The Crypto Minute

Welcome to a new issue of Crypto Minute by CoinBrain! After a period of holiday chill, the crypto market starts to recover again ($BTC nearing $100K 🤑 ) and we all curiously anticipate the upcoming narratives for 2025.

Make yourself comfortable, grab a beverage ☕️ and enjoy this weekly crypto flyover.

📊 Market Snapshot

📅 Crypto Events You don’t want to Miss

Tuesday, Jan 7th:

• US ISM Services PMI (at 3:00 PM UTC) 📊

  The service sector’s “pulse check” is here! A strong PMI means businesses are thriving (👏), but it might also signal that the Fed will keep up its hawkish moves (👀). A lower number, however, could give crypto traders some room to breathe. Let’s see what this chart reveals!

• US JOLTS Job Openings (at 3:00 PM UTC) 💼

  Job openings = economic heat check! If companies are hiring like crazy, the Fed might stay aggressive on rate hikes (boo for risk assets 😟). Fewer openings? That could give crypto a little love and help calm inflation fears.

Friday, Jan 10th:

• US Average Hourly Earnings monthly (at 1:30 PM UTC) 💵

  Paychecks in the spotlight! Rising wages can fuel inflation, which isn’t great for risk markets (👎). But steady growth might be just what the Fed wants to see—potentially a win-win for workers and crypto alike!

• US Non-Farm Employment Change (at 1:30 PM UTC) 📈

  The heavyweight champion of the jobs world! A surprise boost in job creation might send ripples through the markets, leading to higher rate hike odds. But weaker-than-expected numbers could make BTC and altcoins smile (😁).

• US Unemployment Rate (at 1:30 PM UTC) 🧑‍💼

  The unemployment percentage pairs perfectly with the non-farm data for a full economic snapshot. A low rate is great for the economy but could spell trouble for crypto if the Fed uses it to justify hawkish policies. Watch this closely—it’s a market mover!

🐋Smart Money Tracker

Tuesday, Dec 31st: This trader times perfectly! They spent $4,360 to buy $KM just few hours before Elon Musk changed his X profile name to “Kekius Maximus“.

The $KM this trader bought was then worth over $638K, making it a multiple of 146X 🤯 perhaps some insider info got leaked.

Wednesday, Jan 1st: Turned $66 into $3.05M in just 18 days, a 45,906x return!

This trader spent 0.017 $ETH ($66) to buy 10.17M $KEKIUS and sold 2.81M $KEKIUS for 60.3 $ETH ($201K), leaving 7.37M $KEKIUS ($2.85M). The total profit is $3.05M.

Thursday, Jan 2nd: A whale spent 10M $USDC to buy 4.25M $VIRTUAL 19 days ago, which is now worth $21.5M, with an unrealized profit of $11.5M! 

Thursday, Jan 2nd: A smart whale made $40.8M from $ai16z and $ZEREBRO! 

Since Nov 28, this whale spent $9.33M on 19.83M $ai16z (now worth $45.4M) and $5.89M on 15.4M $ZEREBRO (now worth $10.37M).

Currently sitting on $36M profit (+387%) from $ai16z and $4.8M profit (+82%) from $ZEREBRO.

Saturday, Jan 4th: As $ETH’s price rises, this whale who shorted $ETH deposited 5M $USDC into Hyperliquid to increase his short position. They are currently down $5.36M, with a liquidation price of $4,891.5 - still a long way to go 😮‍💨 

Sunday, Jan 5th: This whale seems to know their stuff when it comes to AI coins! They aped into $GOAT when the market cap was low and exited with a profit of $5.14M.

Then they aped into $ai16z, currently holding 2.65M $ai16z ($2.9M), with a total profit of more than $4.5M.

$Fartcoin also got discovered early - they hold 2.65M $Fartcoin($3.55M), with a total profit of more than $4M.

And now it seems this trader is focusing on $SANDY, $MOLE, $FORGE and $PIPPIN on Solana 🧐 will these work too?

Monday, Jan 6th: Whales are selling $ai16z! This whale bought 10.6M $ai16z($2.27M cost) at an average price of $0.214 from Nov 15 to Nov 22, 2024, and currently has a profit of ~19M.

In the past 4 hours, this whale deposited 5.3M $ai16z($10.68M) into Jupiter to sell via limit orders.

Source: Lookonchain

🌍️ Story of the Week

The memecoin Kekius Maximus 🐸 experienced the crypto equivalent of Cinderella's midnight transformation - except instead of a pumpkin, it turned into vaporized millions.

It all started when Elon Musk, crypto's chaos agent, changed his X profile name to "Kekius Maximus" on New Year's Eve, sending the namesake token (among other similar tokens) soaring to a $380 million market cap.

However, Musk's profile name change didn't last long. When he switched back to his regular name on New Year's Day, the token's price plummeted faster than a SpaceX rocket in reverse, crashing 75% in just over an hour.

The drama came with some truly wild stories of fortune and loss. One trader who invested just $66 when the token launched saw their investment balloon to a theoretical $3 million - emphasis on "theoretical" since they couldn't cash out in time.

Meanwhile, another quick-fingered trader managed to actually pocket $2.3 million in realized gains, showing that sometimes in crypto, it's better to be lucky and fast than smart.

🔒 Major Token Unlocks of the Week

• TKO - 3.05% of the total supply will enter circulation on Jan 07, 2025.

• $HyPC - 1.87% of the total supply will enter circulation on Jan 08, 2025.

• $ATEM - 2.94% of the total supply will enter circulation on Jan 10, 2025.

• $LIQ - 4.54% of the total supply will enter circulation on Jan 12, 2025.

• $RADAR - 11.54% of the total supply will enter circulation on Jan 13, 2025.

Get ready for the $RADAR unlock - almost 12% released in one day should spark some serious volatility! Usually traders take such opportunities to short large unlocks like this. Similarly the $LIQ unlock should also be worth your attention 😉 

More details here.

🗞️ From our Blog

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or make financial decisions. Always do your own research and stay safe out there.