Top Interest of the WeekSingapore-based payment solutions provider Alchemy Pay, which specializes in fiat-crypto transactions, announced on January 27 that it has successfully registered as a Digital Currency Exchange Provider in Australia. This registration, granted by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), allows Alchemy Pay to legally provide its services to users in Australia. This positive development has drawn the attention of investors, resulting in a doubling of the price of the Alchemy Pay token ($ACH) within a day with massive volume.Real World Assets (RWAs) are becoming essential in blockchain, linking traditional assets to the digital economy. MANTRA ($OM) is a Layer 1 blockchain focused on managing and tokenizing these assets while ensuring regulatory compliance to build investor trust. In a significant development, the DAMAC Group, a leading UAE real estate firm, has partnered with MANTRA to tokenize a $1 billion portfolio, including premium properties and business ventures. This initiative, set to begin in early 2025, aims to enhance investment access and market liquidity by converting physical assets into digital tokens, streamlining trading compared to traditional real estate processes.THORChain ($RUNE), a decentralized liquidity protocol that enables cross-chain transactions, has suspended its network operations due to a significant debt crisis approaching $200 million. The design of THORChain makes it heavily dependent on the performance of its native token, $RUNE. As a result, the financial stability of the protocol is contingent upon RUNE's value surpassing that of collateral assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Recent market trends have not favored RUNE, leading to heightened financial instability. This situation has severely affected its price, which plummeted by 33.5% within a week as investors withdrew from the project, raising concerns of a scenario reminiscent of the Terra/Luna collapse in 2022.Overall MarketSource: TradingViewThe above chart is the BTC price in the daily candle chart at the log scale.In our earlier analysis, we presented two potential scenarios for Bitcoin's ($BTC) price movement. The primary scenario suggested a significant decline leading to a 20% correction, while the alternative indicated that BTC would trade sideways, maintaining the $100k support level, with a potential upward movement coinciding with the Lunar New Year.Ultimately, BTC opted for the latter scenario, trading sideways and initiating its upward trajectory during the Lunar New Year period. Although the price dipped below the $100k support level on Monday due to market fluctuations, it ended the day with a long shadow needle, indicating robust support at that level.On Monday, during Asian trading hours, the US futures market experienced a sharp selloff triggered by fears surrounding the Chinese AI model Deepseek. This bearish sentiment spilled over into the cryptocurrency market, causing BTC to fall below $98,000 before the close of the Asian stock market. However, as European trading commenced, investors began purchasing discounted BTC, driving the price back above the $100,000 support level. When the US markets opened, strong inflows from the ETF venue continued to support BTC's price above this critical threshold, despite semiconductor giant Nvidia closing down 17% and all three US stock market indices closed in red.On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged, a move that was widely anticipated by the market. Powell's remarks provided little clarity on future rate cuts, emphasizing the strength of the US economy and a cautious approach to any potential adjustments. This hawkish stance did not incite panic in the crypto market; rather, BTC rebounded strongly following the initial selloff.Our analysis of recent cryptocurrency price movements indicates a significant shift in sentiment. Initially, we expected a bearish trend for Bitcoin due to various market indicators. However, recent developments have prompted us to reassess this outlook. Notably, substantial inflows from the ETF sector signal growing institutional interest in Bitcoin, suggesting confidence in its future performance. Additionally, Bitcoin has shown strong support at the $100k mark, indicating a solid foundation for potential price appreciation. We believe Bitcoin is nearing the end of its sideways trading phase. We anticipate an upward trend that could break previous resistance levels and reach new all-time highs in the coming weeks.Furthermore, we expect this bullish momentum in Bitcoin to trigger the long-awaited altcoin season. We anticipate that in this coming rally, altcoins will outperform BTC, with the BTC market cap dominance percentage dropping towards 40%.We are optimistic about BTC and the cryptocurrency market in the forthcoming rally; however, it is essential to highlight the importance of risk management. The crypto market is notorious for its rapid pullbacks during upward movements. Investors need to be aware of their risk tolerance and adopt effective strategies to protect their portfolios.Options MarketAs of the latest market data, Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at a spot price of $105k. The options market reveals significant activity among call sellers, particularly at the $105k strike price for the 31st January expiry earlier this week. Looking further ahead, there is notable call writing at the $130k and $140k levels for the 28th March expiry. This indicates a strong presence of call options in the market, with more options flowing in calls compared to puts. The Deribit Volatility Index (DVOL) for BTC stands at 56, reflecting the market's expectations of future volatility.Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading at a spot price of around $3,200 level. The options market shows major call selling activity between the $3,500 and $3,600 levels for the 31st January expiry. For the 28th March expiry, significant call writing is observed at the $4.5k-$5k levels. Like BTC, ETH's options flow is more concentrated in calls than puts. The DVOL for ETH is currently at 66, indicating a higher expected volatility compared to BTC.This week, Solana (SOL) saw a notable increase in trading flows following recent upticks, which was followed by a consolidation period. Major support levels had formed at $240 and $230. The spot price recently breached the $240 support and is now trading at $241. For the 7th February expiry, there is significant call writing at the $300 level, which is quite far from the current spot price. The current 15-day historical (annualized) volatility of the Deribit SOL index is at 150.20%, indicating substantial market fluctuations.Macro at a glance Last Thursday (25-01-23)US initial jobless claims reached 223,000 this week, an increase from 217,000 the previous week. Despite this slight rise, the figure continues to fall within a low range observed over the past few months, indicating that the labour market remains robust. In Canada, retail sales showed no monthly growth in November, falling short of the anticipated 0.2% increase and slowing from a 0.6% rise in the prior month. Additionally, core retail sales experienced a 0.7% decline during the same period, which was significantly worse than the expected 0.1% increase.Last Friday (25-01-24)The Bank of Japan has declared a 25 basis points increase in interest rates, bringing the rate to 0.5%, a move that was widely expected by market participants. Governor Ueda has indicated the possibility of additional rate hikes later this year.On Monday (25-01-27)China's manufacturing PMI was recorded at 49.1, slightly below the anticipated 50.1. This shortfall in the PMI can be attributed primarily to the uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy, particularly the potential tariffs that may be implemented by President Trump.On Tuesday (25-01-28)In December, US durable goods orders experienced a decline of 2.2% monthly, falling short of the anticipated 0.3% increase. Meanwhile, core durable goods orders recorded a 0.3% rise, slightly below the expected 0.4% growth.The US Consumer Confidence Index, as reported by the Conference Board, stood at 104.1 in January, which was below the forecast of 105.7 and a decrease from the previous month's figure of 109.5.On Wednesday (25-01-29)The Bank of Canada has reduced its interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.00%, a move that was widely expected by the market. Additionally, the bank revealed that it will conclude its quantitative tightening program (QT) in March. Governor Macklem cautioned that a trade conflict with the US could significantly harm economic activity in Canada.Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve decided to maintain its interest rate at 4.50% during its January FOMC meeting, a decision that market participants also anticipated. Fed Chair Powell remarked on the strength of the US economy and offered limited insight into future rate adjustments, stressing that any decisions will be data-dependent and that the Fed requires more evidence regarding the economic impacts of tariffs and changes in the labour market before proceeding.Following the FOMC announcement, risk assets experienced a swift sell-off but recovered most of their losses after Powell's speech. Bitcoin regained the $104k mark, with altcoins showing stronger performance.Why trade OTC?  Binance offers our clients various ways to access OTC trading, including chat communication channels and the Binance OTC platform (https://www.binance.com/en/otc) for manual price quotations, Algo Orders, or automated price quotations via Binance Convert and Block Trade platform (https://www.binance.com/en/convert) and the Binance Convert OTC API. Email: trading@binance.com for more information.Join our Telegram (https://t.me/BinanceOTC) to stay up to date with the markets!