Hello and happy Friday!
Markets delivered a brutal reminder this week that no asset class is immune when crowded positioning unwinds.
This week's report cuts through the carnage with 14 detailed charts covering institutional flows, liquidation dynamics, and the striking reversal in safe-haven preferences.
The crypto section breaks down Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, delivering clearly defined long and short trading setups at key technical levels, complete with exact entry points, targets, and invalidation zones, to help you navigate this increasingly volatile market environment with confidence.
Here's what we'll cover today:
🌍 Market Recap & Macro Overview: A breakdown of yesterday's violent selloff across equities, precious metals, and crypto, and why institutional money is flowing back to traditional safe havens.
📈 Bitcoin (BTC) Breakdown: Key technical levels, record single-day ETF outflows, cleared downside leverage, and clearly defined bullish and bearish scenarios as BTC tests $82K.
📊 Ethereum (ETH) Outlook: ETH/USD breakdown below $2,851, continued weakness on the BTC pair, $155M in ETF outflows, and scenario-based setups as institutional demand remains absent.
🚀 Solana (SOL) Analysis: Fresh yearly lows alongside BTC and ETH, cleared downside liquidations, and technical setups that define potential recovery or further decline.
Let's dive in 👇
🌍 Market Recap & Macro Overview:
Yesterday's brutal selloff swept across equities, precious metals, and crypto in a coordinated risk-off move that tested investor conviction. Gold topped $5,600 per ounce Thursday morning before plunging nearly 10% in minutes to below $5,200 as profit-taking overwhelmed the market after its parabolic run. This violent reversal shows how quickly even safe-haven assets can crack when positioning gets too crowded.
Gold Retreats in Sudden Selloff After Topping $5,500 (Source: Bloomberg)
The tech sector led the carnage, with Microsoft crashing over 10%, its worst day since March 2020, and wiping out $357 billion in market value after earnings. While the company beat revenue and profit estimates, Azure cloud growth of 39% fell short of last quarter's 40% and couldn't justify the staggering $37.5 billion in quarterly AI infrastructure spending. The market's message was clear: show us the returns or expect a reckoning. Bitcoin felt the pain even more acutely, breaking through critical support at $85,000 and tumbling to $81,000, its lowest level since November. The crypto market saw $1.75 billion in leveraged long positions liquidated in 24 hours as stop-losses cascaded, while Bitcoin ETFs hemorrhaged $1.1 billion over five days.
Painful Reversal (Source: Bloomberg)
Get the Edge Most Retail Traders Don’t Have
Become a paying subscriber of Sandman Research to get this post and all subscriber-only insights, trade setups, and macro intelligence used by top crypto traders.
Upgrade Now → Get Full AccessA subscription gets you:
- Clear Trade Setups for BTC & Altcoins: Step-by-step guidance with entry, stop, and take-profit levels so you can act confidently during market swings.
- Macro & Market Intelligence: Understand which macro events and liquidity shifts are moving crypto, so you’re never caught off guard by volatility.
- Exclusive ETF & On-Chain Flow Analysis: See capital movements and liquidation clusters before the crowd, giving you an edge in timing entries and exits.
- Altcoin & Sector Insights: Identify early rotation opportunities in high-potential sectors like AI-focused altcoins, without wasting time on dead projects.
- Actionable, Risk-Aware Playbooks: Convert research into actual trades with structured setups, technical breakdowns, and scenario-based strategies.
