Unhosted Weekly #62 - December 15th

The mirage trades⏳

🔥 Strategy just scooped another 10,645 $BTC for roughly $980M

➡️ Bitcoin is echoing its COVID-era price behavior

👀 CoinGecko’s 2025 traffic stats show where the crowd actually hangs out

😨 Crypto Fear & Greed Index drops to 16

🚀 Every new token launched on Solana now gets instant access to trading for 100M+ Coinbase users

Bitcoin at a Critical Juncture: Breakdown Risk, Macro Catalysts, and Where Real Opportunity Lies 📉

Bitcoin is trading around the high 80K range, a level that places the market at a delicate inflection point. Technical structure, macro catalysts, and positioning behavior all suggest that the next major move will define the coming quarters. While short term price weakness often triggers fear, the broader setup points to opportunity rather than danger for disciplined participants.

The Technical Setup: Bear Flag in Play 🐻

From a market structure perspective, Bitcoin continues to trade within a classic bear flag formation. Despite attempts to frame the pattern as bullish consolidation, the defining characteristics align more closely with continuation risk to the downside.

Measured targets from the flag project a potential move toward the 55K to 60K range. This target aligns closely with the rising 200 week moving average, which historically acts as long term fair value and major support during bear phases.

Key takeaway
Price declines toward long term moving averages are not anomalies in Bitcoin’s history. They are where most long term wealth has been created.

Why a Pullback Is Not Bearish Long Term 🔄

Market participants often interpret downside targets as negative outcomes. Historically, this mindset has been costly.

Across multiple cycles, Bitcoin’s most asymmetric buying opportunities emerged near the 200 week moving average. This level represents the approximate four year average price and reflects long term network valuation rather than speculative excess.

As the moving average rises over time, the absolute downside risk decreases compared to prior cycles. Even a drawdown toward this level would represent a significantly smaller percentage decline than past bear markets.

The Macro Catalyst to Watch: Japan’s Rate Decision 🇯🇵

The most immediate risk catalyst is the upcoming Bank of Japan rate decision.

For decades, global capital has relied on the Japanese yen carry trade, borrowing yen at extremely low rates and reallocating capital into higher yielding assets such as US equities, bonds, and risk assets including crypto.

When Japan raises rates, this trade begins to unwind. Capital flows reverse, forcing liquidation of risk assets to repay yen liabilities.

Historical context is clear
Previous Japanese rate hike cycles coincided with Bitcoin drawdowns in the 20 to 30 percent range.

Importantly, the rate hike itself is largely priced in. What matters is the guidance.

If the Bank of Japan signals a prolonged hiking cycle, markets may reprice sharply lower. If officials emphasize restraint after the current move, risk assets could see a temporary relief rally.

Actionable insight
Monitor central bank communication rather than headlines. Forward guidance, not the rate change itself, will determine market reaction.

Relief Rallies and the 50 Week Moving Average ⚡

Bear markets typically include powerful relief rallies. These rallies are fast, convincing, and often retrace toward the 50 week moving average ($102k).

The recent bounce has failed to meet these criteria. Momentum remains weak, participation is low, and structure has not reclaimed key trend levels.

From a bullish perspective, a dovish surprise from Japan could trigger a push toward the 50 week moving average. Until that level is reclaimed and held, the broader trend remains bearish.

Why Trading This Market Is Dangerous 🎯

Current price action is dominated by chop, false breakouts, and sharp reversals. These conditions are ideal for stop loss hunting and destructive for leveraged traders.

The prevalence of short term Bart style patterns reflects widespread revenge trading. Participants attempting to recover losses are repeatedly forced out by volatility engineered around obvious levels.

This environment favors patience over activity.

Institutional Incentives and the Myth of Price Protection 🏦

There is a common belief that large institutions will defend Bitcoin’s price due to ETF exposure. This assumption ignores incentive structures.

Institutions benefit from lower entry prices. Many missed early accumulation phases and would welcome deeper retracements to deploy capital more efficiently. ETF dominance does not require elevated spot prices, only sustained long term adoption.

Additionally, competition between Bitcoin treasury companies and traditional asset managers creates incentives for consolidation rather than protection.

Key takeaway
No entity is obligated to support price levels. Markets move based on liquidity, not loyalty.

The Coming Stress Test for Bitcoin Treasury Companies 🧪

Over 180 publicly listed companies now hold crypto on their balance sheets. Roughly half have modeled themselves after the MicroStrategy playbook.

In bull markets, this structure works. In bear markets, the dynamic reverses.

As prices fall, some companies trade below the value of their holdings, reflecting governance risk, debt obligations, and operational uncertainty. This makes further capital raises impossible.

A Darwinian phase is likely, where poorly structured treasury companies are forced to liquidate or restructure.

This is not negative for the ecosystem. Capitalism rewards efficiency, not imitation.

Actionable insight
Focus exposure on assets with no counterparty risk. Balance sheet complexity increases downside uncertainty during market stress.

Why a Major Washout Would Be Bullish 🔥

Historically, the most bullish moments in crypto followed major failures. Exchange collapses, forced liquidations, and corporate unwinds have repeatedly marked cycle lows.

If forced selling occurs near long term valuation levels, it transfers assets from weak hands to strong ones.

At the 200 week moving average, demand historically overwhelms supply.

Long Term Outlook Remains Intact 🚀

Despite short term bearish structure, the long term thesis remains unchanged.

Bitcoin adoption continues. Institutional infrastructure is expanding. Regulatory clarity is improving in key jurisdictions. Long term price targets remain asymmetric.

Cycles do not invalidate the thesis. They optimize entry points.

Final guidance
Stay conservative during uncertainty. Observe key levels. Avoid emotional trading. Prepare capital for moments when conviction is highest and price is lowest.

That is where long term outcomes are decided.

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📍Unhosted AI Weekly: Where the Eyes Are

🤖 AI + Robotics Market Check — Red Screens, Weak Hands, No Mercy

The AI sector slid to $26.9B market cap (-6.3% 24h) with ~$2.85B in daily volume. This isn’t a gentle pullback, it’s broad-based derisking. Leaders are bleeding, narratives are getting stress-tested, and only the weird corners are catching speculative bids.

The Robotics sub-sector looks worse. Market cap sank to $770M (-8.6% 24h) with volume around $77.7M. No bounce heroes, no rotation yet. Just air pockets.

📊 AI Token Movers

🧠 Bittensor (TAO) → ~$271.7, -5.6% daily, -8.4% weekly
Still the mindshare king, still getting sold. High conviction long-term, but in drawdowns TAO behaves like a leveraged ETF on sentiment. Not a bottom signal yet.

🧬 Chainlink (LINK) → ~$12.8, -5.2% daily, -8.5% weekly
Infra doesn’t get spared when risk goes risk-off. LINK holders are patient by nature, but even oracles feel pain when flows dry up.

🌐 NEAR Protocol (NEAR) → ~$1.53, -4.6% daily, -14% weekly
AI adjacency isn’t saving L1s right now. Heavy weekly damage, looks like positioning unwind rather than panic.

🖥️ Internet Computer (ICP) → ~$3.09, -2.9% daily, -11.6% weekly
Same story. Big vision, ugly chart. Still searching for a bid.

🎨 Render (RENDER) → ~$1.42, -5.7% daily, -12.3% weekly
AI hype darling cooling fast. GPUs don’t matter when traders are hitting sell.

Acid AI / DeAgentAI / AI Rig Complex
These popped +30–50%+, but don’t confuse that with sector health. This is pure microcap reflex chasing while majors get liquidated.

🤖 Robotics Token Movers

🛰️ Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) → ~$0.73, -6.8% daily, -15.4% weekly
Still the flagship, still bleeding. Narrative intact, price not cooperating.

🧩 IoTeX (IOTX) → ~$0.0076, -5% daily, -9.1% weekly
Classic slow fade. No panic, no strength.

📡 peaq (PEAQ) → ~$0.0327, -5.5% daily, -19.7% weekly
Sector anchor taking the hardest hit. Heavy weekly drawdown suggests funds exiting, not retail noise.

🛰️ Geodnet (GEOD) → ~$0.129, -7.4% daily, -8.9% weekly
No relief bounce yet. Looks like waiting room price action.

🛠️ Auki (AUKI) → ~$0.0091, -3.9% daily, -17.1% weekly
Thin liquidity, sharp weekly damage. Not dead, but definitely not loved.

👉 TL;DR

AI and Robotics are both in active de-risk mode. Majors are bleeding together, which usually means this isn’t about fundamentals, it’s about flows. The only green candles are in low-cap corners where traders are gambling, not investing.

Playbook:

  • This is not the moment to chase “top gainers.”

  • If you’re long-term bullish, start watching for RSI compression + volume stabilization, not green ticks.

  • For traders, volatility is there, but size small and exit fast.

  • For investors, patience beats hero entries.

This isn’t AI mania. This is the shakeout before the next narrative leg.

🛠️ Sentiment Split — Crowd Picks Sides, Logic Takes a Smoke Break

🟢 Good Sentiment

Retail’s leaning risk-on again, at least emotionally. The loudest green tiles right now: BLUP (10.56K) / XRP (10.52K) / GOATED (7.6K) / Inference Labs (7.16K) / Coinbase (9.27K) / SEI (9.16K) / BDX (8.88K).
Second row of conviction includes Quranium (6.25K) / TAO (6.34K) / MultichainZ (5.92K) / BGB (5.54K) / PEAQ (3.86K) / Rails (3.8K).

This is classic comfort chasing: known names, infra-adjacent plays, and anything that feels “serious enough” to survive the chop. Coinbase showing up again is your tell that normie confidence hasn’t fully cracked.

🔴 Bad Sentiment

On the other side, the cope channels are busy. MERL (-8.16K) takes the FUD crown, followed by FKH (-7.56K) / PUMP (-6.71K) / KNC (-5.79K) / BTC (-3.31K) / MET (-3.42K).
Also catching strays: CHILLGUY (-3.43K) / N3ON (-3.15K) / Kalshi (-3.17K) / ARKM (-2.48K) / OP (-2.15K) / HERO (-2.16K).

Notably, even BTC sitting in the red tells you this isn’t alt-specific drama, it’s broader risk fatigue and post-rally digestion.

👉 TL;DR: BLUP, XRP, SEI, and TAO are soaking up optimism, while MERL and friends eat the emotional damage. Green side is comfort and familiarity, red side is regret and timing pain. Same movie as always: sentiment swings faster than fundamentals. Smart money watches both tiles, trades neither blindly, and lets retail argue in the comments while volatility does the work.

🛰️ Agent Market Check — $5.6B Sector, Attention Bleeding but Not Dead

Agent market cap sits at $5.63B (-2% 24h) while Smart Engagement drops to 3.52K (-3.19%). That’s not panic, it’s boredom creeping in. Price slipping, chatter fading, and the crowd quietly rotating instead of screaming. Classic cooldown phase.

Dominance snapshot:
Base → $1.99B (-5.34%) still the main playground, but clearly feeling the pressure.
Ethereum → $1.45B (-2.75%) holding up better, slower bleed, more conviction.
Other chains → $2.7B (+0.55%) quietly absorbing flow while majors chop.

📊 Leaders by Attention (24h):

🟢 THEORIQ (12.19%, +0.95) — back on top. Infra-first agents always come back when memes cool off. Feels like smart money patience note-taking.
🟢 COOKIE (5.95%, +2.3) — engagement monster. If attention were revenue, this would already be profitable.
🟢 FARTCOIN (5.34%, +1.08) — yes, still here. Meme gravity hasn’t fully collapsed yet.
🟢 TIBBIR (3.61%, +2.73) — surprise mover. Low base, fast attention shift. Worth watching, not marrying.
🟢 VIRTUAL (2.7%, +1.25) — steady recovery, infra-adjacent narrative keeping it relevant.

🔻 Losers by Attention:

🔴 WARP (8.72%, -2.15) — sharp sentiment fade after prior hype. Overexposed, under-rested.
🔴 ELSA AI (8.36%, -2.1) — crowd favorite cooling off. Still strong, just no longer exciting.
🔴 M (-2.76) — attention leakage accelerating.
🔴 INFINIT (-1.56) / BNKR (-1.51) — quiet bleed, nothing dramatic, just rotation pain.

👉 TL;DR: Agent sector is cooling, not collapsing. Attention is thinning faster than market cap, which usually means two things: weak hands leaving, strong hands waiting. THEORIQ and COOKIE absorb serious mindshare while memes like FARTCOIN refuse to die. Base slows, other chains quietly gain relevance. This is the part of the cycle where noise drops and positioning starts. The next move won’t be loud, it’ll be obvious in hindsight.

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