Kunal Ashokkumar Doshi

Markets opened the year with subtle but important shifts. BTC outperformed both equities and gold, higher beta crypto narratives reawakened, and derivatives positioning pointed to a careful rebuild of risk rather than excess. In today's note, we break down index performance, what ETH derivatives are signaling under the surface, and the growing case for equity perps as a retail driven product nearing an inflection point.

It was a mixed week for crypto, with BTC ending higher but sharp divergence across sectors. DePIN and Gaming led a surprising rebound after a rough year, while L2s, RWAs and the treasury trade continued to grind lower as flows stayed choppy. To add some insight to the new year, we've rounded up some weekend reads on stablecoin yield, payments infrastructure, interoperability and last year's fastest-moving narratives.