Friday, Mar 17, 2023

Banking strain, BTC fuel, Ethereum upgrades...

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” – Henry Ford  ||  

Top o’ the mornin’ to you all, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day, even if you’re not Irish. ☘ You’re reading the premium daily Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, where I focus on the growing overlap between the crypto and macro ecosystems – I’m glad you’re here. Nothing I say is investment advice! Nevertheless, I hope you find it useful – if so, please consider hitting the like button at the bottom, and sharing with friends and colleagues.

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MARKET

Tricky Friday

It may just be the end of a long week, but today does feel like it’s gearing up to be particularly complicated. Indeed, as I type, even since I took the price snapshot above, things are moving fast. Apart from the lingering dread that bank failures are usually announced on Fridays, today is triple witching in the options market – this refers to the simultaneous expiry of options on equities, stock index options and stock index futures, which happens only four times a year on the third Friday of the last month of each quarter. $2.7 trillion of derivatives are maturing, which could add even more portfolio-rebalancing volatility to an already edgy market.

(chart via TradingView)