eltican·capital
eltican · capital
As of 31 August 2026
August 2026

August 2026 Monthly Research

A combined long-form note covering the month in news, the cross-venue perp landscape, and the macro backdrop.

I

This month in news

What moved the market this month — themes, headline events, and the stories worth tracking into next month.

Bitcoin$78.6K+25.2% over period
Spot BTC ETF flows+$3.54B21 sessions · IBIT +$3.09B
Ethereum$2.47K+33.9% over period · ETF +$1.84B
$60K$66K$72K$78K$84K$0.00B+$3.54B$78.6KJul payrolls -23kSEC crypto offering regimeIran sanctions name cryptoETH ETF record dayTectonic $74M, Cronos haltJul CPI 3.4%Treasury doubles buybacksJul PCE 3.7%Warsh: 'work to do'AUG 1AUG 8AUG 16AUG 24AUG 31
BTC / USD (LEFT)CUMUL. BTC ETF FLOWS $B (RIGHT)FLOWRISKMACROPOLICYTRADFI
Ethereum$2.47K+33.9% over periodCUMUL. ETH ETF · +$1.84B
$1.72$2.18$2.64$2.47KAUG 01AUG 31
Themes at a glance
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POSITIVE
The rally came from the Treasury, not the Fed
On Aug 19 the Treasury announced it would at least double the size of its long-end liquidity-support buybacks, from $2bn to $4bn per operation, running Sep 9 to Nov 4. Long-dated yields fell and risk assets were bid: BTC rose 7.1% and ETH 17.5% within 24 hours, BTC's first move above $70k since June. Secretary Bessent said the following day that operations could exceed the $4bn ceiling, framing the programme as liquidity support for a thin summer market rather than yield suppression. For allocators the point is uncomfortable: August's crypto move was a bond-market plumbing event, not a change in the monetary stance.
NEUTRAL
A short squeeze on an emptying book
Positioning never kept pace with price. In coin terms BTC futures OI fell to roughly 587,600 BTC by Aug 25, a five-month low, with margin futures near a record-low 52,000 BTC - about 11% of the market; USD notional rose only because spot rose 25%, with Binance BTCUSDT OI up 21% to $8.3bn against a far larger price move. Short liquidations on Aug 19 alone ran to $1.4-1.7bn depending on the venue counted, roughly $1.29bn of it inside a single hour, and about $3.5bn over Aug 19-22. A rally driven by short covering rather than fresh leveraged longs leaves a thinner cushion of forced buyers underneath it, which is precisely why the Aug 28 reversal was as quick as it was.
NEGATIVE
Warsh's first Jackson Hole ends the move
On Aug 28 Fed Chair Kevin Warsh used his first Jackson Hole keynote to flag PCE inflation at 3.7% (4.1% on a six-month annualised basis) and to say the Committee must be confident inflation is moving to target, 'Otherwise, we have work to do.' He also moved to de-emphasise forward guidance. BTC printed its monthly high of $81,480 that day and closed 3.0% lower. The signal matters more than the single session: the July minutes released Aug 19 showed Hammack, Kashkari and Logan all preferring a 25bp increase - the most dissents since 2016 - and December hike odds were quoted above 70% into month-end.
POSITIVE
ETF demand returned, and ETH led it
US spot BTC ETFs took $3.54bn net across 21 sessions and ETH ETFs $1.84bn, on Farside's tally. The composition is the story: ETH ETFs ran a multi-week unbroken inflow streak into month-end, BlackRock's ETHA absorbed roughly 72% of the category's take with no net-selling days, and on Aug 27 ETH products pulled $225.8m - their strongest single day since Oct 2025 - against $242.3m for BTC. That $16.5m gap is the narrowest institutional preference spread of the cycle and is the cleanest evidence yet of TradFi allocators treating ETH as a separate allocation rather than a BTC beta expression.
POSITIVE
Washington builds the regime while the Senate stalls
Three separate workstreams advanced. On Aug 18 the SEC proposed 'Regulation Crypto Assets', the first bespoke offering framework for covered investment contracts - a $5m startup exemption, two fundraising tiers at $20m and $75m per 12 months, and a conditional safe harbor from investment-contract status once essential managerial efforts have ceased. On Aug 17-18 Treasury issued its GENIUS Act NPRM defining what it means to issue, offer or sell a payment stablecoin in the US, with comments due Oct 19. On Aug 27 the OCC and FDIC finalised a uniform definition of 'unsafe or unsound practice' that directs examiners toward material financial risk over documentation - read by the industry as further narrowing the basis for debanking. The exception is the CLARITY Act: the motion to proceed was filed in early August but the floor vote slipped past the recess into September.
NEUTRAL
The privacy bid meets sanctions enforcement
Zcash was the month's dominant alt narrative, reaching an eight-year high above $850 as Grayscale converted its long-standing trust into a spot ETF listing on NYSE Arca under ZCSH at a 2.5% fee, with the manager explicitly framing the thesis against AI-driven financial surveillance. In the same week, Treasury's 'Operation Economic Outcast' (Aug 24) sanctioned roughly 60 entities, vessels and individuals across the UAE, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Switzerland, naming digital assets as one of five Iranian lifelines alongside gold, aviation, shipping and technology, with secondary penalties threatened. Institutional privacy exposure and sanctions-enforcement risk arrived in the same fortnight; the two are not independent.
Month timeline
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Watching next
FORWARD CALENDAR · 7 ITEMS
II

Cross-venue perp landscape

Overview of the market open interest and volume in the last 30 days.

Total perp OI$37.9B+23.1% 1M · +6.1% 3M · -38.5% 12M
BTC+ETH share of OI62%-1.8pp 1M · +0.5pp 3M · +3.1pp 12M
30D perp volume$1898BBTC $596B · +20.0% 1M · -6.9% 3M · -56.5% 12M
Biggest 30d gainerSOL+$0.61B · +48%
Biggest 30d loserKAITO-0.05B · -74%
Total ecosystem Open Interest · 30d
STACKED BY ASSET · 3 VENUES
BTC $14.4BETH $9.2BAlts $14.4BTotal $37.9B$0B$14B$29B$43BAUG 02AUG 31
Top alts · current OI
SPLIT BY VENUE · CLICK FOR 12M
BinanceBybitOKXSOL$1.88BXRP$0.83BHYPE$0.81BZEC$0.80BBNB$0.58BDOGE$0.43BXAU$0.24BUNI$0.22BLINK$0.21BNEAR$0.18BENA$0.17BSUI$0.17BXAUT$0.16BTRX$0.15BADA$0.15B
Top alts · 30d volume
SPLIT BY VENUE · SUM
BinanceBybitOKXSOL$94.42BXRP$57.57BSNDK$50.79BZEC$42.60BHYPE$37.41BDOGE$23.04BTRUMP$19.20BSPCX$13.90BXAU$13.87BENA$13.35BBNB$11.63BSKHYNIX$11.34BPUMP$10.75BBEAT$10.22BTUT$9.38B
30d OI movers · gainers vs losers
CLICK ROW FOR 12M HISTORY →
Implied volatility · BTC & ETH
DUAL-AXIS · 30D
BTC IV (LEFT)35.0% → 37.6%ETH IV (RIGHT)49.7% → 51.3%33%37%41%45%44%50%56%62%AUG 02AUG 31
Funding & basis term structure · BTC & ETH
ANNUALIZED CARRY BY MATURITY · LIVE
-1%+2%+5%+8%+7.3%+3.8%+3.6%+3.4%+4.3%+4.5%+4.7%+4.7%+4.8%BTCETHPerp11Sep18Sep25Sep30Oct27Nov25Dec26Mar25Jun
Stablecoin supply · point-in-time
TODAY · 1M · 3M · 12M
TODAY 1M AGO 3M AGO 12M AGO
USDT $183B $183B +0.1% $188B -2.4% $168B +9.2%
USDC $74B $72B +2.6% $76B -2.7% $71B +3.7%
Total $257B $255B +0.8% $264B -2.5% $239B +7.5%
Tokenized real-world assets · on-chain AUM
BY ASSET TYPE · DEFILLAMA TAGS · CLICK FOR 12M
COMMODITIESTREASURIESPRIVATE CREDITPRIVATE EQUITYEQUITIESTotal $27B · 127 protocolsBlackRock BUIDL$3.56BTether Gold$3.06BCircle USYC$2.71BOndo Yield Assets$2.52BSpiko$2.51BPaxos Gold$1.86BCentrifuge Protocol$1.62BWisdomTree$1.23BBlockchain Capital$0.96BOndo Global Markets$0.93B
RWA perps in CeFi · open interest
BY ASSET · SEGMENTS = VENUE · CLICK FOR 12M
GOLDOILSILVEREQUITIESTotal OI $841MXAU$238MXAUT$158MPAXG$80MXAG$69MCL$49MCRCL$36MQQQ$28MGOOGL$23MSPX$23MMSTR$21M
III

Macro setup

Rates, FX, equity, commodities, and credit.

Financial Conditions
74 / 100
LOOSE · +15.8 vs 1M
P26 vs 5y · NFCI -0.52 · 24 APR · Chicago Fed
Risk Appetite
65 / 100
MIXED
z +1.19 · VIX · Cu/Au · SPY/TLT · HY/LQD · 31 AUG
S&P 500
7,686
+2.6% MTD
VIX
14.92
-6.7% MTD
US 10Y yield
4.76%
+1 bps
DXY
99.43
-0.4% MTD
Cross-asset heatmap · MTD / 3M / YTD / 12M
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InstrumentMTD3MYTD12MLAST
Equities· 5+3.0%-0.5%+18.1%+30.3%5 items
S&P 500+2.6%+1.0%+12.3%+19.0%7,686
Nasdaq+3.9%-2.7%+13.5%+22.9%26,371
EuroStoxx 50+1.0%+5.1%+10.8%+20.0%6,420
Nikkei 225+2.9%-0.8%+31.5%+55.0%66,215
MSCI EM (EEM)+4.6%-5.3%+22.5%+34.4%67.02
Rates· 7mixedmixedmixedmixed7 items
US 1M yield+7bp+13bp+11bp-56bp3.85%
US 3M yield+5bp+11bp+19bp-31bp3.73%
US 1Y yield+10bp+36bp+70bp+35bp4.18%
US 5Y yield+5bp+33bp+79bp+81bp4.51%
US 10Y yield+1bp+30bp+59bp+53bp4.76%
US 30Y yield-3bp+28bp+41bp+33bp5.25%
Long UST (TLT)+0.3%-3.7%-5.3%-4.7%82.52
Credit· 2+0.2%-1.3%-2.3%-2.3%2 items
High Yield (HYG)+0.4%-0.1%-1.0%-1.3%79.81
Inv. Grade (LQD)-0.0%-2.5%-3.6%-3.3%106.2
FX· 4+0.2%+0.2%+0.7%+2.5%4 items
DXY-0.4%+0.2%+1.2%+1.7%99.43
EUR/USD+0.8%-0.0%-1.1%-0.6%1.16
USD/JPY-0.3%-0.1%+2.1%+8.6%159.7
GBP/USD+0.7%+0.7%+0.6%+0.3%1.36
Commodities· 8+7.8%-2.3%+16.1%+35.0%8 items
WTI Crude+1.3%-8.5%+49.4%+34.0%85.76
Brent Crude+0.4%-5.7%+48.7%+32.8%90.49
Nat Gas+6.8%-7.3%-20.4%-2.1%2.93
Gold+9.4%-1.3%+2.4%+27.6%4,431
Silver+15.0%-12.1%-5.6%+64.7%66.22
Platinum+8.4%-7.7%-12.1%+31.0%1,788
Copper+2.4%-0.8%+17.1%+45.9%6.59
Wheat+18.3%+25.5%+49.2%+46.0%756.5
Vol· 5-12.5%-8.2%+14.3%+15.1%5 items
VIX-6.7%-5.4%-0.2%-2.9%14.92
VXN-22.4%-13.3%+3.2%+5.6%20.18
MOVE-9.3%+2.6%+17.8%-5.1%75.32
OVX-28.8%-24.6%+48.9%+37.6%44.91
GVZ+4.7%-0.2%+2.0%+40.3%24.40
Crypto· 2+26.6%+23.1%-15.0%-36.7%2 items
Bitcoin+23.2%+16.0%-11.5%-28.5%77,404
Ethereum+30.0%+30.2%-18.5%-44.9%2,418
Cross-asset implied volatility · MTD rebased to 100
VIX · VXN · MOVE · OVX · GVZ · DVOL
10079122 AUG 01AUG 31
VIX (S&P 500)
15.9 → 14.9 -5.9%
VXN (Nasdaq)
24.8 → 20.2 -18.5%
MOVE (UST rates)
80.5 → 75.3 -6.4%
OVX (WTI crude)
57.2 → 44.9 -21.5%
GVZ (gold)
23.6 → 24.4 +3.2%
DVOL BTC
35.5 → 37.6 +5.9%
DVOL ETH
50.8 → 51.3 +1.0%
UST yield curve · today vs 1M / 3M / 12M ago
% YIELD
3.42%4.10%4.79%5.48% 3.85%3.73%4.18%4.51%4.76%5.25% Today1M ago3M ago12M ago 1M3M1Y5Y10Y30Y
Momentum scatter · 1M return vs prior-11M z-score
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-0.50.511.52-11 trend continuationreversal uppersistent weaknessreversal down S&P 500NasdaqEuroStoxx 50Nikkei 225MSCI EM (EEM)Long UST (TLT)High Yield (HYG)Inv. Grade (LQD)DXYEUR/USDUSD/JPYGBP/USDWTI CrudeBrent CrudeNat GasGoldSilverPlatinumCopperWheatBitcoinEthereum LAST 1M · Z-SCORE OF LOG RETURN →PRIOR 11M · Z-SCORE → EquitiesRatesCreditFXCommoditiesCryptoclick to filter · again to reset
Cross-asset spreads & ratios · MTD / 3M / YTD / 12M
CLICK ANY GROUP TO EXPAND · CLICK ANY CELL FOR HISTORY →
InstrumentMTD3MYTD12MLAST
Rates & curve· 3mixedmixedmixedmixed3 items
10Y - 3MYield curve slope · Fed's preferred recession indicator-4bp+19bp+41bp+84bp1.03%
30Y - 5YLong-end steepness · long-duration term premium-7bp-5bp-38bp-48bp0.74%
MOVE / VIX>6 = rate stress dominates, <4 = equity stress dominates-2.8%+8.4%+18.0%-2.3%5.05
Credit· 1+0.5%+2.4%+2.7%+2.0%1 items
HYG / LQDHY vs IG total return · credit risk preference+0.5%+2.4%+2.7%+2.0%0.75
Risk appetite· 3+0.3%+4.1%+5.3%+3.5%3 items
Copper / GoldPro-growth vs flight-to-safety · tracks 10Y yields-6.4%+0.5%+14.3%+14.4%0.00
AUDJPYCarry-trade FX pair · classic RORO indicator+1.8%-0.2%+9.4%+19.0%114.5
ETH / BTCIntra-crypto risk-on signal+5.5%+12.2%-7.9%-23.0%0.03
Equity factor· 3+2.3%-5.0%+11.6%+18.5%3 items
SPHB / SPLVHigh-beta vs low-vol US equity · risk preference+6.8%-8.4%+19.6%+37.3%1.96
IWM / SPYSmall caps vs large caps · domestic risk-on-1.7%-0.2%+6.2%+5.1%0.38
EEM / SPYEM equity vs US · global risk-on+1.8%-6.3%+8.9%+13.0%0.09
Vol regime· 2-11.8%-6.5%+30.5%+25.0%2 items
VIX9D / VIX>1 = backwardation/stress, <1 = contango/calm+0.0%+7.3%+11.8%+8.4%0.90
OVX / VIXOil vol vs equity vol · geopolitics tell-23.7%-20.3%+49.2%+41.7%3.01
Energy· 1-13.2%+111.2%+37.9%+15.1%1 items
Brent - WTIRegional supply imbalance · geopolitics premium-13.2%+111.2%+37.9%+15.1%4.73
FX & dollar· 1-9.0%+1.5%-1.2%-20.3%1 items
DXY / GoldReal-rate proxy · USD strong + Gold weak = high real rates-9.0%+1.5%-1.2%-20.3%0.02