Tellor ($TRB) almost doubled in the past 7 days with a significant volume increase. Tellor is a decentralized oracle protocol that serves as a data bridge between the real world and blockchain-based smart contracts. It’s a critical infrastructure piece in the DeFi ecosystem, providing verified, permissionless data through its native TRB tokens.The surge was driven by high-profile social media influencers promoting Tellor, and it drew the attention of retail investors and traders.Dfinity Foundation, the major contributor to the Internet Computer blockchain ($ICP), announced that it was deepening its partnership with the city of Lugano in Switzerland. The residents of Lugano can pay for services and taxes using Internet Computer’s ckBTC.However, the market did not share the same excitement over this news, and the ICP price was in a downward trend in the past 7 days and found support at $2.88.Overall MarketAs mentioned before, our desk considers the red box area above as the strong demand zone, as it acted as the strong support level on the SEC v. Binance and Coinbase cases. Also, we have the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level right below the red box.The BTC price dipped into the red zone on Monday, September 11, and rebounded back to the $26k level shortly. Currently, it is trading in the $26,000 range with muted volume.Until the BTC price reclaims the $32,000 level, the downward momentum remains intact. If the price breaks below the $24,500 level, we should see the $21,000 level as a strong support level. If the BTC price surges due to any catalysts that we discussed before, including the Bitcoin spot ETF approval, the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF conversion, and any publicly traded company disclosing BTC holdings, we should see the capital rotate back into Bitcoin and crypto, and it could lead to a new yearly high before the end of 2023. Options Market Our OTC desk noticed that the implied volatility was increasing on the back end while remaining steady on the front end.The back-end implied volatility for BTC options has increased to 46.4%, as shown in the table above, while the mid-term IV was also evaluated to be above 40%.Additionally, our desk observed that IVs in ETH options are currently trading at a significant discount to IVs in BTC options in the mid-term and long term.Using the 25-delta skewness as a proxy, our desk noticed that the market sentiment changed on the front end as the skewness in 7-day expiry options turned negative, while the skewness in mid- and long-term options remained positive.Although the positive skew implies that options traders are willing to pay a higher premium on calls, which is a bullish sign, the downward trend suggests that such bullish momentum is fading away.With our observations in the spot market and the options market, the market sentiment is bearish. The BTC price has difficulty regaining its upward momentum. If the Fed continues to tighten liquidity at the next FOMC meeting, which will be held on September 18-19, BTC is likely to face more downward pressure. Macro at a glance Last Wednesday (2023-09-06)Bank of Canada decided to pause its interest rate hike and hold interest rates at 5.00%, as the market anticipated. Governor Tiff Macklem reiterated that policymakers are willing to hike again if needed to achieve the 2% inflation target.China released its trade balance for August at 68.36 billion USD, lower than the estimated 73.90 billion USD and last month’s 80.60 billion USD. It signals China’s economy is struggling in international trade, and the market expects more stimulation from the Chinese government.Last Thursday (2023-09-07)The US released the Initial Jobless Claims at 216k, better than the estimated 234k and the previous week’s 229k. This figure implies that the US labour market remains tight and the US economy is strong.Germany released the CPI reading for August at 6.1%, the same as estimated and slightly lower than last month’s 6.2%.On Tuesday (2023-09-12)The UK reported the GDP in July at -0.5%, month-over-month, worse than the estimated -0.2%, and dropped 1% from the previous month’s 0.5%. It shows the contraction in the UK economy. On Wednesday (2023-09-13)The US released the CPI reading for August at 3.7% YoY, 0.1% higher than the estimated 3.6% and 0.5% higher than the previous month’s 3.2%. The core CPI reading is at 4.3%, the same as the estimated figure and lower than the previous month’s 4.7%. As the core CPI reading cooled down but the CPI reading rebounded, it complicated the situation for the Fed to evaluate the inflation condition. With the higher oil price backdrop, we might see a higher CPI reading next month, and the Fed may have more pressure to continue the rate hike cycle and keep the terminal rate at a high level for longer.Today, we will have the interest rate decision from the ECB. The market is expecting the ECB to hold the 3.75% interest rate at this meeting and remain flexible in future rate hikes. Next week, we have the FOMC meeting and the Fed interest rate decision release on Wednesday. The Fed’s decision on interest rates and, more importantly, the dotted plot will hint to the market if the Fed will keep the terminal rate higher for longer or start easing in as early as 2024. Convert Portal Volume BreakdownThe above table shows the volume breakdown of our Convert Portal. The Stablecoin swap dropped from 16.66% last week to 14.02% this week. Last week, Binance introduced the 1:1 conversion of BUSD to FDUSD, and we saw a spike in stablecoin transactions across our desk.Due to the FTX liquidation news, the altcoin market had some selling pressure last week, and our crypto-to-stablecoin trade volume surged from 32.54% to 36.77%.Meanwhile, the stablecoin-to-crypto trading volume also dropped from 23.14% last week to 21.38% this week, suggesting that investors are less willing to buy cryptocurrencies at this momentWhy trade OTC? Binance offers our clients various ways to access OTC trading, including chat communication channels and the Binance Spot RFQ platform (https://www.binance.com/en/OTC-Trading) for manual price quotations, or automated price quotations via our Binance Convert and the Binance Convert OTC API. For manual price quotations, you may visit our Spot RFQ Platform, where you can RFQ (request-for-quote) and trade directly with our OTC trading team via a live chat, or reach out to us via our email at liquidity@binance.com for our trading desk to get in touch with you and get started. Alternatively, OTC trades may also be automatically quoted on Binance Convert and via API, offering users a quick and simple way to execute trades across 60,000+ pairs with one simple click. Binance Convert supports over 350 tokens listed on the exchange including fiat pairs. Begin trading from as little as 1 USD. To start, simply navigate to the Binance Convert (https://www.binance.com/en/convert), select the coins you wish to trade, preview and confirm the quote with settlement reflecting almost instantly in your wallet balance. For details and access to Binance Convert OTC API, please refer to our Convert Endpoints (https://binance-docs.github.io/apidocs/spot/en/#convert-endpoints) and reach out to us at liquidity@binance.com if you have any questions or require assistance.Visit Binance OTC and Execution Solutions (https://www.binance.com/en/otc) to get more information on our OTC products and solutions. Experience the main benefits of Binance Convert and OTC Trading: Fast & Competitive Pricing Instant settlement Widest availability of coins Bespoke service with unique market insights Zero fees and slippage Email: Liquidity@binance.com Join our Telegram to stay up to date with the markets!