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This wasn’t just September chop, it was the market tearing the mask off. In a single week, cozy narratives flipped into liquidation theatre, and the stress test showed its hand. The message was clear: flows run the show, vibes don’t. Here’s your Magnet Weekly Digest.
End of September and crypto got slapped with one of its biggest stress tests this year: $22B in options expiring. $17B was tied to BTC, $5.3B to ETH. Trigger? Market puked. ETH slipped under 4k to a 7-week low, BTC dipped under 110k, both down 3–4% on the week. About $140B in market cap evaporated. Then futures nuked another $1.7B in longs in one session. Brutal.
Players rushed to lock profits or cut exposure, making the bleed worse. Public companies holding BTC and ETH saw their NAV premiums shrink, stocks swinging harder than usual. All eyes on the $109–110k zone, if that broke, another flush was on deck. Between expiry chaos, cascading liquidations, and shaky macro vibes, late September turned into one of the wildest weeks of 2025.
Sept 25: one of the ugliest days for ETF flows this year. BTC ETFs lost $258M, ETH ETFs bled $251M - fourth straight day red. Only BlackRock’s IBIT stayed green, pulling in $79.7M. Together? Over half a billion gone in 24h. That’s one of the biggest daily exits since launch. Pressure spiked as BTC kissed 109k support, with traders warning more ETF dumps could trigger forced liquidations. Still, zoom out: spot ETFs have sucked in $57B since launch. Analysts say this was tactical repositioning, not a rug. Institutions clearly like ETFs more than raw coins: liquidity, oversight, the works. But it cuts both ways: flows now whip crypto cycles harder than ever.
The SEC just gave green light to generic listing standards for spot commodity ETPs... yes, that includes digital assets. Now NYSE Arca, Nasdaq, and Cboe BZX can push products without 240-day delays. Approval time drops to ~75 days. This opens doors beyond BTC and ETH, SOL, XRP, maybe more - as long as they tick the ISG and futures boxes. Instead of begging for exceptions, issuers now get a framework. CF Benchmarks called it a turning point - the moment crypto finally locks into traditional finance rails.
Tether wants to raise $15–20B at a mind-bending $500B valuation. Biggest round in its history. Plan is ~3% new shares. With $170B+ USDT already floating and fat income from Treasuries, they run stablecoins like a cartel. Critics still dunk on their transparency, but if they land this raise, Tether joins the league of OpenAI and SpaceX. Word is they’re eyeing fintech, infra, even AI, while trying to crack more into the U.S. With Circle now public, the fight for institutional trust is on. A $500B tag flips the narrative: stables aren’t just crypto toys, they’re global finance plumbing.
Brian Armstrong still banging the drum: Bitcoin at $1M by 2030. His case? ETF demand, U.S. rules, and BTC as a reserve asset. Road will be choppy, but long-term, he’s max bullish. Meanwhile Coinbase is morphing into a super app. New BTC rewards card (4% cashback), new payment rails, loyalty perks - they’re aiming straight at fintechs and banks. Armstrong points to U.S. bills like GENIUS Act as a model the world could follow. Supporters line him up with Cathie Wood and Jack Dorsey, critics scream volatility and risk. If it works, Coinbase becomes the bridge from Web3 rails to mainstream finance.
🧲 This wasn’t drift, it was whiplash - proof of how fast the market can turn. Options, ETFs, regulators, giants: all moving at once, all reshaping the cycle in real time. The next wave of headlines won’t be background noise, it’ll be the roadmap. Stay sharp — because when the flip comes, you’ll want to already be on the right side.
