Key metrics: (20Jul 4pm HK -> 27Jul 4pm HK): BTC/USD +1.9% ($64,150-> $65,350), ETH/USD +5.9% ($1,860 -> $1,970) BTC/USD Spot Technical Outlook: BTC (and ETH) spot price action continued to showed relative strength last week, in-line with the broader technical picture that we have been tracking for the past few weeks. An initial rally to $67k was ultimately rejected as hopes of progress on Clarity Act ahead of Congress’s summer recess gradually subsided over the course of the week. However, despite broader risk-off sentiment on US-Iran war escalation into the weekend, support was ultimately found ahead of $63.7k before rallying again today on a lack of weekend escalationFor now our base case is to expect broad consolidation and a sideways drift higher within that, as volumes continue to broadly drop off as we approach the heart of summer. The continuing pattern of higher lows and higher highs locally is painting an encouraging short-term technical picture that could culminate in a test higher of initial resistance at $67-68k, while progress on Clarity could send us up to much more significant trend resistance at $74k. On the downside we are watching the $62.5-63k initial support level - if this fails to hold we will likely re-visit $60k first then $58k, potentially setting up for a sub-wave completion move down to $50-55k Market Themes General risk-off sentiment last week, despite broadly solid earnings from key names like Google and Intel. Worries about higher Capex mounted again, with the market seemingly unconvinced on the ultimate output/revenue generation at the end of the tunnel. Continued flare-ups on the US-Iran situation kept upward pressure on oil prices, with Brent pushing on above $100/barrel briefly - a rise of over 30% from recent lows. However, with no strikes exchanged over the weekend, oil has subsequently retraced almost 10% from the local highs as the market continues to expect Trump to back down ahead of mid-termsCrypto sentiment broadly improved again last week as initial optimism on Clarity Act drove spot prices higher, with BTC testing $67k and ETH testing $2k. While there was ultimately no tangible progress on Clarity last week (democrats still pushing back against the latest draft on ethics provisions) there still remains a reasonable tail of this getting passed in the coming 2 weeks (Polymarket odds settling around 35-37%). With this positive tail in the distribution, and very few sellers left out there after the huge ETF outflows from May-late June, the market is finding itself skewed more towards demand locally. Ultimately we think a disappointment (no passage of Clarity before summer recess) should send spot back towards the $62-63k level, while an upside surprise could see spot pop above $70k once more. A combination of escalation on the US-Iran war and a failure to pass Clarity would be the worst outcome locally and that could see us revisit the $58-60k zone BTC$ ATM implied vols: Implied vols broadly drifted higher last week, led by extra variance being priced into the very front of the curve (out to mid August) as the market saw large demand for topside to cover the Clarity Act window before summer congress. However this remained a concentrated short term bet and with realised remaining low (driven by broadly low volumes - lowest BTC ETF volumes since October 2024), this did not feed to a more material rally in implied vols further out the curve, as structural topside demand remains nowhere to be seen for now. On the flip side, with cash holdings clearly lighter out there, we have not seen any downside hedging demand, and overlay sellers have continued to sell options both sides of spot to enhance yield in this range-bound environment The term structure of the curve broadly flattened last week, driven by the move higher in the shorter dates given the uncertainty around Clarity. We still anticipate a pick up in realised vol from September onwards particularly given the mid-term elections and the macro backdrop (potential timing of Fed first cut has been pushed back from July/Aug to Sep/Oct now). Moreover, if Clarity does miss the summer recess deadline, there is still some floor time in September for a possible passage, before we really get into the thick of it with mid-terms. The market is reluctant to play for this yet given we are approaching the heart of the summer months and this has pushed valuations of forward vols further out the curve to the lower end of the recent 2-year range, gradually approaching what we consider to be value levels for accumulation BTC$ Skew/Convexity: Skew prices showed some extreme volatility last week as the move towards $67k on clarity optimism saw large demand for topside, pushing short-dated skew briefly in favour of calls for the first time since January. However this was ultimately short lived as optimism soon faded and external risk-off sentiment began to weigh on spot and justify an increase in the downside tail variance (Clarity failure + war escalation)Convexity prices broadly moved higher particularly in longer dates as extreme performance of both short-dated vol-of-vol and short dated riskie-gamma (i.e. risk reversals moving strongly for calls on higher spot and then reversing the move on lower spot) justified extra premium in flies further out the curve. The market is now wary about being too short call-side vol at a deep discount given the skew pricing and this has manifested in a higher fly component which will likely remain elevated in the coming weeks Good luck for the week ahead!