BTCC Daily (9.9) | Brent Crude Nears $100 Again, KRX to Launch After-Hours Trading

Top Highlights

• WTI crude has risen more than 20% over the past month, while Brent crude is up more than 18%, bringing oil prices back toward $100 a barrel. Markets are concerned that the Federal Reserve may be underestimating the economic impact of high energy costs.

• BTC rebounded to around $79,000 after falling below $80,000. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded roughly $46.65 million in net outflows on September 8, ending three consecutive trading days of inflows, while spot Ethereum ETFs saw about $24.29 million in net outflows over the same period.

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said at a Breitbart News event in Washington that the Treasury’s expanded buybacks of 10- to 20-year off-the-run Treasuries are intended to stabilize long-term yields and correct “mania” in the bond market, rather than constitute quantitative easing (QE).

Macro & Policy Outlook

Today’s Key Events
• U.S. Treasury to announce the maximum amount planned for buybacks of 10- to 20-year Treasuries

• Trump to deliver a speech at the Republican midterm election convention

• EIA to release its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook

Macro Highlights

1. U.S.-Iran Conflict Pushes Oil Toward $100
U.S. officials said the military launched a new round of strikes on Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday, directly responding to Tehran’s recent attacks on U.S. naval vessels in the Middle East. Brent crude futures briefly approached $100 a barrel, while WTI rose to around $93, both reaching recent highs.

2. KRX to Launch After-Hours Trading for More Than 2,600 Stocks
The Korea Exchange will introduce after-hours stock trading from September 14, operating from 16:00 to 20:00 each trading day and covering up to 2,651 stocks listed on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets. The after-hours session will introduce a market-maker system for the first time and prohibit market orders, allowing only limit-type orders to balance liquidity and investor protection.

3. Iran Eases Crypto-Based FX Settlement Rules
According to the Financial Times, Iran is gradually relaxing foreign-exchange controls and tacitly allowing companies to use cryptocurrencies such as USDT and Bitcoin for cross-border settlement as it responds to U.S. sanctions and the impact of war on its financial system. Roughly $10 billion in crypto assets flowed through Iran in 2025, with cryptocurrencies becoming an important tool for maintaining cross-border trade.

4. U.S. Treasury Secretary Says Buybacks Are Not QE, Warns Yen Shorts
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said expanded buybacks of 10- to 20-year Treasuries are designed to stabilize long-term yields rather than serve as quantitative easing. Markets expect the latest round could total between $4 billion and $10 billion. He also warned traders shorting the yen not to “bet against” the U.S. Treasury. Reports said the Bank of Japan is leaning toward a 25-basis-point rate hike on September 18.

5. Apple Event Approaches, Foldable iPhone Takes Center Stage
Apple will hold its annual product launch event on Wednesday, with its first foldable iPhone expected to be the main highlight. The iPhone 18 Pro lineup, Apple Watch and AirPods are also expected to debut. Due to a shortage of memory chips, prices for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup could rise by $100. The event will also mark the first major product test for newly appointed CEO John Ternus.

Global Asset Performance

• Equities: The Nikkei 225 was up around 0.4% in afternoon trading near 65,500, while South Korea’s KOSPI extended gains to roughly 1.4%–1.7%, reclaiming the 7,000 level. SK hynix rose around 4% and Samsung Electronics gained about 1%, with AI and memory-chip shares continuing to lead. Overnight, all three major U.S. stock indexes declined, with the Dow down 1.18%, the S&P 500 down 0.58% and the Nasdaq down 0.32%, as oil prices nearing $100 and renewed inflation concerns weighed on risk appetite.

• Crypto: CoinMarketCap’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index stood at 73, in the “Greed” zone. Total crypto market capitalization was around $2.69 trillion, up roughly 0.4% over the past 24 hours. BTC traded near $78,900 and ETH around $2,495. Among trending tokens, ZEC remained strong at around $1,180, gaining roughly 2%–4% over 24 hours and nearly 40% over the past seven days. TAO fluctuated around $260, while LINK traded above $12.

• Energy & Metals: The U.S.-Iran conflict and Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure continued to raise supply risks. Brent crude climbed to around $99 a barrel and briefly approached $100 intraday, while WTI rose to around $94, reaching a multi-month high. Spot gold fluctuated ahead of U.S. inflation data, trading around $4,350–$4,385 per ounce, while silver held near $66 per ounce.

(Data as of 15:00 HKT on September 9)

Crypto Market Snapshot

1. Contract Fund Flow Analysis
According to Coinglass data on September 9, DOGE, SOL, XAU, MU and ETH ranked among the leading contracts by net outflows over the past 24 hours, potentially presenting trading opportunities.

2. Bitcoin Liquidation Map
According to Coinglass data on September 9, based on the current price of 79,283 shown on the Bitcoin exchange liquidation map, if Bitcoin falls below $77,000, cumulative long-position liquidation intensity across major CEXs could reach $1.11 billion. Conversely, if Bitcoin breaks above $81,000, cumulative short-position liquidation intensity across major CEXs could reach $860 million. Traders are advised to manage leverage prudently to avoid large-scale liquidations during sharp market moves.

3. Bitcoin Futures Long/Short Ratio
According to Coinglass, as of 15:00 HKT on September 9, the aggregate Bitcoin long/short ratio stood at 1.1159, indicating that bullish positioning currently holds a relative advantage.

4. TradFi Contract Performance
On September 9, South Korean semiconductor-related instruments were among the stronger performers in TradFi contracts. KORU rose 4.44%, while SKHYNIX gained 3.51% and 1.63%. U.S. technology stocks were mixed, with MU and SNDK down 2.91% and 0.90%, respectively, while SPCX gained 2.59% on positive news. Trading volume increased significantly across most instruments, reflecting a clear rise in market activity.

5. On-Chain Monitoring
• According to Lookonchain, the 34.9 million USELESS tokens held by jew.sol are currently worth about $11.4 million. The position once carried an unrealized loss of more than $5 million, but following the rise in USELESS, it has now swung to an unrealized profit of more than $5 million.

• According to TradingBeats, a whale address beginning with 0x2b0f concentrated on shorting U.S. equity indexes this morning, building approximately $20.5889 million in Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 short positions. As of publication, both positions remained fully open.

• According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi, Multicoin Capital appears to have sold 1.725 million HYPE worth $133 million since July 28, generating an estimated profit of $77.15 million. It still holds roughly $60.29 million worth of HYPE on-chain.

• According to on-chain analyst Ember, a whale that sold 50,600 ETH at an average price of $2,921 late last year for a $19.02 million profit has returned to buying Bitcoin after an eight-month hiatus. Over the past day, the whale swapped 14.2 million USDC for 179.8 BTC through THORChain at an execution price of $78,955 and is still accumulating.

Blockchain Headlines

• U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $46.6464 million in net outflows yesterday, ending three consecutive trading days of net inflows, while spot Ethereum ETFs saw $24.2921 million in net outflows. BITB led with $14.4672 million in net inflows, followed by FETH with $9.8924 million.

• Citing CoinMarketCap data, Ember reported that the RWA perpetual futures market covering equities, commodities, foreign exchange and indexes saw cumulative trading volume across centralized and decentralized platforms rise from $822 billion in May to $3.16 trillion three months later, about 3.84 times the previous level.

• Venice (VVV), a privacy-focused AI project on Base, rose 50.7% over the past 24 hours to $26.58. It briefly broke above $27 intraday, setting a new all-time high.

• Grayscale’s Zcash spot ETF (ZCSH) has surpassed $500 million in assets under management just two weeks after launch. It currently holds more than 550,000 ZEC, representing around 3% of the 16.9 million circulating supply. Since listing on August 25, the fund has attracted more than $70 million in inflows and received an additional $100 million investment from DCG International Investments.

• Visa disclosed that its annualized stablecoin settlement volume has surpassed $20 billion, up more than 15-fold year over year. In the second quarter, more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs were live across Visa’s network, with related payment volume rising nearly 200% year over year, indicating that stablecoins are rapidly expanding into card payments and settlement use cases.

• According to a security incident update released today by Liquid Network, an exploit targeting an Elements software range-proof verification cache vulnerability allowed an attacker to mint around 4,000 LBTC without corresponding BTC reserves and swap them into BTC through SideSwap, temporarily reducing reserves from about 4,205 BTC to 197 BTC. The attacker claimed to be a white hat and has returned 3,400 BTC, while around 598.5 BTC remains unrecovered.

• U.S. President Trump’s special envoy and real-estate developer Steve Witkoff said in his latest financial disclosure that a holding company he owns generated approximately $107 million in income for him in 2025. The company holds his interests in crypto project World Liberty Financial LLC as well as resorts, hotels and residential real estate.

• Bankless co-founder David Hoffman announced on May 21 that he had fully exited ETH. He subsequently bought VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE and LIT, and disclosed his entry prices: “NEAR around $1.40, HYPE around $45, ZEC around $560, and LIT around $1.35.”

• Tether has frozen approximately $39.3 million in USDT distributed across 10 Chinese-language guarantee marketplaces linked to Xinbi Guarantee, which blockchain investigators have connected to billions of dollars in crypto transactions.

Institutional View · Daily Picks

• QCP Capital: Stronger-than-expected U.S. August nonfarm payrolls have reinforced expectations for a September rate hike. Although BTC continues to receive support from ETF flows, it has struggled to establish a firm foothold in the $80,000–$82,000 range. The 18-day ATM implied volatility remains relatively low at around 37%–38% despite the approaching CPI release and FOMC meeting, suggesting that markets have yet to fully price in macro-event risk.

• Glassnode: Bitcoin continues to consolidate around $79,100, while institutional demand has reaccelerated, with weekly net inflows into U.S. spot ETFs rising to $681 million. Capital continues to enter the market, but leverage is building at the same time, leaving the market in a balance between “improving flows and elevated volatility risk.”

• Societe Generale: Maintains a “strategically bullish” stance on gold, arguing that the rally is shifting from speculation-driven momentum toward a combination of ETF, futures and options flows. Gold ETFs recorded 201 tonnes of net inflows in August, the third-highest level on record. Central-bank purchases, de-dollarization, geopolitical risks and fiscal deficits are expected to continue supporting gold prices.

• Wellington Altus: The current policy environment bears similarities to the period before the 2008 crisis, when the Federal Reserve focused excessively on inflation risks stemming from energy prices while underestimating the economic damage caused by high energy costs. If the Fed tightens financial conditions further to demonstrate its inflation-fighting resolve, it could instead amplify downside risks to the economy.

• Goldman Sachs: Gold’s more than seven-month correction looks more like an “extended pause” than the end of the bull market, with sovereign and institutional buying providing support around $4,000. Goldman remains bullish and expects gold to potentially reach $4,900 per ounce by the end of 2026.