U.S. crypto adoption rose to 12% in March after hitting 7% in February, driven by positive Bitcoin ETF inflows. Despite recovery, sentiment is fragile, with many expecting lower Bitcoin prices in 2026, and adoption trends remain skewed towards men and higher-income groups.

The 2026 Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon featured humanoid robots racing 21.0975 km. The autonomous team Qitian Dasheng won in 50:26, while the remote-control team Jueying Chitu finished first in net time but ranked lower due to penalties.

DeepSeek seeks to raise $300 million at a $10 billion valuation, significantly lower than leading U.S. AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic. Their R1 model's low training cost disrupted the market, leading to investor concerns about valuation disparities and revenue potential.

From 18:00 to 18:15 (UTC) on 2026-04-17, the BTC price fluctuated and trended downward within the 77097.4 to 77573.2 USDT range. Over these 15 minutes, the return rate recorded -0.49%, and the amplitude reached 0.61%. During this period, market trading was active; short-term volatility was amplified, and trading attention increased significantly. The main driver behind this abnormal move is that the overall leverage structure is bearish and long positions are fragile. At present, the BTC perpetual contract funding rate has remained negative for 11 consecutive days, indicating that the bears have the upper hand in the market. In addition, futures open interest (OI) is about 628.3 billion USDT, which is at a historical high. During the anomaly window, trading volume increased noticeably. On-chain data shows large amounts of BTC flowing from long-term holder addresses to exchanges, suggesting that active sell orders may have triggered longs to passively reduce positions, amplifying downward price pressure. Moreover, institutional positioning enthusiasm in the mainstream contract market has cooled off; liquidity boundaries have tightened, causing large-trade activity to have an amplified effect on market volatility. In the options market, implied volatility rose to 39.81%, increasing demand for downside protection and reflecting a defensive posture among market participants. Macro-environment volatility and some capital flowing into safe-haven assets, together with the recent regulatory uncertainty-related historical events, reinforced the move, pushing overall market risk appetite lower. Current BTC leverage risks still remain. If, in the future, there are concentrated sell-offs, volatility may be further amplified. It is recommended to continue monitoring sustained high OI levels, the persistence of negative funding rates, and on-chain transfers of large amounts of funds, and to stay alert for whale behavior and any disruptions to market sentiment caused by macro-policy developments. For subsequent price action, please watch key support levels, institutional and whale on-chain moves, and relevant global market news, and guard against short-term risks.

From 17:00 to 17:15 (UTC) on 2026-04-17, BTC saw a brief drop. The return rate recorded was -0.45%, with the price ranging from 77354.3 to 77916.9 USDT and a swing of 0.72%. During the event, market attention warmed up, volatility intensified, and spot market liquidity changed significantly. The main driver of this price anomaly was that whale wallets concentrated transfers to exchanges. In a single 15-minute period, the exchange inflow surged to 11,000 BTC, reaching a new high since December 2025. The average amount deposited per transaction was as high as 2.25 BTC, indicating that large holders chose key price levels to concentrate and release their positions, clearly lifting sell pressure. At the same time, BTC futures open interest fell to a 14-month low of $841 million, as leverage funds exited sharply. The spot market’s pull on price fluctuations became the main factor, further magnifying the impact of whale trading. In addition, although ETF funds had a net inflow with a hedging effect—bringing the April cumulative inflow to $5.651 billion—within this anomaly window they were not able to fully absorb large sell orders. The spot market mainly relied on institutional buying to digest the selling pressure, and overall risk appetite contracted. On-chain data shows that 41% of the BTC supply is in a loss-making range, and some holders who bought at lower prices face take-profit and stop-loss pressure. With multiple factors converging, short-term tension formed among exchange inflows, leverage withdrawal, profit realization, and institutions’ ability to absorb, increasing the magnitude of spot volatility. Short-term risks are worth watching closely. Users should closely monitor core indicators such as the subsequent exchange inflow volume, the pace of ETF net inflows, and futures open interest. If whale sell orders still have not eased and ETF inflows cannot accelerate in step, the BTC price may remain under sustained pressure. Users should focus on on-chain transfers and changes in major holders’ positions, watch the spot market’s key support ranges and trading structure, obtain more market information in a timely manner, and stay alert to risks brought by sharp volatility.

Between 09:30 and 09:45 (UTC) on 2026-04-17, the BTC price’s return within 15 minutes was -0.70%. During the day, it fluctuated in the 75511.9 to 76307.6 USDT range, with an amplitude of 1.04%. Short-term market sentiment became more cautious; although capital activity increased, volatility noticeably accelerated. The main driving force behind this move is the large-scale outflow of funds on-chain and active deleveraging in the derivatives market. On-chain data shows that, within this time window, the net outflow from BTC exchanges increased, with a 24-hour net outflow of -2,844.68 BTC. Investors transferred a large amount of BTC to cold wallets, significantly weakening market liquidity and pressuring buy-side demand, which dragged prices lower. In the derivatives space, open interest in perpetual contracts fell in tandem; some leveraged funds actively reduced exposure, indicating the market’s more conservative stance on short-term price action, thereby further weakening support. In addition, multiple large transfers and whale address activity occurred frequently during the anomaly period, amplifying pressure on capital flows and causing sentiment in the derivatives market to turn even colder. The funding rate dropped briefly within the window, indirectly reflecting that some position holders moved into cold wallets for safer risk management. At the same time, the number of active addresses remained persistently high at over 120k, suggesting network participation was not hit and the fundamentals remained stable; however, the combined effect of frequent outflows amplified market volatility in the short term. What needs to be watched is that continuous net outflows of funds on-chain and a decline in holdings pose a threat to the stability of support levels. Large address behavior could lead to further capital escaping. In the short term, focus on changes in exchange BTC balances, on-chain transfer volumes, whale address flow, and the dynamics of derivatives open interest. If capital does not return later, volatility risk may further expand; it is recommended to closely monitor real-time market conditions and key on-chain indicators.

Hong Kong stocks closed lower on April 17, with the Hang Seng Index dropping 0.89%. Blue-chip stocks varied, as Alibaba gained amid AI advancements. Newly listed stocks surged, showcasing strong investor interest, while gold stocks fell due to geopolitical tensions.

Ethereum achieved a record high of 200.4 million transactions in Q1 2026, driven by Layer 2 activity and stablecoin growth, despite ETH prices being over 50% lower than their August 2025 peak.

OpenAI has agreed to purchase over $20 billion in AI chips from Cerebras over three years, securing an equity stake in the company, aiming to lower computational costs as it expands its AI services.

The SFPA advocates for lowering financial thresholds for dual-class shares in Hong Kong to attract more innovative companies, proposing new requirements aimed at easing entry for mid-sized tech firms and enhancing the city's competitive edge.