in extended trading following a positive revenue forecast. These results suggest that despite high interest rates, the biggest tech companies are generating enough cash flow to support massive investment cycles.

The enthusiasm for artificial intelligence is not without its sceptics, even within the stock market. The same theme of AI capital expenditure that boosted Alphabet caused sell-offs in other tech giants. Meta Platforms and Microsoft fell 8.6 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively, as investors reacted negatively to disappointing user growth and the high memory costs associated with their massive AI spending. NVIDIA also dipped four per cent due to broader scrutiny regarding AI capital expenditures rather than any company-specific bad news.

This indicates a growing bifurcation in the tech sector where investors are beginning to demand proof of return on investment for the billions being poured into AI infrastructure. The market is no longer rewarding spending for the sake of spending. It is rewarding spending that translates into revenue growth, as seen with Amazon and Alphabet.

The macroeconomic backdrop for these divergent market moves remains complex and somewhat contradictory. The Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold for a third straight meeting as inflation remained above the three per cent mark, a level that is still uncomfortably high relative to the central bank’s targets. Despite this, the US economy grew at a 2.0 per cent rate in Q1 2026, showing resilience that supports the stock market rally.

Geopolitical tensions are adding a layer of volatility that cannot be ignored. Brent crude oil settled near US$110 per barrel after surging past US$114 amid concerns over potential US strikes on Iran and the United Arab Emirates’ announced exit from OPEC. Additionally, currency markets saw wild swings, with the Japanese yen reaching 157.14 per dollar following a suspected intervention by the Ministry of Finance. These factors create an environment where capital is expensive and global stability is fragile, which helps explain why leverage in the crypto market is so vulnerable to sudden shocks.

Looking ahead, the derivatives market metrics will be the primary indicator of where volatility might spike next. Despite the recent wipeout of long positions, total derivatives open interest remains elevated at approximately US$493.1 billion, having risen roughly two to four per cent over the last day. Perpetuals open interest alone sits near US$489.52 billion.

Crucially, average funding rates have flipped modestly negative, signalling that traders are leaning more defensively after the flush. The key dynamic to watch is whether this open interest continues to fall, indicating deeper, healthier deleveraging, or if it quickly rebuilds near resistance levels. If leverage bleeds down while prices remain stable, it sets the stage for a sustainable move higher. If high leverage and positive funding rates return too quickly, the market risks another sharp squeeze in either direction.

The current market environment suggests a period of digestion and selection. The stock market is proving that earnings power can currently override macroeconomic fears, pushing indexes to new highs even as oil prices surge and the Fed holds rates steady. The crypto market, conversely, is undergoing a necessary technical reset.

The next phase of this cycle will depend on whether the AI spending boom continues to deliver the revenue growth seen by Amazon and Alphabet, or if the costs highlighted by Meta and Microsoft begin to weigh down the broader market. Until then, the divergence between record-high stocks and flushing crypto leverage defines the risk landscape of May 2026.

 

Source: https://e27.co/stocks-hit-record-highs-while-us300m-in-crypto-longs-get-liquidated-whats-next-20260501/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

Will Aave Users Get Their Money Back? One Analyst Has a Plan for Kelp’s $230M Debt

Will Aave Users Get Their Money Back? One Analyst Has a Plan for Kelp’s $230M Debt

Aave is sitting on up to $230 million in bad debt from the Kelp DAO exploit. The Umbrella safety reserve holds $80 to $100 million, according to analyst estimates. That gap has to come from somewhere, and right now, the options on the table are ugly for everyone involved.

Depositors could take a haircut. stkAAVE stakers could get slashed. Or Kelp DAO could collapse entirely trying to absorb the loss at once.

How do users get their money back?

The Official Plan: Umbrella, Treasury and Unnamed Commitments

Aave’s own service providers are already moving. A formal incident report published on the Aave governance forum on April 20 confirmed the DAO treasury holds $181 million and that indicative commitments from unnamed ecosystem participants are already in place to address the shortfall.

The Umbrella safety reserve, Aave’s built-in backstop, may also be deployed, though it holds an estimated $80 to $100 million, leaving a potential gap if bad debt reaches the worst-case $230 million scenario.

If Umbrella falls short, the next layer is stkAAVE stakers – users who locked their tokens as a protocol backstop and could face slashing to cover residual losses.

Intergovernmental blockchain advisor and analyst Anndy Lian thinks there is a better way.

The Idea: Finance the Debt, Don’t Detonate It

Lian’s proposal centres on a Recovery Token he calls $kRecovery. Instead of forcing an immediate writedown, Kelp DAO would issue $kRecovery to Aave as a structured debt instrument – essentially a promise to repay backed by future protocol revenue.

“Instead of a permanent haircut, Kelp DAO could issue a Recovery Token or Debt IOUs to Aave to cover the $123M–$230M gap,” Lian wrote. “Aave users are made whole over time, and Kelp DAO avoids a total collapse of its token price by financing the debt rather than realizing it all at once.”

Three Ways Kelp Could Actually Pay This Back

This is where the proposal gets specific and credible.

First, Kelp DAO could mint new KELP governance tokens to buy back $kRecovery. It dilutes existing holders but compresses the repayment timeline from decades to one to two years. Lian calls it a “bail-in by the DAO’s shareholders.”

Second, the Arbitrum Security Council has already recovered $71 million. Every dollar recovered accelerates repayment.

Third, and most interesting, is KUSD, Kelp’s stablecoin targeting a 9% yield from institutional finance. If KUSD scales to $500 million in TVL, annual revenue jumps from $4 million to over $20 million. At that rate, even the worst-case $230 million debt clears in under five years from protocol earnings alone.

Why This Matters Beyond Kelp

Lian closes simply: “I have suggested this because I do not want to see retail users get hurt.”

If it works, this is not just a Kelp solution. It is a DeFi precedent – a structured recovery path that keeps protocols alive and users whole instead of choosing who takes the loss.

DeFi has needed that playbook for a long time.

 

Source: https://coinpedia.org/news/will-aave-users-get-their-money-back-one-analyst-has-a-plan-for-kelps-230m-debt/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j

Retail Investors Get a Shot at SpaceX as Wall Street Fights Over a $75 Billion IPO

Retail Investors Get a Shot at SpaceX as Wall Street Fights Over a $75 Billion IPO

A seismic event is reshaping the landscape of human finance. Wall Street has erupted as every top-tier investment bank, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and UBS, competes fiercely for underwriting rights to a single project: SpaceX. This week, Elon Musk’s space exploration company prepares for an initial public offering with staggering implications.

The company plans to raise $75 billion from markets, with an overall valuation projected between $1.25 trillion and $1.75 trillion. To put these figures into context, consider that Saudi Aramco’s historic IPO, which shook global markets, pales in comparison. SpaceX’s fundraising target is 3 times larger. This will stand as the largest IPO in capital market history, without exception.

Many observers dismiss this as merely another cash-intensive venture seeking public funds. Such a view misses the epoch-defining opportunity and fails to grasp the magnitude of Musk’s strategic vision.

SpaceX has grown far beyond a rocket manufacturing company. Musk is integrating Starlink, AI computing infrastructure, and global networks to establish what amounts to a franchise for cross-planetary infrastructure.

This analysis examines this through four critical lenses. The implications extend beyond technology to address how ordinary investors might position themselves for historic wealth redistribution.

Part One: A Dimensional Strike Against Traditional Market Mechanics

SpaceX’s approach to capital markets represents a fundamental departure from conventional IPO strategy. Traditional public offerings require executives to conduct extensive roadshows, essentially petitioning institutional investors while facing downward pressure on valuation. SpaceX has inverted this dynamic entirely.

The company has introduced what can only be described as an assertive structural advantage. Reports indicate SpaceX is demanding “special treatment” from Nasdaq: immediate or early inclusion in core indices, specifically the Nasdaq-100, upon first-day trading.

This requirement carries profound implications. Trillions of dollars in U.S. equities are held in passive index funds and ETFs. These fund managers do not conduct active research. Their mandate requires them to replicate index composition. When a stock enters an index, these managers must purchase it immediately and unconditionally, regardless of valuation or first-day price movement.

Musk has essentially guaranteed that passive funds will absorb the offering on day one, securing the success of this massive issuance. This structure could trigger an intense short squeeze at market open, dismantling Wall Street’s traditional pricing authority.

SpaceX reportedly plans to allocate 20 to 30 percent of shares directly to retail investors, potentially without the standard 6-month lock-up period. This decision reflects a sophisticated understanding of market dynamics.

Musk experienced the power of retail investors during Tesla’s battles with short sellers, where coordinated retail activity fundamentally altered market outcomes. He recognizes his influence among global retail investors.

This retail allocation provides the offering with exceptional liquidity while serving a strategic purpose. It counters institutional price suppression through grassroots enthusiasm, while index-inclusion rules compel passive funds to participate. From a capital strategy perspective, this represents a masterful integration of retail mobilization and regulatory structure.

Part Two: An Irreplaceable Revenue Architecture

Examining SpaceX’s valuation through launch services alone is incomplete. The company’s primary cash flow engine and competitive moat is Starlink.

Often mischaracterized as a rural internet service, Starlink has established a de facto monopoly in low-Earth-orbit satellite communications. Projected 2025 revenue exceeds $16 billion, with over 10 million global users and continued subscriber growth.

Its model resembles a global toll-road for connectivity. As work becomes increasingly distributed, reliable internet access—not location—defines productivity. Starlink extends high-quality connectivity across remote, maritime, and in-flight environments.

The rollout of Direct-to-Cell, enabling phones to connect directly to satellites, further expands its reach. At scale, this could challenge traditional telecommunications carriers.

By controlling a global, terrain-independent communications network, Starlink positions itself as a critical access layer for next-generation connectivity, with durable, infrastructure-like cash flows.

Part Three: Space-Based Computing as a Technological Paradigm

The third pillar supporting SpaceX’s valuation extends beyond current technological frameworks. Following the acquisition of xAI, Musk is constructing a space-based computing network to address fundamental constraints on artificial intelligence development.

AI progress is increasingly limited not by algorithms or chips, but by energy consumption and thermal management. As demand for advanced GPU clusters rises, Earth’s power grids, land availability, and cooling water resources are approaching practical limits. Environmental and regulatory pressures further restrict expansion of large-scale data centers.

Musk’s proposed solution is to relocate computing infrastructure into orbit. Space-based data centers could operate in continuous sunlight, using large solar arrays for energy, while the near-zero temperatures of space enable efficient thermal management. This removes key physical constraints facing terrestrial AI infrastructure.

The model integrates SpaceX’s launch capabilities, xAI’s computing needs, and Starlink’s data transmission network. Together, this forms a closed-loop system linking orbital infrastructure with Earth-based users.

If viable, this approach could position SpaceX beyond aerospace logistics, creating a structural advantage over traditional data center operators reliant on terrestrial energy and cooling systems. However, execution remains uncertain.

Part Four: A Sovereignty-Transcending Infrastructure Platform

Viewed at a macro level, SpaceX represents a shift beyond traditional corporate models. Historically, large companies have depended on national infrastructure and regulatory systems. SpaceX is moving toward partial independence from these constraints.

The company combines launch capabilities, global satellite communications, and emerging space-based computing infrastructure. This positions it as a potential provider of critical digital and physical infrastructure on a global scale.

For smaller nations lacking resources to build independent space or communications systems, reliance on external providers like SpaceX may become necessary. This shifts the company’s role closer to infrastructure provider than conventional commercial enterprise.

Institutional investors are not only buying into a single business line, but into long-term exposure to communications networks, computing infrastructure, and space logistics. Traditional valuation metrics may not fully capture this scope.

While execution risks remain significant, the broader trend toward space-based infrastructure is ongoing. The key question is not whether this shift occurs, but which entities capture its economic value. SpaceX’s IPO signals a transition from concept to investable theme.

 

Source: https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/retail-investors-get-a-shot-at-spacex-as-wall-street-fights-over-a-75-billion-ipo/

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

www.anndy.com
j j j