Hey traders, Ezekiel here! Let’s get right into the market action—what’s happening now, why it matters, and how to make sense of it like a pro.
- Today's market mayhem. S&P 500, EUR/USD, Bitcoin, and XAU/USD today
- PPI came in blazing hot, the Dow dropped 521 points, and the software sector just had its worst month in a year
- Bitcoin is sitting at $65,600, down 48% from its October high, and traders are bracing for more downside
- Most traders treat fractals like entry signals, we show you why that's wrong and how to use them properly in our video
WEEKLY MARKET MAYHEM🔥
For this week's market mayhem, here’s what we got for you today:
PPI Came In Blazing Hot, Block Laid Off Half Its Workforce, And February Just Ended With A Thud 📉🔥
February is officially over, and the market limped across the finish line like a runner who pulled a hamstring at mile 25.
The Dow dropped 521 points (1.05%) on Friday after the Producer Price Index came in at 0.5%, nearly double the 0.3% that economists expected. The S&P 500 fell 0.43% to 6,878, and the Nasdaq lost 0.92%. The hot PPI data is another reminder that inflation is not cooperating with the Fed's plans, and any hopes for rate cuts in the first half of 2026 just got pushed further down the road.
The VIX popped back above 20, which tells you the market's anxiety level just went up a notch 📊
But the PPI number was only part of the story. AI disruption fears are tearing through the software sector like a wrecking ball. Block, Jack Dorsey's fintech company, announced it's laying off more than 4,000 employees, nearly half of its entire workforce. CoreWeave, the AI cloud infrastructure provider, tumbled 20% after its first-quarter guidance fell short of expectations.
The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) is down nearly 10% for February alone and 23% year-to-date. That's a massacre. The market is now actively punishing any software company that can't prove AI is helping, not replacing, its business model.
The Nasdaq posted a decline of more than 3% in February, its worst monthly performance since last March. Meanwhile, foreign markets are absolutely smoking the U.S. this year, with the MSCI World ex-US index up about 8% compared to the S&P 500's basically flat performance. Money is rotating overseas as cheaper valuations and a weaker dollar draw capital away from American equities.
On the policy front, the Supreme Court struck down Trump's “reciprocal” tariffs earlier this month, but Trump immediately responded by signing an executive order imposing a new 10% global tariff on top of existing levies. So the tariff saga continues, even if the original plan got thrown out by the courts.
And looming over everything is the Middle East situation. Trump signaled last week that he will decide “over the next probably 10 days” whether to launch strikes against Iran. The market hasn't fully priced in what that could mean for oil and risk appetite.
🤔 Asia Forex Mentor Insights
The hot PPI print is a problem for anyone hoping the Fed cuts rates before summer. With wholesale inflation running nearly double expectations, the data supports the Fed staying on hold at 3.50-3.75% for at least another meeting or two. For forex traders, this keeps the dollar supported against risk currencies. EUR/USD and GBP/USD may struggle to rally as long as rate cut expectations keep getting pushed back.
For equity traders, the AI disruption theme is creating real winners and losers in the software space, and the dispersion is only going to widen. Watch for companies that can demonstrate AI as a revenue driver versus those getting displaced. And keep one eye on the Middle East, because if the U.S. strikes Iran, the market landscape changes dramatically overnight.
Bitcoin Just Lost Half Its Value Since October And The Market Can't Find A Floor 📉😰
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: Bitcoin has been in freefall for four months straight.
BTC started 2026 above $93,000 on New Year's Day. It briefly crashed to $60,000 in late January during a vicious 30% plunge. It bounced to $68,000 mid-week. And now it's sitting at $65,600 after hot PPI data and a broader risk-off move killed the bounce.
From its October 2025 all-time high of $126,080, Bitcoin has lost approximately 48% of its value. That's $450 billion wiped from crypto's market cap in a matter of weeks. The Fear & Greed Index is at 18 (Extreme Fear), one of the lowest readings of the year.
The derivatives market is telling a grim story. ETF holders and corporate treasuries are buying put options at the $60,000 strike expiring in six to twelve months, which means institutions are actively hedging for Bitcoin to go even lower. Traders are positioning for BTC to remain range-bound between $72,000 and $54,000 in March, according to analysts.
Crypto-related stocks followed Bitcoin down. Strategy (MSTR) slipped 3%, Coinbase dropped over 2%, and stablecoin issuer Circle declined nearly 5%. The miners got hit even worse, with IREN, Cipher Mining, Core Scientific, and TeraWulf all losing 6-8% in a single session.
But here's an interesting divergence: AI-linked tokens are actually outperforming. Internet Computer, Render, and Bittensor all gained this week, boosted by renewed investor interest in the AI sector following Nvidia's earnings report. Decred surged 16% in 24 hours. The market is rotating away from pure-play crypto and toward anything with an AI narrative attached.
The overall picture is not pretty. Cumulative crypto futures open interest has fallen to multimonth lows of around $93.5 billion, showing how quickly optimism has evaporated. Capital is leaving the futures market, and the positioning data says traders expect more pain before any recovery.
One analyst summed it up perfectly: “A cautious approach still appears warranted, particularly given that March has historically been a weaker month for crypto majors.”
🤔 Asia Forex Mentor Insights
Bitcoin at $65,600 is deep in correction territory, and the technical and positioning data both suggest the market is not ready for a sustained recovery yet. Institutional put buying at $60,000 tells you where the smart money thinks the floor might be. For traders, the $60,000 level is the next major support to watch. If it breaks, the downside could accelerate toward $54,000. On the upside, any rally that fails to reclaim $72,000 is likely to be a dead cat bounce.
The Extreme Fear reading is historically a zone where long-term accumulation has outperformed, but timing matters. In an environment where PPI is running hot, rate cuts are being pushed back, and geopolitical risk is escalating in the Middle East, the catalysts for a sustained crypto recovery are simply not present yet. Be patient, manage risk, and let the market come to you.
MEMES OF THE DAY 🤣
That moment you realize sleep didn’t stop the pain
Fight of the cryptos be like
