South Korean equities suffered an unusually violent selloff on July 28 and 29, with the Kospi triggering circuit breakers on both days for the first time in the market’s history. The index fell 10.84% on the first day and another 5.98% on the second, while heavyweight SK Hynix dropped about 23% across the two sessions. Leveraged products tied to the stock were hit even harder, including CSOP’s 2x long SK Hynix ETF in Hong Kong, which slid 83% from its June 25 peak to July 29. The move came as semiconductor shares weakened globally and investors unwound crowded risk positions. The article argues that this was less a single-stock disappointment than a broad forced deleveraging event. Even though Bitcoin is usually treated as the more volatile asset, it rebounded from roughly $57,800 on July 1 to around $66,300, up nearly 15%, while equity-linked leverage was being crushed. Still, the piece says money leaving stocks did not rotate into Bitcoin in a meaningful way. Earlier outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs had already cleared much of the weak positioning, while fresh defensive capital favored gold, cash, and Treasuries instead. It also points to macro liquidity, Fed policy, and progress on the CLARITY Act as key conditions for a stronger institutional return to Bitcoin.

Fidelity Digital Assets said in its latest Q3 Signals Report that the broader crypto market remains only slightly below break-even, with a weighted Net Unrealized Profit/Loss, or NUPL, reading of -0.01. The report said Bitcoin is doing most of the heavy lifting: BTC dominance rose to 68% in the second quarter of 2026, while Ethereum and Solana both stayed in unrealized loss territory. Fidelity argued that the current drawdown may be much less mature than some investors assume. The firm said the adjustment has lasted 203 days so far, versus roughly 300 days during the market bottoms seen in 2018 and 2022. On that basis, the present cycle may be only about two-thirds complete. The report pointed to October 2026 as a time window worth watching, while stressing that this should not be read as a market-bottom call. The research also broke down individual asset signals. Bitcoin’s NUPL stood at 0.09, its momentum signal remained negative, and its Yardstick valuation metric was near historically low levels. Ethereum showed weaker fundamentals, ETF outflows and a lower staking rate, while Solana posted resilient on-chain activity and stablecoin transfer growth even as fee income stayed close to cyclical lows.

Fidelity Digital Assets Research said in its latest Q3 Signals Report that Bitcoin, Ether and Solana are still working through a bottoming process rather than a confirmed market recovery. The report placed the market near break-even on a market-cap-weighted basis, with weighted NUPL at -0.01 and Bitcoin dominance rising to 68%, a sign that residual unrealized profit is still concentrated in BTC while ETH and SOL remain in loss territory. Drawing on prior bear-market base periods in 2018 and 2022, both of which lasted about 300 days, Fidelity said the current downturn has run for roughly 203 days and may be about two-thirds complete. It added that October 2026 is a time window worth watching, while stressing that this is not a call that the market will bottom then. The report also broke down asset-specific signals. For Bitcoin, Fidelity described NUPL as a positive signal at 0.09, while momentum, relative performance against gold and hash-rate trends remained weak. For Ether, NUPL and stablecoin transfers were viewed favorably, but momentum and network fees stayed under pressure. For Solana, Fidelity said deep unrealized losses, resilient on-chain activity and growing stablecoin flows may point to a developing base, even as momentum is still negative. Across the market, the firm pointed to persistent spot ETP outflows, a nearly $6 billion liquidation cascade from June 1 to June 4, and macro headwinds as factors keeping pressure on digital assets.

Money is moving out of South Korean equities and back into bank deposits as volatility in the local stock market picks up, according to a report by Daum cited by BlockBeats on Aug. 1. The report said investor risk appetite has weakened noticeably, with funds shifting toward perceived safe-haven assets such as banks. Daum attributed the move to a pullback in semiconductor shares and tighter regulation on leveraged investing. That combination has led to a rapid withdrawal of cash previously parked for stock investment, producing what the report described as a reverse flow of funds. As of the end of July, time deposits at South Korea’s five major banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup — stood at KRW 973.49 trillion, up KRW 24.09 trillion from a month earlier. The increase was the largest monthly gain so far this year. Data from the Korea Financial Investment Association also showed a contraction in stock-market-related liquidity. Investor deposits in securities accounts, which are used as standby funds for stock trading, fell from a record KRW 139.69 trillion on June 4 to KRW 107.20 trillion on July 28. Margin financing balances also dropped to KRW 33.19 trillion from a peak of KRW 37.72 trillion on July 2.

Wall Street entered the Federal Open Market Committee meeting with a defensive tilt, as investors rotated out of crowded AI hardware positions and into software names, cash-flow-heavy blue chips, and more traditional sectors. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.03%, the S&P 500 added 0.21%, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.22%. The move came as traders cut duration, reduce exposure to crowded trades, and dial back dependence on narrative-driven positioning before both the Fed decision and a fresh wave of major tech earnings. At the same time, geopolitical tension returned to the foreground. U.S. Central Command said Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan, with all of them intercepted. The attack marked Iran’s first renewed strike on a U.S. target since Washington paused attacks last Friday. Oil responded quickly, with WTI and Brent crude both rebounding more than 4% intraday after three straight sessions of declines. Gold failed to rally on the renewed tension. Reuters’ latest survey showed analysts cut their gold forecasts for the first time since late 2023, while CME data showed open interest in fed funds futures tied to the current meeting hit a record 967,000 contracts. In equities, semiconductor, memory, and optical communications shares sold off sharply, while software stocks and companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola, and Boeing attracted inflows.

State Street Investment Management kept its call for gold to reach $5,000 an ounce by early 2027 in its July Monthly Gold Monitor, even after spot gold fell 11.7% in June and repeatedly tested support near $4,000. The firm’s view is not a straight-line bullish call. It flagged a sharp shift in rate expectations, rising real yields, a stronger dollar and roughly $5.3 billion in June net outflows from U.S.-listed gold ETFs as near-term headwinds that could keep gold stuck in a $4,000-$4,750 range. At the same time, it argued that the market’s core support structure has not broken: central banks are still buying, global debt pressures are still building, and Chinese and broader Asia-Pacific demand is still absorbing part of the Western outflows. State Street’s base case still assigns a 70% probability that gold trades in a $4,750-$5,500 range over the next six to nine months, while the probability of a more conservative consolidation scenario has been raised to 25%. The report also points to a longer-term reserve shift away from U.S. Treasuries and toward gold, which it says remains one of the main pillars behind its $5,000 target.

Investors are again turning to scarce assets such as Bitcoin and gold as US government debt keeps climbing, with some market participants framing the move as a hedge against a long-term decline in the dollar’s purchasing power. US Treasury data show federal debt reached a record $39.7 trillion as of last Friday. Market participants cited in the report said the debt load is increasing by roughly $7 billion a day, a pace that, by market-cap comparison, exceeds most crypto assets. LondonCryptoClub’s founder said the speed of debt growth is feeding what he called a “currency debasement trade,” where investors buy assets with limited supply, including gold and Bitcoin. The group also argued that in a “fiscal dominance” setting, Federal Reserve policy may be shaped by government funding needs, requiring lower rates and continued liquidity to help refinance debt. Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok had earlier warned that US debt as a share of GDP has moved above 120%, leaving limited room for fiscal stimulus in a future downturn. He also said the Fed may find it harder than in the past to cut rates aggressively, because doing so could worsen inflation and reduce Treasury yields, affecting government financing. Bitcoin is currently holding above $65,000, while Ethereum has recently outperformed Bitcoin, with the ETH/BTC ratio breaking above its 100-day and 200-day moving averages. Even so, analysts said Bitcoin’s safe-haven status remains disputed.

Senior macroeconomist and Goldmoney research head Alasdair Macleod warned on July 27 that the valuation bubble in U.S. equities may now be larger than it was before the 1929 Great Depression. He said financial markets face the risk of an ultimate broad sell-off as imbalances in the U.S. Treasury market, reduced participation from overseas buyers, and rising debt pressure in the United States could keep Treasury yields moving higher and weigh on stock valuations. Macleod said the S&P 500 could suffer a drawdown of more than 90% in value if market confidence turns. He also pointed to roughly $10 trillion to $11 trillion in financing and refinancing pressure over the next 12 months. In his view, if Treasury buyers continue to pull back, the Federal Reserve may be forced to expand its balance sheet and print more money to stabilize markets, weakening fiat purchasing power. He added that gold and silver may serve as safe-haven assets in an extreme risk scenario because they do not depend on government credit.