Eltican / Monthly Research
As of 19 May 2026
May 2026

May 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$76.8K+4.0% over period
Spot BTC ETF flows-$0.36B22 sessions · IBIT +$0.37B
Ethereum$2.11K-6.8% over period · ETF -$0.26B
$72K$75K$78K$81K$84K$-0.36B$0.00B+$2.03B$76.8KMSTR ADDS $2.54B BTCBTC TOPS $81K; ETFS BACKDTCC × CHAINLINK COLLATERALMOODY'S AAA-MF; SCHWAB LIVECLARITY ACT CLEARS SENATE 15-9APR 19APR 26MAY 4MAY 12MAY 19
BTC / USD (LEFT)CUMUL. BTC ETF FLOWS $B (RIGHT)FLOWRISKMACROREGTRADFI
Ethereum$2.11K-6.8% over periodCUMUL. ETH ETF · -$0.26B
$2.06$2.24$2.43$2.11KAPR 19MAY 19
Themes at a glance
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NEGATIVE
Stagflation tape; Fed paralyzed
April CPI re-accelerated to 3.8% YoY (highest since May 2023) on the energy passthrough from the Iran war. Fed held at 3.5-3.75% in an 8-4 vote (first 4 dissents since 1992), with one governor wanting cuts and three opposing forward guidance toward cuts. Rate-cut probabilities for 2026 collapsed; markets now price ~30% odds of a HIKE by year-end.
POSITIVE
BTC decouples from macro fear
Bitcoin reclaimed $80k for the first time since January despite Treasury yields rising and rate-cut hopes dying. US spot BTC ETFs pulled >$1B in the first week of May (first since January) and >$2.4B across April. IBIT alone now holds ~$67B AUM. Strategy added 37,000+ BTC across April at avg $74k.
NEGATIVE
Iran war reshapes commodity tape
World Bank flagged the largest oil supply shock on record; Brent averaged $117 in April. UAE formally departed OPEC May 1. IEA and OPEC both cut 2026 demand forecasts mid-May. ECB held at 2.0% deposit despite eurozone CPI jumping to 3.0%, citing stagflation risk.
NEGATIVE
Lazarus owns DeFi tail risk
North Korea's Lazarus Group accounted for ~76% of all 2026 crypto-hack value through April. Drift Protocol lost $285M April 1 to a social-engineering / insider attack; KelpDAO lost $292M April 18 via a compromised LayerZero DVN. Thorchain followed with a $10.8M cross-chain exploit May 15 and halted trading.
POSITIVE
TradFi convergence at warp speed
The single most important week for crypto-TradFi convergence to date. Senate Banking advanced the CLARITY Act 15-9 May 14 (path to a July 4 signing). Moody's granted the first-ever Aaa-mf assessment for a tokenized vehicle (Fidelity International's FILQ on Ethereum), plus a matching Aaa-mf for BlackRock's incoming BSTBL/BRSRV tokenized money-market funds. DTCC enlisted Chainlink to run 24/7 collateral on its Collateral AppChain (Q4 go-live). Charles Schwab opened spot BTC/ETH trading to U.S. retail at 75bp.
NEUTRAL
Tariff truce holds into Beijing summit
Trump met Xi in Beijing May 14-15 with Musk, Cook, and Huang in tow. Traders priced ~81% odds of an extension of the October tariff truce; US tariffs on China remain at a 47.5% average vs 3.1% pre-Trump. Outcome was billed as 'stabilization, not breakthrough' — no fresh deal headlines moved the tape.
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$35.8B+4.6% 1M · +28.5% 3M · +2.2% 12M
BTC+ETH share of OI65%-0.8pp 1M · +4.3pp 3M · +7.9pp 12M
30D perp volume$1895BBTC $614B · -8.5% 1M · -34.5% 3M · -43.7% 12M
Biggest 30d gainerZEC+$0.18B · +76%
Biggest 30d loserXPL-0.04B · -45%
Total ecosystem Open Interest · 30d
STACKED BY ASSET · 3 VENUES
BTC $14.8BETH $8.4BAlts $12.7BTotal $35.8B$0B$14B$29B$43BAPR 20MAY 18
Top alts · current OI
SPLIT BY VENUE · CLICK FOR 12M
BinanceBybitOKXSOL$1.68BXRP$0.77BHYPE$0.56BBNB$0.53BDOGE$0.50BZEC$0.42BBCH$0.23BSUI$0.22BADA$0.19BTRX$0.18BLINK$0.17BXAUT$0.17BTON$0.15BAVAX$0.15BLTC$0.14B
Top alts · 30d volume
SPLIT BY VENUE · SUM
BinanceBybitOKXSOL$88.79BDOGE$42.26BLAB$35.39BZEC$35.26BXRP$32.20BHYPE$20.77BRAVE$16.65BTON$14.87BBSB$14.42BSUI$13.51BCHIP$12.79B1000PEPE$11.11BBNB$10.84BBILL$8.91BADA$7.95B
30d OI movers · gainers vs losers
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Implied volatility · BTC & ETH
DUAL-AXIS · 30D
BTC IV (LEFT)42.0% → 39.8%ETH IV (RIGHT)65.4% → 52.1%37%39%42%44%50%56%62%67%APR 20MAY 19
Stablecoin supply · point-in-time
TODAY · 1M · 3M · 12M
TODAY 1M AGO 3M AGO 12M AGO
USDT $190B $187B +1.5% $184B +3.3% $152B +24.7%
USDC $77B $79B -2.0% $74B +4.7% $60B +27.6%
Total $267B $265B +0.4% $257B +3.7% $212B +25.6%
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
62 / 100
MIXED
z +0.96 · VIX · Cu/Au · SPY/TLT · HY/LQD · 19 MAY
S&P 500
7,354
+2.0% MTD
VIX
18.06
+6.9% MTD
US 10Y yield
4.67%
+28 bps
DXY
99.30
+1.2% MTD
Cross-asset heatmap · MTD / 3M / YTD / 12M
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InstrumentMTD3MYTD12MLAST
Equities· 5+1.3%+5.2%+11.2%+32.8%5 items
S&P 500+2.0%+6.9%+7.4%+23.3%7,354
Nasdaq+3.9%+13.7%+11.3%+34.6%25,871
EuroStoxx 50-0.5%-4.1%+0.9%+7.8%5,851
Nikkei 225+0.9%+4.7%+18.8%+59.5%59,804
MSCI EM (EEM)+0.4%+5.0%+17.5%+38.6%64.26
Rates· 5mixedmixedmixedmixed5 items
US 3M yield-1bp-3bp+3bp-66bp3.58%
US 5Y yield+31bp+68bp+61bp+25bp4.33%
US 10Y yield+28bp+59bp+50bp+19bp4.67%
US 30Y yield+19bp+48bp+34bp+24bp5.18%
Long UST (TLT)-3.0%-7.3%-4.7%-3.5%83.02
Credit· 2-1.4%-3.0%-2.2%-0.0%2 items
High Yield (HYG)-1.3%-1.9%-1.6%-0.0%79.35
Inv. Grade (LQD)-1.6%-4.0%-2.8%+0.0%107.1
FX· 4-0.1%+0.5%+0.2%+3.0%4 items
DXY+1.2%+1.6%+1.0%-1.1%99.30
EUR/USD-1.2%-2.2%-1.3%+3.2%1.16
USD/JPY+1.3%+3.9%+1.7%+9.7%159.1
GBP/USD-1.6%-1.3%-0.6%+0.2%1.34
Commodities· 8+2.6%+16.8%+25.3%+58.1%8 items
WTI Crude+2.6%+65.3%+87.7%+71.9%107.8
Brent Crude-2.4%+58.2%+82.9%+69.8%111.3
Nat Gas+12.5%+3.4%-15.5%+0.0%3.11
Gold-2.3%-9.6%+4.2%+39.6%4,506
Silver+1.8%-3.5%+6.7%+131.6%74.83
Platinum-2.3%-8.2%-4.9%+92.5%1,934
Copper+4.0%+6.4%+9.5%+33.1%6.16
Wheat+7.0%+22.0%+31.6%+26.1%667.2
Vol· 5+6.6%+8.4%+46.1%+21.6%5 items
VIX+6.9%-8.0%+20.8%-0.4%18.06
VXN+10.6%-3.5%+23.2%+9.7%24.09
MOVE+18.4%+32.9%+33.4%-17.8%85.32
OVX-2.9%+41.6%+141.6%+91.8%72.89
GVZ-0.0%-21.1%+11.3%+24.6%26.63
Crypto· 2-2.2%+12.7%-20.0%-21.3%2 items
Bitcoin+1.3%+16.3%-11.7%-26.8%77,266
Ethereum-5.6%+9.0%-28.2%-15.8%2,130
Cross-asset implied volatility · MTD rebased to 100
VIX · VXN · MOVE · OVX · GVZ · DVOL
10091122 MAY 01MAY 19
VIX (S&P 500)
17.0 → 18.1 +6.3%
VXN (Nasdaq)
21.9 → 24.1 +9.9%
MOVE (UST rates)
70.4 → 85.3 +21.2%
OVX (WTI crude)
75.4 → 72.9 -3.3%
GVZ (gold)
26.4 → 26.6 +0.8%
DVOL BTC
38.5 → 39.8 +3.2%
DVOL ETH
54.7 → 52.1 -4.7%
UST yield curve · today vs 1M / 3M / 12M ago
% YIELD
3.38%4.04%4.71%5.38% 3.58%4.33%4.67%5.18% Today1M ago3M ago12M ago 3M5Y10Y30Y
Momentum scatter · 1M return vs prior-11M z-score
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-2-11-112 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+29bp+62bp+48bp+86bp1.09%
30Y - 5YLong-end steepness · long-duration term premium-11bp-21bp-27bp-1bp0.85%
MOVE / VIX>6 = rate stress dominates, <4 = equity stress dominates+10.7%+44.4%+10.4%-17.4%4.72
Credit· 1+0.3%+2.2%+1.2%-0.0%1 items
HYG / LQDHY vs IG total return · credit risk preference+0.3%+2.2%+1.2%-0.0%0.74
Risk appetite· 3-0.1%+5.2%-1.9%+10.4%3 items
Copper / GoldPro-growth vs flight-to-safety · tracks 10Y yields+6.5%+17.8%+5.1%-4.7%0.00
AUDJPYCarry-trade FX pair · classic RORO indicator+0.0%+4.3%+8.0%+20.8%113.1
ETH / BTCIntra-crypto risk-on signal-6.8%-6.3%-18.7%+15.1%0.03
Equity factor· 3-1.5%+1.9%+7.8%+22.4%3 items
SPHB / SPLVHigh-beta vs low-vol US equity · risk preference+0.8%+10.8%+11.2%+49.0%1.82
IWM / SPYSmall caps vs large caps · domestic risk-on-3.8%-3.3%+3.1%+5.9%0.37
EEM / SPYEM equity vs US · global risk-on-1.6%-1.8%+9.2%+12.4%0.09
Vol regime· 2-0.5%+24.3%+57.4%+46.0%2 items
VIX9D / VIX>1 = backwardation/stress, <1 = contango/calm+8.3%-5.3%+14.8%-0.6%0.92
OVX / VIXOil vol vs equity vol · geopolitics tell-9.2%+53.8%+100.0%+92.7%4.04
Energy· 1-60.7%-32.0%+2.3%+23.2%1 items
Brent - WTIRegional supply imbalance · geopolitics premium-60.7%-32.0%+2.3%+23.2%3.51
FX & dollar· 1+3.7%+12.5%-3.0%-29.2%1 items
DXY / GoldReal-rate proxy · USD strong + Gold weak = high real rates+3.7%+12.5%-3.0%-29.2%0.02