🇨🇦 TSX rallies as miners shine, weekly gains locked in ⛏️📈 $STBL
Canada’s TSX surged Friday, up ~1.4%, putting the index on track for a +1.6% weekly gain after a choppy ride. $CYBER
What’s driving it?
Gold miners led the charge as gold rebounded on safe-haven demand
Gold sector +5%, silver jumped sharply, materials up over 4%
Consumer staples posted their biggest weekly gain ever (+8%+) — pure defensive strength
Tech bounced +1.4%, but still facing its 4th straight weekly loss amid AI disruption fears
Energy stocks stayed volatile, tracking whipsaw oil prices
Macro snapshot 🇨🇦
Canada lost 24.8K jobs in January
Unemployment rate fell to 6.5%, a 16-month low, as labor force participation declined $PROVE
Big picture: Safe-haven metals and defensive sectors are winning while tech struggles. Volatility isn’t going anywhere — expect rallies, pullbacks, and sharp rotations. ⚖️
Markets don’t move in straight lines. #write2earn🌐💹
💵 Dollar Pulls Back, Yen Wobbles Ahead of Japan Vote $PROVE
The U.S. dollar eased from a two-week high as risk assets bounced back, but it’s still heading for a solid weekly gain. Markets are shaking off an AI-driven selloff while keeping one eye on shifting rate-cut expectations. $ZK
🇯🇵 Yen: Set for its worst week since October as traders stay nervous ahead of Sunday’s Japanese national election. 🇪🇺 Euro: Recovered after the ECB held rates steady and downplayed FX moves. 🇬🇧 Pound: Rebounded from a sharp drop after the BoE signaled cuts could come if inflation cools. ₿ Bitcoin: Jumped nearly 9% from recent lows, though still down on the week. $XRP
Big themes this week: risk-on vs safe-haven swings, AI spending fears, and politics + policy driving FX volatility. 📉📈 #write2earn🌐💹
Why the “Market Cap” Argument Against $10,000 XRP Is Flawed
The idea that XRP can’t reach extreme prices like $10,000 because of market cap is misleading. Market cap isn’t a funding limit — it’s just price × circulating supply, a snapshot of the last traded price, not the amount of money actually invested.
Analyst Crypto_Luke argues this logic ignores how XRP is designed to work. XRP isn’t a passive store of value like BTC. It’s a high-speed settlement asset, meaning the same XRP can be reused many times a day across global payment corridors. What really matters is the actively traded float, not the total supply sitting idle.
Because XRP moves fast, it can support large transaction volumes without needing dollar-for-dollar capital backing. As demand for liquidity grows, price adjusts to reflect utility — not some imaginary cap based on global money supply.
XRP’s large, fixed, non-reissuable supply was intentionally built to support massive settlement throughput, not to limit price.
That said, short term pressure remains. XRP’s market cap recently dropped nearly 10% to ~$79B, with price sliding toward $1.3 amid a broader crypto sell-off — even as trading volume jumped over 148%.
Bottom line: Market cap doesn’t “block” price. Utility, liquidity velocity, and real-world usage matter far more. #write2earn🌐💹
Gloria Zhao has stepped down as a Bitcoin Core maintainer after ~6 years, revoking her PGP key and submitting her final PR. She was a key force behind mempool policy, transaction relay, RBF improvements, and BIPs like package relay and TRUC—work that made fee bumping more reliable and reduced censorship.
Her exit follows prolonged OP_RETURN and Bitcoin Knots disputes and highlights the growing social strain inside Bitcoin’s development culture. Markets barely blinked, but the governance conversation just got louder.
Central Banks Slow Gold Buying — ETFs Take the Lead 🟡
Central banks hit the brakes on gold in 2025. After three record years, net purchases fell 21% to 863 tonnes, slipping below the 1,000-tonne mark for the first time since 2021. With gold prices surging, policymakers turned more price-sensitive — even as long-term diversification plans remain intact.
Despite slower central bank buying, overall gold demand smashed records, crossing 5,000 tonnes for the first time. A 45% price rally and 53 new all-time highs added an estimated $555B in global wealth gains.
The big shift? Market leadership moved from central banks to ETFs. After years of outflows, gold ETFs snapped up 801 tonnes in 2025, including 400 tonnes in H2, chasing momentum as prices climbed. Bar and coin demand also hit a 12-year high, pushing total investment demand up 84% YoY.
But caution flags are up 🚨 DSP warns that ETF-driven rallies are often volatile and rarely repeat. With investment demand stretched and prices elevated, the risk of profit-taking is rising.
Takeaway:
Long-term gold story = still alive
Short-term momentum = fragile
New buyers: be careful
Existing holders: consider taking profits
⏳ There will be better entry points for gold and silver — just not right now. #write2earn🌐💹
Global stocks slipped after a fresh Wall Street selloff, with AI-related worries dominating sentiment. Investors are questioning the payoff from a massive $600B AI spending wave by Big Tech, triggering a brutal rotation out of software and growth names. $SUP
Quick snapshot:
S&P 500 turns negative for 2026 as software stocks lose ~$1T in value
Risk-off mood hits equities, while “safe havens” like gold and silver stay volatile $ZEUS
Crypto rebounds after heavy losses — Bitcoin bounces above $64K
Fed cut bets rise, with markets pricing higher odds of a March rate cut
Bottom line: markets are nervous, AI optimism is being stress-tested, and traders are bracing for more volatility across assets. ⚠️📊 #write2earn🌐💹
AUD slips below $0.70, easing from 3-year highs as a global tech selloff dents risk appetite. 📉 Despite the RBA’s 25bp hike to 3.85% and a hawkish tone, risk-off flows are weighing on the Aussie. $DCR
Markets now price a 70% chance of a May hike, with eyes on household spending data next for direction. 👀 #write2earn🌐💹
💵 Dollar Nears 2-Week High as AI Frenzy Triggers Risk Reset $DCR
Markets hit pause on risk. Heavy AI capex worries sparked a broad selloff in stocks, crypto, and metals—pushing investors toward the USD as a safe haven. $HANA
Key moves:
DXY holds near a 2-week high, up ~0.7% on the week
JPY stays fragile ahead of Japan’s election
EUR & GBP rebound after ECB and BoE held rates $PARTI
Gold & Bitcoin fail to act as havens in this flush
Precious metals are closing the week in the red as tech stocks tumble and the U.S. dollar flexes 💵📉
Gold steadies near $4,790, but still −1.4% on the week
Silver holds around $71, after a brutal selloff; −16% weekly
Dollar at a 2-week high, pressuring metals
Risk-off mood deepens with tech stocks & crypto under stress
Gold is holding up better as a defensive hedge, while silver’s higher risk exposure is getting punished. Eyes now on Fed rate-cut timing and broader market sentiment. ⚖️📊
Global risk got shaky, but the Aussie and kiwi stayed on their feet thanks to solid yield premiums. AUD pulled back from recent highs after the RBA hike, yet higher bond yields continue to cushion dips. Markets still lean toward another RBA hike in May, keeping AUD supported above key levels.$SKR
NZD lags a bit as softer jobs data pushes back RBNZ hike expectations, with eyes on the Feb 18 meeting. $C98
📊 Yields matter — and for now, they’re doing the heavy lifting. #write2earn🌐💹
Regulatory heat + geopolitical risk are reshaping crypto flows. As privacy coins face delistings and tighter KYC, many traders are rotating from XMR into USDT to protect value without fully exiting crypto.
📉 Market backdrop
BTC volatility post-tariffs triggered ETF outflows and liquidations
XMR pulled back from ~$600 to ~$380, seen more as a liquidity shift than lost confidence
USDT continues to absorb risk-off flows across the market
🔐 Why XMR → USDT matters now
Fewer centralized off-ramps for privacy coins
Rising preference for non-custodial, wallet-to-wallet swaps
Traders want stability without exposing transaction history
🌐 Network choice is key
ERC-20 USDT: DeFi + institutional standard, but higher fees
TRC-20 USDT: Faster, cheaper, favored for active trading and transfers
⚖️ Big picture Privacy demand is rising just as legal space narrows. For many, swapping XMR into USDT in 2026 isn’t speculation—it’s risk management.
As volatility stays elevated, flexibility between privacy and stability is becoming a core trading edge.
Tech jitters snowballed this week as the selloff spread from software to chips and mega-caps. AMD plunged ~17%, Palantir ~12%, and Alphabet slid after unveiling eye-watering AI capex plans that spooked investors. $ENSO
Risk-off rippled globally: Asia stocks recoiled, Bitcoin slid toward $70K (-40% from Oct highs), and silver saw extreme swings. AI optimism is no longer a free pass—valuation and payoff questions are front and center. $KIN
Rotation is real: value > growth, with equal-weight S&P 500 outperforming as investors lean cyclical amid mixed macro signals. Eyes now on Amazon earnings and central banks (ECB, BoE) for the next cue.
Gold eased in early trade, stuck under the $5,000 level as a firmer U.S. dollar capped demand. A stronger greenback outweighed safe-haven flows despite rising Middle East tensions.
China’s physical buying ahead of Lunar New Year remains the key support to watch.
⚪ Silver took a hit, sliding sharply alongside the move.
The Aussie and kiwi stayed resilient despite a softer USD, backed by a widening yield cushion. 🇦🇺 AUD/USD hovered near 0.70, while AUD/JPY surged to a 35-year high, as Japan’s ultra-low yields keep the yen under pressure. $PLAY
The boost? • RBA’s hawkish turn with rates at 3.85% and markets pricing more hikes ahead • Aussie bond yields near multi-year highs, giving AUD an edge over peers
🇳🇿 NZD/USD steadied around 0.60 after mixed jobs data, with rate hike expectations pushed further out — keeping gains capped for now. $MYX
Bottom line: Yield differentials are doing the heavy lifting, especially against the yen, but upside vs USD may be more limited from here. 📊 #write2earn🌐💹
🇦🇺🇳🇿 Aussie & Kiwi Hold Firm as Yield Advantage Bites $COLLECT
The Australian and New Zealand dollars stayed resilient against the US dollar, backed by widening yield differentials. The Aussie also surged to a 35-year high vs the yen, riding Japan election uncertainty and higher local yields. $CHESS
🔹 AUD/USD steady near 0.7000, supported after the RBA’s hawkish rate hike to 3.85% 🔹 AUD/JPY hit 110.15, highest since 1990 🔹 NZD/USD hovered around 0.6005, as weak labour data pushed RBNZ hike expectations further out
Rising Australian bond yields and growing rate spreads continue to cushion AUD & NZD — though markets say much of the tightening is already priced in. $AERGO