I won’t sugarcoat it — the last 24 hours were brutal.

This wasn’t a “normal” red day. This was one of those moments where the market stops behaving like a chart and starts feeling like a crime scene. Liquidations everywhere. Forced selling. People getting wiped not because they were wrong long-term, but because they were overexposed at the wrong time.

I was active during the selloff, and I’ll be honest: I played the early part of this drop too aggressively. I took shots trying to catch the falling knife around the $68–69k area, then again around $65–63k. I took losses there. That’s on me.

That’s trading.

Anyone who’s been in crypto long enough knows these days happen — and also understands why a guy like me wears hats all the time. Some days the market humbles you fast.

What mattered more than the losses, though, was what came next.

After the liquidation pressure eased, I stepped back and reassessed. This wasn’t a moment for hero trades or “calling the bottom.” It was time to move from trading mode into survival and positioning mode.

I re-entered longs more cleanly in the $63–64k range, once the forced selling had largely flushed out. If we see another sweep into the $59–60k zone, I’m prepared to add incrementally — not all at once, and not emotionally.

On the DeFi side, I increased exposure through Aave and Kamino lending, currently sitting around ~50% LTV. That leverage is primarily allocated into BTC and ETH, with a smaller allocation to SOL. BTC and ETH remain the core. SOL, while strong structurally, is something I plan to trim into a rebound.

This is not a “set it and forget it” position. If we do get a bounce from here — and I believe that’s very possible — my plan is to aggressively deleverage and DCA out of the leveraged DeFi positions, reducing risk step by step instead of trying to nail a perfect exit.

This phase isn’t about moon math. It’s about staying alive and staying positioned.

The numbers tell the story better than any chart:

• Over $2.7B in long liquidations in 24 hours

• One ETH whale lost $222M on Hyperliquid

• The total crypto market cap has shed $2 trillion since the October peak

The Fear & Greed Index hit 9/100, the lowest level since the 2022 Terra collapse.

In terms of violence and speed, this move rivaled the COVID crash of 2020. That doesn’t mean the same outcome — but it does mean emotions, leverage, and forced behavior dominated price action.

This wasn’t random.

This was a forced de-risking event, driven by a combination of:

• Weakness in US tech stocks

• Fed caution and tighter liquidity expectations

• Overleveraged positioning across crypto

• Miners selling or pivoting toward AI data center economics to survive

Leverage didn’t slowly unwind — it was ripped out of the system.

Painful? Absolutely.
Necessary? Unfortunately, yes.

Even in environments like this, structure matters.

Base continues to quietly dominate, now commanding roughly 48% of all L2 TVL. Within that ecosystem, Aerodrome (AERO) has become the third-largest DEX by volume across all EVM chains, with a major catalyst on the horizon: the Q2 2026 Aerodrome–Velodrome merger, which aims to unify liquidity across chains.

There is real infrastructure and real yield here — but timing is everything.

In the AI corner of crypto, Bittensor (TAO) has shown relative resilience. Grayscale’s filing for a Bittensor ETP (GTAO) has kept institutional interest alive even as prices pull back. Barry Silbert recently referred to this drawdown as a “gift” for accumulation. Not advice — just context worth noting.

One underappreciated signal right now is what’s happening with stablecoins.

We’re seeing a bifurcation:

• USDC increasingly used as institutional rails

• USDT still dominating retail liquidity

Stablecoin supply growth is sitting around 1.3%, which tells us something important: new money isn’t flooding in yet. Capital is rotating, not expanding.

That matters for expectations.

This is not the phase for hero trades.

What matters right now:

• Risk management

• Capital preservation

• Patience

For Bitcoin, the 200-week EMA around ~$58k remains a critical structural level. Lose that, and we’re likely looking at a longer winter. Meanwhile, many altcoins are already down 30–40% in a single week, which tells you how much damage has been done beneath the surface.

I’m avoiding random knives unless they’re tied to infrastructure, liquidity hubs, or long-term narratives — not memes.

Days like this are exactly why I believe process beats prediction.

I took losses.
I adjusted.
I’m positioned.
And I’m still here.

If you’re still here too — mentally and financially — that matters more than any single trade. We’ll keep navigating this market calmly, honestly, and together.

More updates soon.

I won’t sugarcoat it — the last 24 hours were brutal.

This wasn’t a “normal” red day. This was one of those moments where the market stops behaving like a chart and starts feeling like a crime scene. Liquidations everywhere. Forced selling. People getting wiped not because they were wrong long-term, but because they were overexposed at the wrong time.

I was active during the selloff, and I’ll be honest: I played the early part of this drop too aggressively. I took shots trying to catch the falling knife around the $68–69k area, then again around $65–63k. I took losses there. That’s on me.

That’s trading.

Anyone who’s been in crypto long enough knows these days happen — and also understands why a guy like me wears hats all the time. Some days the market humbles you fast.

What mattered more than the losses, though, was what came next.

After the liquidation pressure eased, I stepped back and reassessed. This wasn’t a moment for hero trades or “calling the bottom.” It was time to move from trading mode into survival and positioning mode.

I re-entered longs more cleanly in the $63–64k range, once the forced selling had largely flushed out. If we see another sweep into the $59–60k zone, I’m prepared to add incrementally — not all at once, and not emotionally.

On the DeFi side, I increased exposure through Aave and Kamino lending, currently sitting around ~50% LTV. That leverage is primarily allocated into BTC and ETH, with a smaller allocation to SOL. BTC and ETH remain the core. SOL, while strong structurally, is something I plan to trim into a rebound.

This is not a “set it and forget it” position. If we do get a bounce from here — and I believe that’s very possible — my plan is to aggressively deleverage and DCA out of the leveraged DeFi positions, reducing risk step by step instead of trying to nail a perfect exit.

This phase isn’t about moon math. It’s about staying alive and staying positioned.

The numbers tell the story better than any chart:

• Over $2.7B in long liquidations in 24 hours

• One ETH whale lost $222M on Hyperliquid

• The total crypto market cap has shed $2 trillion since the October peak

The Fear & Greed Index hit 9/100, the lowest level since the 2022 Terra collapse.

In terms of violence and speed, this move rivaled the COVID crash of 2020. That doesn’t mean the same outcome — but it does mean emotions, leverage, and forced behavior dominated price action.

This wasn’t random.

This was a forced de-risking event, driven by a combination of:

• Weakness in US tech stocks

• Fed caution and tighter liquidity expectations

• Overleveraged positioning across crypto

• Miners selling or pivoting toward AI data center economics to survive

Leverage didn’t slowly unwind — it was ripped out of the system.

Painful? Absolutely.
Necessary? Unfortunately, yes.

Even in environments like this, structure matters.

Base continues to quietly dominate, now commanding roughly 48% of all L2 TVL. Within that ecosystem, Aerodrome (AERO) has become the third-largest DEX by volume across all EVM chains, with a major catalyst on the horizon: the Q2 2026 Aerodrome–Velodrome merger, which aims to unify liquidity across chains.

There is real infrastructure and real yield here — but timing is everything.

In the AI corner of crypto, Bittensor (TAO) has shown relative resilience. Grayscale’s filing for a Bittensor ETP (GTAO) has kept institutional interest alive even as prices pull back. Barry Silbert recently referred to this drawdown as a “gift” for accumulation. Not advice — just context worth noting.

One underappreciated signal right now is what’s happening with stablecoins.

We’re seeing a bifurcation:

• USDC increasingly used as institutional rails

• USDT still dominating retail liquidity

Stablecoin supply growth is sitting around 1.3%, which tells us something important: new money isn’t flooding in yet. Capital is rotating, not expanding.

That matters for expectations.

This is not the phase for hero trades.

What matters right now:

• Risk management

• Capital preservation

• Patience

For Bitcoin, the 200-week EMA around ~$58k remains a critical structural level. Lose that, and we’re likely looking at a longer winter. Meanwhile, many altcoins are already down 30–40% in a single week, which tells you how much damage has been done beneath the surface.

I’m avoiding random knives unless they’re tied to infrastructure, liquidity hubs, or long-term narratives — not memes.

Days like this are exactly why I believe process beats prediction.

I took losses.
I adjusted.
I’m positioned.
And I’m still here.

If you’re still here too — mentally and financially — that matters more than any single trade. We’ll keep navigating this market calmly, honestly, and together.

More updates soon.