Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

The key catalyst for the Australian dollar remains the July inflation data released on 26 August. The figure came in at 3.5% year-on-year, versus expectations of 3.2%, while the Trimmed Mean increased by 0.5% month-on-month, compared with a forecast of 0.3%. The following day, 27 August, NAB revised its forecast for the RBA’s next policy decision. The bank now expects a 25-basis-point rate hike at the September meeting, taking the rate to 4.6%, with the risk of another increase in November.

For the Canadian dollar, the key factor was the Bank of Canada’s decision. On 2 September, the central bank left its policy rate unchanged at 2.25% for the seventh consecutive meeting, highlighting economic uncertainty stemming from US tariffs and Canada’s retaliatory trade measures.

Technical Analysis of AUD/CAD

The four-hour AUD/CAD chart shows a pronounced uptrend that has lifted the pair towards the current resistance level at 0.9985. A pattern resembling a converging triangle formed near the top of this advance, with price fluctuations gradually narrowing within the formation. However, volume dynamics during the second half of the pattern’s formation have been atypical, casting doubt on its reliability.

Nevertheless, the price has broken out of the pattern while also moving above the upper boundary of the current market profile at 0.9950, and is attempting to establish itself above this level. If the advance continues, the red resistance level around 0.9985 is the next key obstacle on the upside.

In the event of a false breakout, the price could return to the profile. If the scenario turns bearish, the pair would need to break not only the upper boundary of the profile but also the Point of Control (POC) at 0.9935 and the lower boundary at 0.9910. Below the market density, a green support level is located around 0.9895.

The RSI + MAs indicator is showing readings of 59, 52 and 54. The RSI has moved above the neutral zone, while both the fast and slow moving averages remain below its upper boundary.

Key Takeaways The atypical volume dynamics during the formation of the triangle leave the reliability of the breakout uncertain, while the price’s attempt to establish itself above the market profile has yet to receive confirmation from the RSI + MAs indicator. The pair’s further direction could depend largely on whether the expected tightening of RBA policy materialises against the backdrop of the Bank of Canada’s wait-and-see stance.

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Raydium has expanded LaunchLab to support trading between any token pair, with LaunchOnSF’s StonkFun becoming the first integration to use the new system on Solana.

Summary

Raydium LaunchLab now allows newly launched tokens to be paired with any supported quote token on the platform. StonkFun has become the first integration to use the new model after changes to Raydium programs, aggregators and trading terminals. StonkFun said deployment costs have fallen to 0.03 SOL from 0.29 SOL, while liquidity fees can be directed back into liquidity. The upgrade expands LaunchLab more than a year after Raydium introduced the platform following Pump.fun’s move to its own PumpSwap exchange. According to Raydium’s Sept. 7 announcement on X, LaunchLab can now pair a newly launched token with any quote token supported through Raydium, removing the fixed pairing structure used by many token launch platforms. Raydium said the upgrade brings more flexible token pairing, deeper liquidity and lower fees for memecoin trading.

LaunchLab now supports any token pair on Raydium.

The upgrade brings flexible pairing directly to Solana, with deeper liquidity, lower fees, and stronger meme-native trading.@LaunchOnSF is the first integration partner to bring the model live on LaunchLab. pic.twitter.com/c3NFuYCRWI

— Raydium (@Raydium) September 6, 2026 LaunchOnSF confirmed that its StonkFun platform is the first integration partner to bring the feature live. Its team spent the previous week preparing the integration, which required changes across Raydium’s programs, trading terminals and aggregators before custom quote tokens could be supported.

Raydium LaunchLab now supports custom token pairs Under the new system, creators can select the quote token used for a LaunchLab deployment, allowing communities to build markets around assets other than the standard quote tokens commonly used for new Solana launches.

Raydium described the feature as the ability to launch “any token, paired with any quote token.” LaunchOnSF said Raydium updated its programs to accommodate custom quote and reward tokens, while aggregators and trading terminals needed to support routing for the resulting pairs.

The integration covers permissionless deployments, bonding curves and constant product market maker pools. LaunchOnSF said deployment costs through StonkFun have been reduced to 0.03 SOL from 0.29 SOL, while liquidity provider fees can be directed back into liquidity.

Developers do not have to use the StonkFun API to deploy tokens and can construct transactions themselves. LaunchOnSF said the system was built to reduce problems it had encountered with snipers and launches concentrated in a single wallet.

Ahead of the integration, StonkFun reported more than $392 million in total trading volume, including roughly $219 million routed through Raydium. The platform had generated $1.21 million in revenue and distributed more than $5.35 million in rewards to ecosystem holders.

More than $705,000 had been spent on buybacks and burns of its ecosystem token, while another $68,000 went toward buying and burning tokens from its 10 largest ecosystem projects, according to figures published by LaunchOnSF.

LaunchLab followed Pump.fun’s move away from Raydium Raydium first disclosed LaunchLab in March 2025 after Pump.fun began working on its own automated market maker. The platform offered creators different pricing curves and allowed third party interfaces to build on the underlying infrastructure and set their own transaction fees.

Crypto.news previously reported on Raydium’s LaunchLab plans in March 2025. An anonymous Raydium developer said at the time that the product had been under development for several months but had initially been kept on the sidelines while Pump.fun continued using Raydium for liquidity.

LaunchLab officially went live in April 2025, allowing users to create, customize and trade tokens through Raydium. Projects crossing the original 85 SOL threshold were automatically moved into Raydium’s automated market maker.

Raydium introduced customizable bonding curves, no migration cost and a 1% trading fee under the initial model. The protocol said 25% of trading fees collected through LaunchLab would be used to buy back RAY.

More than 10 projects had passed the 85 SOL threshold shortly after LaunchLab opened, while RAY rose roughly 13% following the launch before giving back part of the move.

LaunchLab arrived after Pump.fun changed a relationship that had directed a steady flow of newly created memecoins toward Raydium.

Tokens launched through Pump.fun had historically moved into Raydium liquidity pools after completing their bonding curves. Pump.fun began testing its own automated market maker in February 2025, opening a path for graduated tokens to remain inside its own trading infrastructure.

PumpSwap ended Pump.fun’s reliance on Raydium Pump.fun formally moved away from the previous setup when it launched the PumpSwap DEX in March 2025.

Built around a constant product automated market maker similar to Raydium v4 and Uniswap v2, PumpSwap allowed tokens completing Pump.fun bonding curves to migrate directly to its own liquidity pools. Users could create pools, provide liquidity and trade tokens without sending graduated launches to Raydium.

PumpSwap introduced instant migrations and removed the six SOL migration fee previously associated with the process. The platform initially charged 0.25% on trades, allocating 0.20% to liquidity providers and 0.05% to the protocol.

Trading activity climbed quickly. PumpSwap captured 21% of Solana DEX trading about a week after launch, with cumulative volume exceeding $1.2 billion. Raydium remained ahead with a 57.4% share at the time.

By March 30, PumpSwap had recorded $2.43 billion in volume, alongside $5.4 million in protocol fees, around 700,000 active wallets and 30.59 million swaps. Raydium accounted for 74% of Solana DEX volume on that date, compared with PumpSwap’s 8%.

Raydium had entered the contest from a strong position in memecoin trading. A CEX.io report showed its memecoin volume share rising from 77% to 83% during the first quarter of 2025.

Pump.fun was responsible for more than half of daily SPL token creation at the time, with tokens previously flowing into Raydium after meeting Pump.fun’s graduation requirements. That pipeline changed once PumpSwap began taking the migrations directly.

Raydium remains a major Solana trading venue Despite heavier competition among Solana exchanges and launchpads, Raydium has remained one of the network’s largest execution venues.

Across 2025, the protocol processed $352.8 billion in execution layer DEX volume. Meteora followed with $113.7 billion, while Orca and SolFi recorded $103.9 billion and $97.9 billion, respectively.

More recent activity has remained spread across several Solana venues. On Aug. 21, 2026, Solana generated approximately $2.8 billion in daily decentralized exchange spot volume. PumpSwap processed roughly $485 million, followed by BisonFi at $466 million, Orca at $307 million, Raydium at $260 million and Manifest at $218 million.

The five platforms together accounted for approximately $1.74 billion of the network’s daily total.

LaunchLab’s latest update changes the type of markets that can be created through Raydium’s launch infrastructure. Instead of requiring creators to launch against a predetermined quote asset, StonkFun deployments can select another supported token and carry that pairing through the bonding curve and subsequent liquidity setup.

Raydium ecosystem contributor Infra said the structure lets a community pair a meme token with another asset its users already follow and use the same asset for rewards. LaunchOnSF became the first partner to put that model into production through StonkFun following the Sept. 7 rollout.

The NZD/USD pair trades in negative territory near 0.5875 during the early European trading hours on Monday, pressured by a firmer US Dollar (USD). Traders raise their bets on a US Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hike in the September policy meeting following stronger-than-expected US jobs data. 

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed on Friday that US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) climbed by 162K in August, versus an upwardly revised rise of 21K prior. This figure came in above the market consensus of 56K. Meanwhile, the Unemployment Rate held steady at 4.1% during the same period. Fed funds futures are now pricing in roughly a 60% probability of a hike, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

A dovish hike from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) could undermine the New Zealand Dollar (NZD). The RBNZ decided to raise the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points (bps) to 2.75% last week. RBNZ Governor Anna Breman stated that it’s likely there will be a further increase, but policymakers want to take time to assess the impact of the increases to date.

RBNZ continues gradual tightening as inflation risks monitoredAnalysts at Commerzbank note that the RBNZ delivered a widely anticipated move, with the central bank raising the Overnight Cash Rate (OCR) by 25bp to 2.75% “as expected,” and reiterating that “a gradual removal of monetary stimulus was appropriate to return inflation sustainably to the target.” The bank highlights that while headline CPI remains elevated, largely on the back of Middle East-related fuel costs, most core inflation measures are still within the RBNZ’s 1–3% band, suggesting that the pace of any further tightening will hinge on the “persistence” of inflation pressures and the strength of the domestic recovery.

Technical Analysis: NZD/USD extends consolidation the near termIn the daily chart, NZD/USD sits between nearby structural bands, holding above the 100-day moving average (MA) while still trading below the Bollinger middle band. This configuration, together with a 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovering around a neutral 48, suggests a consolidative near-term tone, with price caught in a range rather than showing a clear directional break.

On the topside, initial resistance is seen at the Bollinger middle band around 0.5910. The next upside target is located at the Bollinger upper band further up near 0.5985. 

On the downside, the 100-day MA at about 0.5845 offers the first layer of support, ahead of the Bollinger lower band clustered just below 0.5830, which would need to give way to signal a deeper corrective move. A break below this level could expose the July 27 low of 0.5771. 

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

New Zealand Dollar FAQs The New Zealand Dollar (NZD), also known as the Kiwi, is a well-known traded currency among investors. Its value is broadly determined by the health of the New Zealand economy and the country’s central bank policy. Still, there are some unique particularities that also can make NZD move. The performance of the Chinese economy tends to move the Kiwi because China is New Zealand’s biggest trading partner. Bad news for the Chinese economy likely means less New Zealand exports to the country, hitting the economy and thus its currency. Another factor moving NZD is dairy prices as the dairy industry is New Zealand’s main export. High dairy prices boost export income, contributing positively to the economy and thus to the NZD.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) aims to achieve and maintain an inflation rate between 1% and 3% over the medium term, with a focus to keep it near the 2% mid-point. To this end, the bank sets an appropriate level of interest rates. When inflation is too high, the RBNZ will increase interest rates to cool the economy, but the move will also make bond yields higher, increasing investors’ appeal to invest in the country and thus boosting NZD. On the contrary, lower interest rates tend to weaken NZD. The so-called rate differential, or how rates in New Zealand are or are expected to be compared to the ones set by the US Federal Reserve, can also play a key role in moving the NZD/USD pair.

Macroeconomic data releases in New Zealand are key to assess the state of the economy and can impact the New Zealand Dollar’s (NZD) valuation. A strong economy, based on high economic growth, low unemployment and high confidence is good for NZD. High economic growth attracts foreign investment and may encourage the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to increase interest rates, if this economic strength comes together with elevated inflation. Conversely, if economic data is weak, NZD is likely to depreciate.

The New Zealand Dollar (NZD) tends to strengthen during risk-on periods, or when investors perceive that broader market risks are low and are optimistic about growth. This tends to lead to a more favorable outlook for commodities and so-called ‘commodity currencies’ such as the Kiwi. Conversely, NZD tends to weaken at times of market turbulence or economic uncertainty as investors tend to sell higher-risk assets and flee to the more-stable safe havens.

TL;DR: Thursday’s ECB hike to 2.50% is almost fully priced, but economists overwhelmingly expect it to be the last move while markets price roughly two more hikes within a year — and EUR/GBP is testing a major resistance cluster at 0.8610–0.8617 at exactly the moment that disagreement needs resolving.

The Hike Is Almost Certain. What Comes After It Is Not. Calling Thursday’s ECB meeting a non-event because a 25bp hike is already almost fully priced misses the part of the meeting that actually matters.

There’s little disagreement over the immediate decision. Markets assign roughly a 95% probability to a rate increase from 2.25% to 2.50%, while all 65 economists in the latest Reuters poll expect the same move. But beyond September, the consensus breaks apart sharply.

Economists overwhelmingly think Thursday will mark the end of the tightening campaign. Rates markets do not. Some 91% of economists expect the deposit rate to finish 2026 at 2.50%, while 78% see it still there through the middle of 2027. OIS pricing, by contrast, implies around 72bp of cumulative tightening over the coming 12 months — roughly three hikes in total, including the one expected this week.

That leaves close to two additional moves embedded in the curve beyond Thursday. So the real question isn’t whether the ECB hikes. The hike is priced. The rate path is not. And EUR/GBP has arrived at a particularly awkward place for that disagreement to be resolved.

EUR/GBP Is Testing More Than Just Another Resistance Level The pair has recovered from 0.8453 into a resistance zone where several independent technical methods converge.

On the daily chart, the broader cycle runs from the October 2024 base around 0.8221 through the rally to 0.8863, followed by a decline that developed through lower highs before stalling at 0.8453. That low wasn’t technically random. The 61.8% retracement of the entire 0.8221–0.8863 advance sits around 0.8466, almost exactly where the decline eventually found support. That strengthens the significance of 0.8453 as a potential medium-term turning point.

But proving a bottom exists is very different from proving a new uptrend has begun. EUR/GBP has now reached the 0.8610 area, and this is where the recovery faces its first serious test. Three separate forms of daily resistance converge there.

First is horizontal structure. EUR/GBP previously consolidated around 0.8610 on two occasions during the decline, giving the zone clear historical significance. Second is the 38.2% retracement of the 0.8863–0.8453 decline, which also comes in almost exactly at 0.8610.

The weekly chart raises the bar further. The 55-week EMA currently sits around 0.8617, leaving EUR/GBP facing a broader resistance cluster between roughly 0.8610 and 0.8617. That matters because the pair isn’t simply approaching a level where one technical method happens to suggest resistance — several different structures are saying much the same thing. It will probably take real fundamental conviction to clear them.

Momentum Has Already Started to Hesitate The higher-timeframe momentum picture is still constructive. Daily RSI is around 61, leaving considerable room before overbought territory, while daily MACD has crossed higher and is holding above zero. There’s no obvious daily exhaustion signal.

The four-hour chart, however, is beginning to tell a different story. EUR/GBP reached 0.8607 last week, effectively tagging the lower edge of the resistance cluster, but momentum failed to confirm the move. Four-hour MACD shows bearish divergence, as the latest price high wasn’t accompanied by a matching momentum peak. Four-hour RSI is only around the upper-50s.

The rally hasn’t stalled because EUR/GBP is already deeply overbought. It has stalled because momentum is fading exactly where substantial resistance should be expected. That makes the current setup genuinely two-sided. A rejection would fit the existing structure. But there’s still enough higher-timeframe momentum for a sufficiently strong catalyst to force a breakout. Thursday’s ECB projections could provide that catalyst.

Economists and Markets Are Making Different Bets The ECB announces its decision on Thursday, September 10, at 1215 GMT, followed by President Christine Lagarde’s press conference at 1245 GMT.

The expected hike itself is close to settled. The latest Reuters poll, conducted between August 31 and September 3, found all 65 economists expecting a 25bp increase to 2.50%. That conviction has risen steadily: 83% expected a September hike in the previous poll, compared with 72% before the July meeting, when the ECB ultimately held rates unchanged.

But the firm consensus around September masks a much bigger disagreement about what comes next. Economists largely see this as the second and final move of what would be the ECB’s shortest tightening campaign in 15 years. Markets are leaving the door much wider open.

OIS pricing late Sunday put Thursday’s hike probability at 94.8%, equivalent to around 23.7bp of tightening. Yet the curve discounts approximately 72.1bp over the next 12 months. October itself carries only around a 40% probability of another move, while December is somewhat higher at roughly 44%, consistent with the possibility that the ECB could skip October and wait for the next major projection round.

But the exact meeting doesn’t matter as much as the cumulative message. Investors are effectively saying September probably won’t be enough. Economists are saying it probably will. Thursday’s projections need to begin telling markets which side has the stronger case.

The June Forecasts Already Included the Iran Shock This is why simply seeing higher inflation forecasts on Thursday wouldn’t automatically be hawkish. The ECB’s June projections were already constructed after the Iran war had become a major economic shock.

On June 11, the ECB raised the deposit rate from 2.00% to 2.25%, the main refinancing rate from 2.15% to 2.40%, and the marginal lending rate from 2.40% to 2.65%. The central bank explicitly tied the decision to the conflict and its effects on commodity markets.

Its June staff projections put headline inflation at 3.0% in 2026, 2.3% in 2027, and 2.0% in 2028. Core inflation excluding energy and food was projected at 2.5%, 2.5%, and 2.2%. GDP growth was seen at 0.8%, 1.2%, and 1.5% over the same three years.

Compared with March, the direction was already stagflationary: inflation forecasts moved higher while growth was revised lower, with the ECB linking both changes to the war’s effects on energy prices, real incomes, and confidence. So Thursday isn’t about whether the ECB has suddenly discovered an energy shock. It’s about whether that shock is proving more persistent or more broad-based than the ECB assumed in June.

Headline Inflation Says One Thing. Core Inflation Says Another. The latest inflation data make that question unusually clean. Eurozone headline inflation accelerated from 2.9% in July to 3.3% in August, putting it above the ECB’s 3.0% full-year projection for 2026. But the increase was driven overwhelmingly by energy.

Underlying measures moved the other way. Core CPI eased from 2.5% to 2.4%, while services inflation slowed from 3.3% to 3.0%. That divergence is the heart of Thursday’s policy debate.

If headline inflation is rising because the conflict has pushed up energy prices, while core and services inflation continue to cool, the ECB is dealing primarily with a supply shock. Higher rates can’t produce more oil or reopen shipping routes. They matter only if those higher energy costs begin feeding into wages, services prices, and inflation expectations. So far, the latest data don’t clearly show that second-round process taking hold.

That’s why the economist consensus can simultaneously accept a September hike and reject the need for several more afterward. The ECB can respond to the immediate inflation risk without concluding that a prolonged tightening campaign is necessary.

The complication is that supply shocks don’t always stay clean. Persistent increases in visible fuel, diesel, and food costs can influence inflation expectations. If households and workers start building those costs into wage demands, and companies begin passing them into broader prices, the distinction between an energy shock and underlying inflation becomes much less comfortable. Thursday’s projections should show whether the ECB thinks Europe is moving closer to that point.

Three Forecast Tests Matter More Than the 25bp Hike 1. Headline Inflation: How Big Is the Revision? A higher 2026 headline inflation forecast would hardly be surprising after August inflation reached 3.3%. The more important question is what kind of revision the ECB makes.

A modest increase confined mainly to 2026 could amount to little more than technical acknowledgement of higher energy prices already visible in the data. That wouldn’t, by itself, justify another two hikes after September. A larger revision extending meaningfully into 2027 would carry more significance, implying the ECB sees the inflation shock lasting longer than anticipated in June.

2. Core Inflation: The Real Hawkish Test The core projections are much more important. In June, the ECB forecast core inflation at 2.5% in 2026, 2.5% in 2027, and 2.2% in 2028.

If that path is unchanged or revised slightly lower, the central bank would effectively be confirming that underlying inflation hasn’t materially deteriorated despite the increase in energy-driven headline CPI. That would strongly reinforce the “September and done” argument.

A meaningful upward revision would carry a completely different message. It would suggest policymakers see evidence — or at least a growing risk — that the supply shock is beginning to bleed into more persistent inflation dynamics. That’s the kind of surprise that could justify the extra tightening currently embedded in the market curve.

3. Growth: How Much Damage Is the Shock Doing? The June growth projections provide the other side of the equation. The ECB expected GDP growth of 0.8% in 2026, 1.2% in 2027, and 1.5% in 2028.

Private-sector consensus remains broadly aligned with the first two numbers, suggesting no obvious reason for a large revision based purely on the growth data available so far. But the intensifying conflict creates clear downside channels through energy costs, weaker household purchasing power, and confidence.

If the ECB cuts growth further while raising inflation, Thursday becomes more complicated rather than simply more hawkish. Higher inflation alongside weaker growth strengthens the policy trade-off. That’s why markets need to look beyond the headline forecast revision and ask what exactly is driving it.

Scenario One: The ECB Confirms This Is Still Mainly a Supply Shock The cleanest EUR-negative outcome would be straightforward. Headline inflation is revised modestly higher, but core inflation stays broadly unchanged or eases. Growth stays close to the June path or receives a moderate downgrade.

That would tell markets the ECB still sees much of the inflation deterioration as energy-driven rather than evidence of a broader inflation resurgence. It would also validate the dominant economist view that Thursday’s hike can be the last.

This is where the asymmetric market risk becomes important. September itself doesn’t need to be repriced lower — the 25bp increase can happen exactly as expected. The adjustment would come from the additional tightening priced beyond September. With around 72bp embedded over the next year, the curve has significant room to remove future hikes without challenging Thursday’s move at all.

That would be a genuinely EUR-negative outcome. For EUR/GBP, rejection from the 0.8610–0.8617 resistance cluster would then have both technical and fundamental backing. The more important bearish confirmation would come below 0.8545. A break there would strengthen the view that the rebound from 0.8453 was corrective rather than the start of a durable trend reversal, exposing 0.8453 again. A renewed break of that low would reopen the broader decline from 0.8863.

Scenario Two: The ECB Validates the Market’s Hawkish View The bullish EUR scenario requires more than an energy-driven headline revision. Core inflation would need to move higher as well, or the projections and Lagarde’s communication would need to show the ECB is becoming more concerned about second-round inflation pressure.

The press conference could be just as important as the forecasts here. The ECB has repeatedly emphasized that it isn’t pre-committing to a particular rate path and will decide meeting by meeting. If that language stays essentially intact while Lagarde makes little effort to push back against the roughly two additional hikes markets are pricing beyond September, investors could interpret the meeting as tacit confirmation that the tightening cycle still has room to run.

That would give EUR/GBP the kind of Euro-specific catalyst needed to challenge the current technical ceiling. A decisive break through 0.8610–0.8617 would be the first important signal that the decline from 0.8863 completed at 0.8453. The next immediate objective would be the upper boundary of the descending daily channel around 0.8644. A sustained break there would make the recovery from 0.8453 look increasingly like a genuine reversal rather than another rebound within the broader decline.

Scenario Three: The ECB Solves Nothing The third outcome may be the easiest to imagine and the hardest to trade. Headline inflation is revised higher. Growth is cut. Core inflation moves too little to settle whether the shock is genuinely spreading.

That would leave the ECB facing essentially the same two-sided problem it described in June: upside inflation risk and downside growth risk at the same time. In that environment, markets may struggle to decide whether the extra tightening already priced into the curve is justified.

EUR/GBP could reject again from 0.8610 without generating enough downside conviction to break 0.8545. And if that happens, the technical stalemate simply survives another day. Friday’s UK data could then become the tie-breaker.

Friday’s UK GDP Matters Most If the ECB Leaves a Draw The ONS releases July monthly GDP on Friday, September 11, alongside the trade balance, industrial and manufacturing production, construction output, and the NIESR monthly GDP tracker.

The broader UK growth picture is modest rather than collapsing. GDP growth slowed from 0.6% q/q in Q1 to 0.4% in Q2, while the IMF forecasts 1.0% growth for 2026 and the OECD 0.9%.

That gives Friday’s releases clear Sterling relevance. But they shouldn’t displace Thursday’s ECB meeting as the central driver of this setup. If the ECB convincingly validates further tightening, EUR/GBP may already be testing or breaking resistance before the UK numbers arrive. If the ECB instead reinforces the “one and done” view, the Euro could already be retreating from resistance, leaving UK data as a secondary confirmation or counterweight. Friday becomes most important under the mixed scenario, where Thursday fails to provide enough conviction to resolve either side of the technical range.

ActionForex’s Technical View on EUR/GBP: The Market Has Already Drawn Its Own Line EUR/GBP is approaching Thursday with an unusually clean combination of fundamental and technical uncertainty. The rate decision itself is almost known. The projections are not.

Economists overwhelmingly think 2.50% will mark the end of the ECB’s tightening campaign. Rates markets are effectively pricing another two moves beyond September. That disagreement is now meeting a technical structure that also demands resolution.

At 0.8610–0.8617, EUR/GBP faces horizontal resistance, a major Fibonacci retracement, the descending daily trendline, and the 55-week EMA. Four-hour momentum has already begun to fade around the zone, but the daily recovery hasn’t yet exhausted itself. The pair therefore needs conviction, not merely another expected rate hike.

If Thursday shows headline inflation is hotter but underlying inflation remains contained, the additional tightening embedded in the curve has room to unwind. Rejection from resistance would then gain a clear fundamental explanation, with 0.8545 becoming the critical downside trigger.

If the ECB lifts the core inflation path and leaves markets comfortable pricing further tightening, the Euro could finally gain enough support to break the resistance cluster. That would shift attention toward 0.8644 and strengthen the case that 0.8453 marked a more durable bottom.

And if the projections split the difference, Friday’s UK GDP may have to finish the job. Either way, dismissing Thursday because the hike is already priced misses the real trade.

The hike is priced. The rate path is not. And EUR/GBP is sitting exactly where that difference starts to matter.

Key Takeaways Thursday’s ECB hike to 2.50% is nearly certain, but economists (91% see 2.50% through year-end) and markets (72bp priced over 12 months) disagree sharply on what comes after it. Core inflation (2.4% in August) and services inflation (3.0%) are both cooling even as headline inflation rises to 3.3% on energy, making the core forecast path the real hawkish test. EUR/GBP faces a genuine resistance cluster at 0.8610-0.8617, where horizontal structure, a 38.2% retracement, and the 55-week EMA all converge. An unchanged or lower core inflation path would validate the “September and done” view and favor rejection toward 0.8545 and then 0.8453. A higher core inflation path, or a press conference that doesn’t push back on further tightening, would open a break toward 0.8644, with Friday’s UK GDP as the tie-breaker if Thursday leaves the question unresolved.

Shares of UiPath (PATH -16.63%) sank despite the company reporting solid fiscal second-quarter results and raising its full-year guidance. The stock is now down on the year, as of this writing.

UiPath began as a robotic process automation (RPA) company that lets customers use software bots to perform repetitive, rule-based tasks; however, it has been in the middle of transforming itself in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Its goal now is to be an orchestration platform that can combine AI with deterministic automation.

Let's dig into the company's quarterly results and prospects to see if this dip is a buying opportunity.

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Moving in the right direction UiPath said its platform that can orchestrate both AI agents and bots was beginning to resonate with customers as it can give them better returns on their investments and that its strong roots in governance and reliability were a competitive advantage. It also believes that being AI model agnostic is an important differentiator. Its AI momentum could be seen in the quarter with 18 of its 20 largest deals including an AI component.

The company has been working to strengthen its go-to-market strategy and said increased deal sizes and expanded customer engagement were evidence this was starting to pay off. However, it noted that customer education was still important, as it looks to bestow the benefits of how combining AI with deterministic automation can help enterprises. The company is also considering offering outcome-based pricing models to increase customer value and adoption. Finally, it continues to add prebuilt vertical and outcome-oriented solutions to help drive growth and be a gateway for its entire solution.

For its fiscal Q2, revenue rose 13% year over year to $410 million, cruising past guidance for revenue of between $395 to $400 million. Its annualized recurring revenue (ARR) rose by 12% year over year to $1.94 billion. Meanwhile, it added $37 million in new ARR in the quarter, up 19% year over year. UiPath's ARR is made up of its annualized invoiced amounts from subscription licenses and maintenance and support obligations, while it excludes invoiced amounts related to perpetual licenses or professional services. The metric is similar to bookings.

Dollar-based net retention came in at 109%, showing that the company is seeing solid growth within its existing customer base. It also had 97% gross retention.

UIPath ended the quarter with 10,350 customers, which was down from 10,550 at the end of Q1 as it continues to see attrition among smaller customers. Customers with $30,000 or more in ARR increased by 6% year over year, and customers with $100,000 or more in ARR increased 10%. Meanwhile, customers with $1 million or more in ARR jumped 21% to 387.

Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) was steady at $0.15. The company generated $31 million in operating cash flow and free cash flow. It ended the quarter with $1.41 billion in cash and marketable securities and no debt.

Looking ahead, UIPath forecast Q3 revenue in the range of $440 million to $445 million, representing growth of 8% at the midpoint. It guided for ARR between $1.992 billion and $1.997 billion.

For the full year, it raised its revenue guidance to a range of $1.789 billion to $1.794 billion from an earlier outlook of $1.776 billion to $1.781 billion. It now expects ARR of $2.065 billion to $2.070 billion versus between $2.058 billion and $2.063 billion previously.

Image source: The Motley Fool

Can the stock rebound? UiPath continues to have a nice opportunity in front of it, and it appears to be seeing some green shoots from its efforts. However, for the stock to work, it does really need to see growth start to accelerate.

The stock remains relatively cheap, trading at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 4.4 times for a high gross margin, recurring business model. Take out its $1.4 billion in cash and marketable securities, and the stock trades at an enterprise-value -to-forward-sales ratio of just around 3.5.

Given its valuation, I think UiPath remains an interesting, speculative AI stock to own.

After nearly four years of steadily amassing a cash balance of $397 billion, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA -0.48%) (BRKB -0.41%) is finally putting a measurable amount of that money back to work.

Oh, most of it still remains on the sidelines, undeployed. Specifically, as of the end of the conglomerate's second fiscal quarter, which ended in June, it still had nearly $366 billion in liquidity. That's a reduction of $31 billion in just three months' time, or less than one-tenth of its cash pile. 

Still, it's a start.

So where did all that money go? It's not too tough to figure out.

Image source: Getty Images.

Where the money went The biggest chunk of that $31 billion went toward the purchase of more shares of technology giant Alphabet (GOOG -1.05%) (GOOGL -1.11%). Berkshire ended Q1 with 54.2 million "A" shares of the company (worth roughly $15.6 billion at the time), plus a handful of "C" shares. Now it owns a bunch more of both, with a collective stake worth nearly $36 billion. That makes Alphabet Berkshire Hathaway's third-biggest holding, right behind American Express.

That's certainly not the only addition Berkshire's current CEO Greg Abel -- with some guidance from Warren Buffett, of course -- made to the company's equity portfolio during the second quarter, though. Although it already owned stakes in both, the company scooped up another 17.5 million shares of Delta Air Lines (DAL +1.80%) to bring its count to 57.3 million, and more than doubled its position in department store chain Macy's (M +2.58%), adding another 4.3 million shares. Those trades would have cost on the order of $1.6 billion and $100 million, respectively.

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Expanded positions in homebuilder Lennar (LEN -1.03%) (LENB -0.81%) and The New York Times Company (NYT +0.33%) would have also used up some of Berkshire's cash, although not nearly as much as the $17 billion it shelled out to expand its stake in Alphabet.

Perhaps Abel's most noteworthy use of Berkshire Hathaway's idle cash during Q2, however, wasn't a new pick or adding to an existing one. It's the $4.5 billion used to repurchase outstanding shares of Berkshire itself. That's a dramatic increase from the $235 million spent on the company's own stock in Q1, snapping a six-quarter hiatus in share buybacks.

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It's also worth noting that Berkshire Hathaway sold on the order of $3.7 billion in equity holdings during the three months in question, bolstering the conglomerate's quarter-ending cash balance. The remainder of any difference between the sum total of these purchases minus the proceeds of these sales reflects capital spending or net costs incurred by Berkshire's privately owned businesses, such as GEICO Insurance, Clayton Homes, Pilot Travel Centers, and Dairy Queen, just to name a few.

Picky about picks, but also patient The allocation of this cash deployment is interesting, to be sure. Perhaps more interesting, however, is the fact that Abel is finally doing something with all of that idle capital. Yet, Berkshire's CEO doesn't appear to be in a rush to put it all to work at once. This patience is just as impressive as the conglomerate's stock's long-term price performance.

American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. James Brumley has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, American Express, Berkshire Hathaway, Lennar, and The New York Times Co. The Motley Fool recommends Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

BlackRock has found a way to solve one of crypto’s most persistent identity crises: what do you do when you’re sitting on a mountain of Bitcoin but want the comfort of a brokerage account? You swap it, directly, for shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), no sale required.

The firm’s in-kind conversion program has quietly processed over $5 billion in direct Bitcoin-to-IBIT swaps as of August 2026. That figure was sitting at roughly $3 billion back in October 2025, meaning the pipeline has grown by more than 60% in less than a year.

The $1 million door just opened wider The acceleration traces back to a single decision made in July 2026. BlackRock slashed the minimum transaction size for in-kind conversions from $25 million down to $1 million.

At the old threshold, the program was essentially a velvet-rope affair for the ultra-wealthy and institutional holders. A $25 million floor meant you needed to be holding roughly 250 Bitcoin (give or take, depending on price) just to walk through the door. The new $1 million minimum opens the program to a much broader class of high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and smaller funds.

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The mechanics work through authorized participants, the intermediaries that create and redeem ETF shares. A Bitcoin holder delivers their coins to the authorized participant, who in turn delivers them to the trust and issues IBIT shares back to the holder. No sale hits the market. No immediate capital gains tax event gets triggered.

Why whales are biting Self-custody at scale is genuinely difficult. Hardware wallets, multisig setups, seed phrase management, inheritance planning: all of these become exponentially more stressful when the number after the dollar sign has seven or eight digits. A single operational error can mean permanent, irreversible loss.

By converting into IBIT shares, holders get their Bitcoin exposure wrapped inside the familiar infrastructure of Wall Street. Custodial risk shifts to Coinbase (IBIT’s custodian) and the broader ETF ecosystem. The shares sit in a standard brokerage account, show up on consolidated wealth statements, and can be margined, lent, or used as collateral just like any other security.

Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, has pointed to the growth potential of this market segment as the accessibility barriers continue falling.

IBIT’s gravitational pull IBIT remains the largest US spot Bitcoin ETF by both assets under management and flows, and the in-kind conversion program is widening that lead.

Every Bitcoin that flows into the trust through a direct swap adds to IBIT’s asset base without requiring a cash purchase on the open market. Cash creations, where an authorized participant buys Bitcoin on the market and delivers it to the trust, can move prices. In-kind creations simply transfer existing coins from one owner to the trust, which is price-neutral in the immediate term but still grows the fund’s footprint.

Other ETF issuers are exploring similar in-kind conversion options, but BlackRock’s distribution network gives it a structural advantage. The firm manages over $10 trillion in total assets across its platform, which means it already has relationships with the advisors, family offices, and institutions most likely to facilitate these conversions.

Tax strategy meets asset management When a Bitcoin holder sells their coins on an exchange, they realize a capital gain (or loss) at the moment of sale. The in-kind swap structure sidesteps this by treating the transaction as a like-kind exchange rather than a sale, deferring the tax liability into the future.

This isn’t a permanent tax avoidance strategy. The holder’s cost basis in the original Bitcoin carries over to the IBIT shares, so the tax bill comes due eventually, presumably when the shares are sold. But the ability to defer that event indefinitely, or until a more tax-efficient moment arises, is enormously valuable for wealth planning purposes.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

In brief Ripple struck a multi-year deal with the University of Florida to feature the XRP logo on the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, plus digital properties and signage, alongside a commitment to fund financial and technology education for student-athletes. It's Ripple's latest college-sports play, following a deal earlier this year to put the XRP logo on Kansas Jayhawks basketball jerseys. The branding push comes as XRP trades around $1.41—up 34.9% over 30 days but down 49.8% on the year. Ripple is taking its crypto-in-college-sports playbook to the Swamp, striking a multi-year marketing deal with the University of Florida that will splash the XRP logo across the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium starting this football season.

Florida Athletics announced the deal Friday, saying the XRP branding will appear on the field as well as on digital properties and event signage in Gainesville.

Myriad: Where does XRP price go next? Click to make your prediction.Beyond the marketing, Ripple committed to supporting financial and technology education for Florida student-athletes and the broader campus community, spanning both traditional finance and digital assets. Terms weren't disclosed.

"Florida has a long history of embracing innovation and technology to enhance the experience of our fans and advance our programs," University of Florida Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin said in a statement. "Ripple has established itself as an innovative leader in financial technology, and we're excited to welcome XRP to Gator Nation."

The Gators deal marks Ripple's latest push into college athletics. The company previously struck a multi-year agreement earlier this year to place the XRP logo on the University of Kansas Jayhawks' basketball jerseys, an unusual foray for a crypto brand into the marketing real estate of major college programs.

The branding blitz comes as XRP's price has held steady without much fireworks. The token traded around $1.41 on Friday, up 0.6% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, leaving it up about 34.9% over the past 30 days but still down roughly 49.8% over the past year.

Spot XRP ETF demand, a recent tailwind, has cooled: flows were essentially flat on Sept. 4, and as Decrypt reported, the funds recently ended an inflow streak. Decrypt's XRP ETF tracker now reads XRP sentiment as "neutral," though cumulative net inflows still stand at about $1.6 billion.

The sponsorships arrive as Ripple leans into mainstream visibility, having spent years building out its payments, custody, and treasury business and recently rolling out its RLUSD stablecoin.

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The escalating conflict on X between the affected team and former Ripple developers shows that the recent large-scale wallet drain did not come as a surprise to experts.

On Sept. 3, 2026, an incident involving the mobile wallets of XRP Healthcare, formerly known as XRPayNet, occurred within the XRPL ecosystem. In just three hours, the attackers drained the balances of thousands of users, stealing approximately 267,000 XRP and millions of related tokens, which were quickly transferred to the Ethereum network.

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Forensic analysis uncovered a critical bug: users' private seed phrases were sent to a server when staking features were activated. 

Against this backdrop, developer BiasGoose stated that the incident was "not news to me," as he had previously rejected grant applications from the team.

While developers search for the stolen coins, former Ripple devs look back at the project's past sinsAs it turned out, former Ripple employees had blacklisted the project long ago. According to BiasGoose, the Uganda-linked medical initiative had shown signs of fraud from the outset. Its creators had been caught "blatantly lying about partnerships in their application" to secure funding and generate artificial hype. 

The developer stressed that the product did not need its own token at all: "whatever it was didn't need a token."

Security experts Hazard Cookie, formerly of Ripple, and Matt Hamilton confirmed that auditors had been documenting the project's architectural risks for years. The community also remembers the team as scammers who were "kicked to the curb as known scammers" during previous market cycles between 2022 and 2024.

Yup was all red flags when I spoke to them before as XRPayNet.

— Matt Hamilton (@HammerToe) September 6, 2026 In response to the criticism, the project team released an official statement confirming the hack. Platform representatives said developers were already conducting an urgent investigation, fully tracing the transactions on the blockchain and coordinating with relevant authorities to freeze and recover the assets.

XRP Healthcare's public response to criticism regarding their wallet security incident. Source: XRP Healthcare via X.comAt the same time, they accused the former Ripple developers of unethical behavior, saying that they had put their own names and money at stake while their opponents merely mocked the risks taken by others. According to the affected team, publicly celebrating the misfortune of colleagues is "genuinely pathetic," and they had expected "far more character" from industry veterans.

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At press time, the discussion on X had stalled after a harsh response from BiasGoose, who shot back that, unlike the creators of the hacked application, he "never took risks with other people's money, my guy."

While the project team attempts to trace the stolen funds and former Ripple employees point to years-old audits, the crypto community is left to assess the arguments from both sides: was this a tragic developer error or the predictable outcome of a project whose red flags had been ignored for years?

TLDR: Bitmine added 53,501 ETH through Aug. 30, lifting its disclosed Ethereum treasury to 5.9 million tokens. More than 5.06 million ETH are staked at a 2.67% annualized yield, creating a powerful rewards engine. A modeled year of staking could generate about 135,000 ETH, nearly matching Bitmine’s remaining gap. An additional 51,000 ETH purchase would cut the shortfall to about 83,000 tokens under Bitmine’s benchmark. Bitmine is still expanding its Ethereum treasury even as staking rewards move the company closer to its stated goal of owning 5% of the ETH supply. The Nasdaq-listed treasury company bought 53,501 ETH in the week through Aug. 30, raising its officially disclosed holdings to 5.9 million tokens. 

Of that total, Bitmine had already staked 5,067,309 ETH at an annualized seven-day yield of 2.67%. Meanwhile, on-chain data indicates that the company may have resumed buying almost immediately after the reported period ended. The staking base itself now produces a material stream of new ETH under the disclosed yield, changing the arithmetic behind the target.

Bitmine Adds 53,501 ETH as Staking Base Expands On Sept. 1, blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain said wallets linked to Bitmine appeared to acquire another 51,000 ETH from FalconX and BitGo. The transaction carried an estimated value of about $126 million.

Bitmine had not formally confirmed that acquisition in its latest corporate disclosure. Therefore, the transfer remains separate from the company’s official 5.9 million ETH balance. If the attribution proves correct, and the transfer represents an incremental purchase, Bitmine would hold roughly 5.95 million ETH.

That would move it considerably closer to the 5% ownership target. Using Bitmine’s own benchmark of 120.7 million ETH in circulation, a 5% position would require about 6.035 million tokens. Against its disclosed holdings, the company remains about 134,000 ETH short of that threshold.

Bitmine’s large staking position could reduce that shortfall without requiring an equal amount of direct buying. The company had 5,067,309 ETH staked as of Aug. 30. If that balance and the disclosed 2.67% yield remained constant, the stake would generate roughly 135,000 ETH over a modeled year. 

That amount nearly matches the gap between Bitmine’s official holdings and its stated ownership target. Under flat-supply and fixed-yield assumptions, the company would need to retain nearly 99% of one year’s modeled rewards.

If the additional 51,000 ETH acquisition is confirmed, the remaining gap would fall to about 83,000 tokens. Under the same assumptions, roughly 61% of the modeled annual staking rewards would cover that difference.

Tom Lee Links Regulation With Crypto Adoption Outlook Bitmine chairman and Fundstrat managing partner Tom Lee has also tied the next phase of crypto adoption to U.S. regulation. During Monday’s Global Money Talk, Lee said the CLARITY Act could “open up the floodgates” for institutional adoption.

He said the current U.S. framework remains fragmented across states and argued that one federal agency should oversee the market. Lee pointed to Japan and Russia as countries that have moved toward broader national frameworks.

He also cited Ethereum’s sharp outperformance against memory stocks as evidence that investors have started positioning for another phase of crypto adoption. Russia, meanwhile, approved its first comprehensive digital asset legislation, allowing exchanges, depositories, and other providers to operate from Sept. 1.

It also caps annual retail purchases at about $3,800 through a licensed intermediary and gives digital-asset holders judicial protection. At the time of writing, Ethereum trades at $2,490.35, up 0.57% over 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.

Its market capitalization stands at $303.88 billion, while daily volume has risen 39.68% to $10.32 billion. The volume-to-market-cap ratio stands at 3.39%. CoinMarketCap’s chart shows ETH rose above $2,520 before retreating toward $2,490, while prices briefly fell near $2,478.

Ethereum’s circulating and total supply currently stand at 122.02 million ETH, with no fixed maximum supply.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM +2.85%) is already worth about $2.2 trillion, with shares of the chip foundry trading at about $427 as of this writing.

My prediction: The company's market value passes the $3 trillion mark before 2029. To be specific, that means sometime before the end of 2028, about two years and four months away.

That may sound like a bold call. The stock would need to reach about $580 per share, about 21% above its 52-week high of $479.

But the yearly return the milestone requires is more ordinary than it sounds. And it's a fraction of the pace TSMC's business is growing at today.

Image source: TSMC.

TSMC needs about 14% a year to get thereGoing from about $2.2 trillion to $3 trillion is a gain of about 35%. Spread over that stretch, it works out to about 14% compounded annually.

For a business growing the way TSMC is right now, that isn't a high bar.

I'm not assuming investors pay more for each dollar of TSMC's earnings than they do today, either. If the stock's price-to-earnings multiple simply holds steady, the share price should track earnings growth over time. In other words, earnings compounding at about 14% a year through 2028 could arguably get the company there on its own.

A 40% yearHighlighting how far ahead of that bar the business is running, TSMC's second-quarter revenue rose 36% year over year to NT$1.27 trillion ($40.2 billion in U.S. dollars), while net income surged 77%. Gross margin was 67.7%, a big step up from 58.6% a year before. And the momentum has carried into the second half of the year. July revenue rose about 45% year over year, putting revenue through the first seven months of 2026 up 37%.

Management expects more of the same. Guidance calls for third-quarter revenue of $44.6 billion to $45.8 billion. Against the year-ago quarter's $33.1 billion, the midpoint represents about 37% growth -- an acceleration from the second quarter's pace in dollar terms.

In July, management also raised its full-year outlook to revenue growth slightly above 40% in U.S. dollar terms.

"Moving into third quarter 2026, we expect our business to be supported by continued strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies, including the steep ramp-up of our 2-nanometer technology," said Wendell Huang, TSMC's chief financial officer, in the company's second-quarter earnings release.

The company is spending like it expects the demand to last, too. Management now plans $60 billion to $64 billion of capital spending in 2026, up from its earlier budget, and it announced an additional $100 billion investment in Arizona to build several more leading-edge chip fabs and advanced packaging plants.

What could go wrong?The main risk is concentration.

High-performance computing accounted for 66% of TSMC's revenue in the second quarter, tying the company's growth closely to the artificial intelligence (AI) build-out. If the biggest spenders on AI infrastructure pull back, growth could slow quickly.

Of course, margins could give back some ground, too. Gross margin guidance of 65% to 67% for the third quarter sits below the 67.7% the company just posted. If profitability drifts lower from here, earnings could grow more slowly than revenue does -- and it's earnings growth, not revenue growth, that has to average about 14%.

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But the prediction can absorb a lot of deceleration. Say revenue growth halves to 20% in 2027, then halves again to 10% in 2028.

Even that path compounds at about 15% a year over those two years, still above the requirement, assuming profit margins hold near current guidance and the price-to-earnings multiple stays put. And it leaves out the rest of 2026, when growth is running at about three times that pace.

The scenario I take more seriously, however, is a market that changes its mind. If investors sour on AI infrastructure spending, they could pay less for each dollar of TSMC's earnings even while those earnings keep growing. A compressing price-to-earnings multiple would likely raise the bar on the business -- possibly well past 14% a year.

Ultimately, though, a business guiding for revenue growth slightly above 40% this year clears a 14% hurdle with plenty of room to spare, even if growth fades hard through 2027 and 2028. I expect Taiwan Semiconductor's market value to top $3 trillion before the end of 2028.

Zcash (ZEC) has inflicted heavy losses on bearish traders following another leg higher. 

Roughly $54.3 million worth of leveraged ZEC positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, according to derivatives data provided by CoinGlass. 

Shorts accounted for an overwhelming $48.91 million of the total, compared with just $5.39 million in long liquidations.

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This means roughly 90% of all ZEC liquidations came from traders betting on the price falling.

ZEC recently traded around $1,220, up roughly 19% over 24 hours, with its market capitalization climbing above $20 billion. 

Zcash is now the ninth-biggest cryptocurrency in the world, CoinGecko data shows. 

ZEC has gained more than 130% over the past month and more than 2,700% over the past year.

Shorts getting crushed across the board Binance accounted for the largest portion of the liquidation wave. Approximately $20.69 million in ZEC positions were wiped out. Around $17.5 million of those were shorts.

Hyperliquid followed with $14.09 million in liquidations, almost all of which came from short positions.

The ETF tailwind Zcash is having strong momentum due to the ETF tailwind. 

Grayscale launched its Zcash ETF, trading under the ZCSH ticker on NYSE Arca, on Aug. 25 after converting its existing Zcash Trust.

The product became the first U.S.-listed ETF offering direct exposure to ZEC.

By Sept. 4, the fund had already attracted at least $34.4 million in net inflows.

Its assets subsequently climbed above $400 million as ZEC's price continued to appreciate.

The ETF gives investors access to Zcash through traditional brokerage accounts without requiring them to directly hold the cryptocurrency. This boosts demand for an asset with a relatively constrained circulating supply.

Solana has announced that the ARB token is now available to trade on its network through Sunrise, expanding the options for ARB holders and traders. The move has drawn renewed attention to how trading fees and execution quality are compared across blockchains, especially amid ongoing disagreement between key industry figures.

Sunrise ARB listing sparks debate over fees and executionThe ARB token, which is native to the Arbitrum blockchain, can now be accessed and traded directly on Solana’s network via the third-party application Sunrise. Solana is promoting this listing by highlighting what it describes as tighter spreads and significantly lower fees for ARB trades compared to Arbitrum. These claims have intensified competition and discussion about transaction costs between rival blockchains.

Steven Goldfeder, CEO of Offchain Labs, which is the technology company behind Arbitrum, has responded to these comparisons by cautioning against drawing conclusions solely from outward fee structures. Goldfeder stressed that calculating true transaction costs should include protections against harmful trading behaviors such as frontrunning and various forms of maximal extractable value (MEV).

Goldfeder emphasized that comparing on-chain trading costs is not straightforward, as factors like protection against hidden execution costs and malicious trading practices can have a significant impact on users, beyond just network and liquidity provider fees.

Anatoly Yakovenko, cofounder of Solana, countered Goldfeder’s position by asserting that Arbitrum generally faces “worse spreads and higher fees” compared to Solana routes. Yakovenko cited figures suggesting a roughly tenfold difference in costs, though he clarified that these numbers represent his own assessment and not a guarantee for every ARB transaction on either network.

Trading costs on decentralized exchanges often include not just the base network fee, but also liquidity provider charges and price slippage. Solana documentation notes both base transaction fees and optional priority fees, which together contribute to the total spent by ARB traders. The absence of a standardized fee schedule makes it important for users to compare actual order execution results across platforms.

Founded in 2020, Solana is a high-speed, proof-of-stake blockchain claiming to offer fast settlement and low fees. Sunrise is an application that facilitates cross-chain asset listings and enables users to interact with tokens from multiple ecosystems within one interface.

Mini dictionary: Maximal extractable value (MEV) refers to the extra profit that can be made by miners or validators when they reorder or include certain transactions within a block, often at the expense of regular users by capturing arbitrage or frontrunning opportunities.

SOL price, volume jump as technical levels take focusThe news of ARB’s arrival via Sunrise comes as SOL, Solana’s native token, trades at $106.02, reflecting a 2.5% increase over a 24-hour period. SOL’s trading volume rose 63.8% in the same timeframe to $3.49 billion, though there is no direct evidence that the ARB listing was the catalyst for these changes in price and volume.

Recent technical analysis places immediate support level for SOL near $105, while overhead resistance has been identified at $107.37. Upside from $106.02 to the resistance would represent just over 1%. However, if the price falls below $104.94, the short-term recovery outlook could weaken.

Solana continues to see heightened activity, but interpreting a surge in trading volume requires caution, as increased turnover may signal greater trading but does not confirm new liquidity entering the $SOL market.

The $3.49 billion figure references SOL token trading activity, not necessarily total turnover for the Solana blockchain or the ARB token specifically. Higher trading volume reflects more frequent buying and selling but does not always indicate net capital inflows.

With immediate support and resistance levels tightly grouped, traders are watching closely for a potential breakout or further decline. Market participants are also waiting to see if ARB trading on Solana will attract sustained interest or impact long-term liquidity for either asset.

LevelValueCurrent SOL price$106.02Support$105.00Resistance$107.37Trading Volume (24h)$3.49 billionKey price risk level$104.94Overall, industry figures remain divided on the best way to measure trading costs, with Solana and Arbitrum advocates each defending their network’s approach. The debate has highlighted the complexity of comparing user experience and cost efficiency across blockchains as multi-chain asset access expands.

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

There is no dedicated spot ETF for Shiba Inu in the United States yet, but while it waits for this milestone, it expands its footprint through a European exchange-traded product, regulated access in Japan, and newly available futures exposure in Canada.

Mazrael, a longstanding Shiba Inu community member, noted this fact in response to a question about the current status of a Shiba Inu ETF.

Good question. Where SHIB actually stands:

🇺🇸 US T. Rowe Price's TKNZ (NYSE Arca) was SEC-approved June 2026. Actively managed basket, 5–15 assets. SHIB is one of 18 named eligible assets in the July prospectus.

🇪🇺 Europe Valour SHIB ETP is live and tradeable: ticker 1VBS, ISIN…

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— Mazrael.shib (@Mazrael_shib) September 5, 2026 Mazrael said that while SHIB doesn't have an ETF yet, it is "well on track." He cited various developments as evidence that Shiba Inu is on the right road despite the lack of a dedicated ETF.

Shiba Inu well on trackMazrael highlighted that Shiba Inu was among eligible assets named in the prospectus of T. Rowe Price's TKNZ, which the SEC approved in June 2026. According to T. Rowe Price's S-1 filing, the ETF could hold several cryptocurrencies but will not hold all of these assets at once. Under normal circumstances, the ETF plans to maintain between five and fifteen crypto assets at a time, using an active management strategy rather than tracking a single token or passively following a benchmark.

The T. Rowe Price ETF launched with eight coins excluding SHIB: Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, XRP, Chainlink, Dogecoin, and Cardano.

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In a separate development, Laser Digital Japan, the Japanese entity of Nomura's digital assets subsidiary, Laser Digital, announced in August that it had completed its registration and was authorized to operate as a crypto asset exchange service provider under Japan's Payment Services Act. The development could boost Shiba Inu's status in Japan, as it is among the six crypto assets listed by the exchange.

In Europe, Valour SHIB ETP has launched and is tradable. In another development, Coinbase introduced regulated crypto futures trading to eligible Canadian clients through its CFTC-registered futures arm. The offering includes 23 crypto futures contracts; among them is Shiba Inu (SHIB).

Mazrael sums up these developments, saying, "One live ETP in Europe, one approved US ETF that can hold it, regulated spot access in Japan. Doge got its dedicated spot ETFs first. SHIB's route in was the commodity classification. Oh, and futures that just opened in Canada. No ETF yet. But well on track."

A hot Nonfarm Payrolls report saw traders reprice the potential for a September Fed hike, making this week’s CPI and PPI figures all the more important. Fed funds futures are now back above a 60% probability of a 25bp hike in two weeks, after 162k jobs were added compared with the 53k expected.

We also have a 30-year Treasury auction which may garner more attention than usual, given the bouts of market volatility whenever its yield pushes above 5.3%. The last time it did, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled the size of long-end Treasury buybacks to provide greater liquidity support. The auction will therefore test whether investors are comfortable absorbing long-duration debt around current yields, or whether they demand an even higher premium.

Despite the renewed Fed risk, AUD/USD remains above 72c and within reach of its May high. That leaves US inflation, Treasury yields and broader risk appetite as the main near-term drivers for the Australian dollar.

View related analysis:

AU GDP Unlikely to Derail RBA Hike, AUD/USD Eyes ISM, NFP
Australian Dollar Outlook: AUD/USD Faces RBA-Fed Rate Tug-of-War
Australian Dollar Price Action Setups: EUR/NZD, GBP/AUD, EUR/AUD
FX Futures Positioning: Dollar Rebound Meets Diverging Forex Bets | COT Report

Australia This Week: Economic Data and Events for AUD/USD Traders

Australia’s slowing GDP seems unlikely to derail bets of another RBA hike, with cash rate futures having fully priced in a 25bp move by November. The 1-year OIS has fully priced in two. So attention will shift to comments from RBA’s Hunter and Hausser on Tuesday to see if any policy clues are dropped. My guess is that they’ll retain a slightly hawkish tone without committing to much more.

Consumer and business confidence seems likely to show evidence of RBA-hike concerns. Beyond that, it seems appetite for risk and the US dollar’s direction via CPI and bond auction results could be the key driver for the Australian dollar this week.

AUD/USD Technical Analysis: Australian Dollar vs US Dollar
AUD/USD Correlation Analysis
US dollar sensitivity has snapped back: AUD/USD’s correlation with USDX is -0.92 over 10 days and -0.94 over three days, making USD direction the dominant near-term driver.
The yuan remains the most consistent positive relationship: CNH/USD correlations sit at 0.75–0.84 across 3, 10 and 20-day windows, reinforcing China/yuan sentiment as an important AUD/USD input.
Risk and commodity correlations have surged very recently: three-day correlations with the S&P 500 (0.99), gold (0.95), WTI (0.94) and copper (0.87) suggest AUD/USD is currently trading with a strong risk-on/commodity beta.
Short-term relationships remain fluid: several 20-day correlations are weak despite much stronger 3- and 10-day readings, so traders should favour the relationships currently strengthening rather than rely on longer-term averages.

Source: LSEG

AUD/USD Futures Positioning: COT Report
It is more of the same story where futures exposure is concerned for the Aussie. Traders have continued to increase their longs and shorts at a gradual pace, effectively keeping net-short exposure near similar levels to the week prior, albeit a touch less bearish.

This suggests traders continued to hedge their bets despite AUD/USD climbing above 72c to a 16-week high. The more reliable signal is therefore price action and rising total open interest, which now sits at a record high. This shows us that demand for Australian dollar exposure from all participants combined is rising alongside AUD/USD prices.

Source: CFTC (COT) CME, LSEG

 
For traders wanting a deeper understanding of futures positioning, I’ve also published a guide on how to read and interpret weekly COT data in forex markets.  

AUD/USD Options and Volatility Analysis (Risk Reversals, HVN Levels)
Implied volatility has continued to trend lower while prices have moved higher in recent weeks, while 1-month IV remains above 1-week IV to show a calm confidence in the bullish trend. A small bullish engulfing week also formed, although with the May high nearby, the rally may be maturing to the point that it needs a pause or pullback. The daily chart shows AUD/USD held up well to the strength of NFP on Friday by closing flat, although it formed a doji which shows some hesitation from bulls to push higher immediately.

The AU-US 2-year spread edged lower, though not at an alarming rate. Risk reversals also curled slightly higher last week to show a modest pickup in call demand relative to puts, so options traders are not panicking about a deep pullback.

Overall, AUD/USD still has the potential to rise towards the May high and eventually break above it. How US data lands this week could simply determine whether we see an initial pullback or a direct move towards it first.

Alt: AUD/USD rises as implied volatility falls, with risk reversals and the AU-US 2-year spread supporting a constructive Australian dollar outlook.

Source: ICE, TradingView

Australian Dollar Performance
Australian dollar performance table shows AUD gains across most major crosses, while AUD/JPY underperforms over five and 10 days.

Source: LSEG

"Magnificent Seven" stocks like Microsoft and Amazon may still trade at or near all-time highs, but you may want to diversify your megacap positions. The "Mag Seven" may have surged thanks to the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but their future success hinges heavily on AI spending.

There's nothing wrong with being bullish on the AI megatrend, but consider spreading your wagers elsewhere, to other high-growth opportunities. Take, for instance, another trend that isn't slowing down: the digitalization of payments. With this trend, one stock in particular fits the bill: Mastercard (MA -1.11%).

Image source: Getty Images.

Portrait of a payments tollbooth Mastercard may be synonymous with credit cards, but neither Mastercard nor its competitor Visa (V -0.97%) issues payment cards. Banks issue the cards but use the companies' respective payment networks to operate them.

In other words, payment stocks like Mastercard don't carry consumer credit risk like bank stocks. Think of Mastercard and similar names as the midstream names among financial stocks: middlemen that collect a small fee on every card swipe or digital payment transaction processed through their networks.

Given the steadiness of this revenue stream and the fact that payment companies like this one built out their networks long ago, a considerable amount of this revenue flows straight to the bottom line. Take, for instance, Mastercard's fiscal results during the quarter ending June 30, 2026.

For the quarter, Mastercard reported $4.4 billion in net income, on $9.3 billion in net revenue. That's a net margin of over 47%. Better yet, alongside strong revenue streams, low capital intensity, and high margins, Mastercard has yet another feather in its cap: the prospect of further double-digit revenue and earnings growth in the years ahead.

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Mastercard's growth edge So I'm sure you're thinking: Why Mastercard over Visa? Why not both? Both valid questions. With both stocks trading at around 25 times forward earnings, competing in the same industry, and sporting similar forward dividend yields, I agree it seems odd to choose one over the other. That said, in terms of growth, many signs point to Mastercard having the edge.

Last quarter, when Mastercard reported 14% and 22% revenue and earnings per share (EPS) growth, respectively, Visa reported similar revenue growth, but EPS growth of just 10%. Even as Visa reported slightly stronger numbers on metrics such as cross-border volume growth and total payment volume growth, the long-term earnings growth forecast favors Mastercard.

While analyst forecasts call for Mastercard's EPS to grow 52% between 2026 and 2029, similar forecasts for Visa call for 46.2% EPS growth. That said, much as there's risk and uncertainty to the AI hyperscaler bull case, the digitalization-of-payments trend does not guarantee smooth sailing ahead for either.

Trading at a high earnings multiple, shares could experience a sharp pullback if future growth fails to meet or beat expectations. Events like a global economic slowdown could serve as a headwind. Visa shares also entail similar strengths and risks, but with growth potential serving as a tiebreaker, consider Mastercard the stronger long-term buy today.

It has been a tough year for NuScale Power (SMR -0.51%). Shares have fallen nearly 40% since 2026. One Wall Street analyst remains unfazed.

In early August, Rinny Singh, an analyst at Bank of America, reiterated her buy rating on SMR stock, setting a share price target of $12, implying roughly 24% upside over the next 12 months.

Why does Singh remain so bullish despite recent share price weakness? Her bull thesis comes down to one key catalyst -- a catalyst that may soon receive some much-needed momentum.

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Here's why Rinny Singh remains bullish on NuScale Power stock Singh's bull thesis on NuScale stock largely comes down to one critical factor: Can NuScale convert its customer pipeline into revenue-generating projects? The biggest mover from this perspective is the company's 6-gigawatt (GW) project with its financing partner, ENTRA1, and utility provider, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Right now, NuScale remains the only company in the U.S. with regulatory permission to build a small modular reactor, or SMR. If built, the company's TVA project would be the biggest SMR facility in the world by a large margin.

Here's the catch: TVA still hasn't made any firm financial commitments to the project. The deal will be non-binding until a power-purchase agreement (PPA) is signed, locking the utility into buying power from the future NuScale facility.

In a note to clients earlier this year, Singh conceded that "converting agreements to firm deals has been slower than anticipated." Singh also expressed concern about NuScale's financial position, citing increased cash burn and near-term funding risk.

Image source: Getty Images.

Since that note was published, however, NuScale has significantly improved its capital position. As of last quarter, the company has around $1.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents. This resolves most of Singh's funding concerns, though at the price of shareholder dilution.

A vastly improved balance sheet now let's NuScale focus on executing Singh's most valuable catalyst: converting the non-biding TVA deal into a firm, revenue-generating project. That catalyst would be realized with the signing of a PPA. According to NuScale's management team, a PPA could be in place by the end of 2026.

Last quarter, NuScale's CEO specifically called out "continued advancement on the ENTRA1 and TVA power purchase agreement discussions." NuScale's CFO added that the nuclear company is "hopeful that TVA can come across the line at some point later this year."

If NuScale can secure a PPA for this project, Singh's bull thesis may ultimately look conservative. A PPA not only would provide serious social validation for NuScale's technology and go-to market strategy, but it would also clear up many financing concerns. ENTRA1, NuScale's financing partner, was approved for $25 billion in government funding last year to build large-scale energy projects. Not all of that funding will go to NuScale. But if the TVA deal reaches firm financial commitments this year, expect the market to assign more value to NuScale's future customer pipeline.

Importantly, Singh is not alone in her bullishness. The Wall Street consensus price target for NuScale stock is also around $12 per share. The investment thesis, however, will largely hinge on getting a PPA signed for the 6-gigawatt SMR project with TVA.

Huawei's best AI chip cannot keep pace with Nvidia hardware that is already three generations old, and the gap is widening faster than most investors realize.

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For retirement investors seeking the cleanest way to own the AI infrastructure buildout, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) at $230.36 warrants a hard look, because the company is selling a product no rival can match at a price the market has not caught up to. China’s best domestic AI chip, Huawei’s Ascend 910C, tops out at roughly 780 teraflops (TFLOPS) of FP16 performance, less than half of the ~1,700 TFLOPS delivered by NVIDIA’s H200, a chip unveiled nearly three years ago. While competitors chase that old benchmark, NVIDIA has moved through Blackwell, Blackwell Ultra, and into full production on Vera Rubin, whose single GPU delivers 4,000 TFLOPS of FP16 compute. That is the definition of a widening moat.

Growth That Justifies the Multiple Q2 FY27 revenue reached $96.22 billion, up 105.85% year over year, with Data Center revenue of $89.02 billion (+117%). Management guided Q3 to $108.0 billion ±2% at a ~74% gross margin. At a trailing P/E of 46, NVDA trades cheaper than either of its listed rivals despite generating a 55.60% net margin and 101.5% return on equity. That is a rare combination at this scale, and the same data-center buildout driving these numbers is powered by a broader supplier ecosystem (we profiled seven of those non-chipmaker AI infrastructure names in a free report here: 7 Stocks Powering the AI Boom).

Head to Head: NVIDIA Outclasses AMD and Intel Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is the closest US-listed AI accelerator peer, and the head-to-head favors NVIDIA on every meaningful line. AMD trades at a P/E of 180, roughly four times NVDA’s multiple, with a Q2 2026 non-GAAP gross margin of 56% versus NVIDIA’s 75%, and Data Center revenue of only $6.72 billion. NVIDIA’s Data Center segment alone is more than thirteen times larger. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) sits well behind: it posted a Q2 FY26 GAAP net loss of -$11.033 billion and carries a negative earnings yield. Intel’s own DGX Rubin servers use NVIDIA silicon at the center of the rack.

Capital Returns Sweeten the Case NVIDIA returned approximately $26 billion to shareholders in Q2 alone and still has ~$99.0 billion left on its buyback authorization. Free cash flow hit $21.34 billion for the quarter, up 58.43%. The dividend is small at $0.25 per share, but per-share compounding through buybacks is doing the real work for long-duration holders.

China Risk, Dismissed The obvious pushback is China export controls. That worry is already priced out. Hopper shipments to China were less than 1% of total Data Center revenue in Q2, and the $108 billion Q3 guide explicitly assumes zero Data Center compute revenue from China. NVIDIA is printing record numbers without the market Washington fenced off. As Jensen Huang put it on the last call, “AI has reached its inflection point. It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable. Now, compute is revenue.”

For long-duration holders, Vera Rubin’s compounding is the story to watch from here.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

SummaryHeading into the Q2 print, I expected another full-year guide increase. Dell raised FY27 sales guidance by $25 billion. I did not expect anything close to that.ISG's operating margin jumped to 15.0% from 8.8% a year ago. I was expecting AI servers to keep dragging margins lower.The AI backlog jumped $43.7 billion sequentially to $95 billion.Traditional server sales increased 23% sequentially, and storage was up 12% QoQ. That said, AI server revenue grew just 2% (see the previous bullet point for the backlog).I upgrade to a buy. I think Q2 FY27 was a table-pounding moment for Dell to prove that Q1 FY27 (Dell was up 32% the day after that print) was not a one-off quarter. ekapol/iStock via Getty Images

Alright, I promise that this time, I won't start a Dell Technologies (DELL) article mentioning Trump's enthusiasm for their laptops/PCs.

I think the blowout FY27 guidance (revised upward by $25B) and the jump in backlog (up $43.7B sequentially) are taking the

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in DELL over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

I am not a registered investment adviser, broker, dealer, or tax professional. This article, including any comments or replies I post, reflects my personal opinions only and is provided for informational and educational purposes. Nothing I write is investment, legal, tax, or financial advice, or a personalized recommendation to buy, sell, hold, or short any security. My views may change without notice. Nothing I write is tailored to any reader’s objectives, financial situation, risk tolerance, or portfolio. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Readers should conduct their own research and consult a qualified professional before making investment decisions.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

After turning in another solid quarter, GitLab (GTLB +1.05%) is starting to prove the bear case wrong, and its stock is finally beginning to reflect that, with its shares climbing on its latest report.

The DevSecOps (development, security, and operations) company not only reported results that topped expectations and issued upbeat guidance, but its new annual recurring revenue (ARR) also grew at its fastest pace in several years. This is an indication that its core growth trajectory is reaccelerating.

Let's dig into the company's results and prospects to see why I think this growth stock remains a buy.

GitLab starts to flex its strength GitLab turned in some impressive underlying metrics in the third quarter, led by its new ARR surging 42% year over year, its second-highest rate in the past four years. Its calculated billings rate, meanwhile, jumped 24%, which was double the growth rate it saw last quarter, and it said its sales team delivered its largest gross bookings ever. Its first-order count more than doubled to 1,700, while first-order ARR rose 39%. Meanwhile, its dollar-based net retention remained strong at 117% over the past 12 months, showing the first sequential improvement since 2024.

Long pegged as a loser amid the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the company is starting to thrive in the current landscape. Management noted that AI is significantly lowering the bar for software development, which is helping drive demand for its platform and services. In addition, AI is giving GitLab more opportunities to monetize the growing amount of work occurring across the software life cycle.

The company recently introduced its Flex model, which lets customers commit to an annual dollar rate that it can shift between seats, consumption credits, and new capabilities. It expects this model to improve retention and drive growth, although it will have some revenue-recognition impact. It currently thinks that for every $50 million converted to Flex, it would lead to $5 million of revenue being recognized in future periods. Since its introduction six weeks ago, the company has already seen customers commit over $20 million to the program.

Turning to GitLab's results, overall revenue jumped 21% year over year to $286.3 million. That was well above the company's guidance for sales of $272 million to $274 million. Subscription revenue also increased by 21% year over year to $258.3 million, while license revenue rose by 20% to $27.9 million.

The company continues to see strength with its largest customers. Deals of $500,000 or more grew by more than 150% in the quarter. Sales of its high-end Ultimate tier, meanwhile, jumped 35% and now accounts for 59% of its ARR. It also said it saw a rebound in the public sector, which had been struggling.

Management once again upped its full-year guidance and now expects full-year fiscal 2027 revenue of $1.129 billion to $1.133 billion, representing growth of 18% to 19%, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $0.85 to $0.87. That's up from a prior forecast for revenue of $1.112 billion to $1.118 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.79 to $0.82.

For the fiscal third quarter, it forecasts revenue to be between $281 million and $283 million, representing 15% to 16% growth. It guided for adjusted EPS between $0.19 and $0.20. The company said it has not adjusted its guidance yet for the potential impact Flex could have on growth.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The stock still looks like a buy While off its lows, GitLab's valuation remains attractive. The stock is trading at a forward price-to-sales multiple of under 6.5 based on analyst estimates for fiscal 2028 (ending January 2028), despite the company growing its revenue around 20% and having over 15% of its market cap in cash.

Most importantly, the underlying metrics point to a business that is about to reaccelerate. While Flex will cause some distortions, that should not impact how investors view the stock. As such, I still consider it a buy even after its rebound.

Japan just handed a foreign satellite company something no G20 nation has ever offered before, and the telecom giant most investors are obsessing over right now has nothing to do with it.

Every retirement account in America seems to want a piece of SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction), the freshly public Starlink parent now carrying a $2 trillion market cap after a 36.65% one-month rip. But here’s what you should actually be watching.

Crowded, Unprofitable, and Priced for Perfection SpaceX just posted $7.81B in Q2 2026 revenue and beat consensus by 14.59%, yet still reported an operating loss of $143M and a net loss of $541M. The Connectivity segment grew 66% year over year, but Starlink ARPU compressed from $85 to $66 even as subscribers doubled. That is classic late-cycle unit economics dressed up as growth.

Then there is the capital sinkhole. Capex hit $18.37B in a single quarter, with $15.83B directed at AI compute, and a $60B pending acquisition of Cursor is scheduled to close in Q3. One podcast host summed up the pivot bluntly, calling SpaceX “his AI holding company”. Retirement investors chasing a trillion-dollar rocket-and-GPU conglomerate through a post-IPO hype cycle are providing the exit liquidity.

The Sovereign Satellite Layer Nobody Is Pricing In The smarter play sits at roughly $18.68 billion in market cap: AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS). While Starlink chases consumer broadband and Musk chases compute, ASTS is quietly becoming the operating system for direct-to-device cellular from space. Three points make the case.

Japan Just Blessed a National BlueBird Constellation Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications preliminarily selected the Rakuten and AST joint venture for the J-LEO initiative, worth up to approximately $1 billion in non-dilutive, non-debt government capital. Separately, Japan filed an ITU application for a 136-satellite “J-BLUEBIRD-NGSO” architecture, with government subsidies covering as much as 50% of eligible costs and private matching pushing the program toward $2 billion. As President Scott Wisniewski put it, “I don’t know why a G20 country wouldn’t want this kind of capability given the price.” This is a template: governments finance and own AST-powered constellations while AST collects the platform economics.

BlueBird Constellation Is Actually Flying ASTS now has 13 BlueBird spacecraft in orbit with roughly 20,000 sq ft of aperture hardware deployed, launched six spacecraft in 50 days, and is producing approximately six fully assembled satellites per month. BlueBirds 14 through 16 are ready to ship, BlueBirds 17 through 46 are in production, and the target is roughly 45 satellites in orbit by early 2027. Block 2 satellites are engineered for peak data rates approaching 200 Mbps. Commercial service can begin with as little as 45 satellites.

Fortress Balance Sheet and a 3-Billion-Subscriber Rolodex Pro forma liquidity exceeds $3.70 billion following the July 2026 $1.150 billion convertible offering. Backlog sits at roughly $1.30 billion. Over 60 MNO partners cover 3+ billion subscribers, including Vodafone, Verizon, AT&T, Rakuten, and Deutsche Telekom, and $125 million in U.S. Government awards anchor a defense pipeline. Analysts carry an average target of $79.61 against a last close of $62.31.

What to Do Stop rubbernecking the SpaceX ticker and start doing the work on ASTS before Japan converts a preliminary award into a signed contract.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

TLDR: HYPE price holds near $85.45 after BHYP added $10.5 million in tokens, ending a four-day pause in purchases by Bitwise clients. Bitwise has accumulated $166.3 million in HYPE since BHYP launched, making the fund the largest HYPE ETF by reported size. Hyperliquid bought and burned 9,730 HYPE worth about $829,500 in one day, extending lifetime burns to 48.42 million tokens. The ETF purchase adds regulated spot demand, while fee-funded burns permanently shrink supply and leave $88.06 as nearby resistance. HYPE price traded near $85.45 as Bitwise clients resumed purchases through the BHYP fund. The product added $10.5 million in HYPE on Friday after recording no purchases for four consecutive days. Arkham data identifies the transaction as BHYP’s largest daily addition since a $23.2 million purchase on August 27.

Total acquisitions have now reached $166.3 million since launch, placing BHYP above rival HYPE products by size. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid bought and burned 9,730 HYPE worth about $829,500 within 24 hours. The two flows pair renewed regulated demand with a steady reduction in the token’s available supply during market strength.

Hyperliquid (HYPE) Price HYPE Price Finds Support From Bitwise ETF Accumulation BHYP’s renewed activity ends a brief pause that followed several weeks of institutional accumulation. Friday’s $10.5 million purchase represents about 123,000 HYPE at prices near $85.27. The estimate shows the scale of demand entering through one regulated product.

Bitwise launched the spot Hyperliquid ETF in May, offering investors indirect exposure to the Hyperliquid token. The fund also stakes a large portion of its holdings through Bitwise’s internal infrastructure. Staking can add token rewards, although the structure carries operational, liquidity and slashing risks.

Arkham’s figures place cumulative purchases at $166.3 million since launch. That total makes BHYP the largest HYPE ETF by reported size. It also signals that the four-day buying gap did not mark a clear end to client demand.

BITWISE IS BUYING HYPE AGAIN

Bitwise’s BHYP clients didn’t buy any HYPE for 4 days straight. On Friday they bought $10.5M, the biggest day for BHYP since buying $23.2M on August 27.

Bitwise has now bought $166.3M since launch, making it the LARGEST HYPE ETF. pic.twitter.com/l8J01rwinf

— Arkham (@arkham) September 5, 2026

The purchase came while HYPE price held near the upper end of its recent range. Market data placed HYPE price near $85.45, up about 1.5% over 24 hours. HYPE also traded roughly 3% below its $88.06 record, reached on September 3.

Friday’s session ranged from about $83.73 to $86.15. Buyers therefore absorbed weakness below $84 before lifting the token back above $85. Immediate resistance sits near $86.15, followed by the record zone between $87.66 and $88.06.

A sustained move above that area would establish fresh price discovery. Conversely, weakness below $83.70 could expose the September 2 area near $80.25. The ETF purchase offers measurable spot demand, but HYPE price direction still depends on broader trading flows.

Hyperliquid Burns $830,000 While Token Supply Contracts Onchain Lens data shows Hyperliquid acquired and burned 9,730 HYPE during the latest 24-hour period. The tokens carried an average purchase price of $85.27 and a combined value near $829,500. Network documentation states that the assistance fund permanently removes all HYPE from both circulating and total supply.

Lifetime burns have reached 48.42 million HYPE, based on the tracker. At the current HYPE price, those tokens would carry a market value near $4.14 billion. The removed amount equals about 4.84% of the original one-billion-token maximum supply.

HYPERLIQUID BURNS $830K HYPE IN 24 HOURS

Hyperliquid bought and burned 9.73K $HYPE (~$829.5K) over the past 24 hours at an $85.27 average price.

Lifetime:

· 48.42M $HYPE burned
· ~$4.14B at current value
· 4.84% of max supply permanently removed pic.twitter.com/SsqxWR2wRt

— Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) September 6, 2026

This mechanism links activity on Hyperliquid with recurring market purchases. Trading fees support assistance-fund buying, while each burn reduces the number of issued tokens. Higher platform activity can therefore increase the pace of purchases without creating a fixed schedule.

The latest daily burn is small beside the token’s circulating supply. Still, repeated removals can matter over longer market periods, particularly when ETF demand absorbs additional coins. Friday’s BHYP purchase was almost 13 times larger than the reported 24-hour burn in dollar terms.

The current setup shows two verifiable flows operating together. BHYP provides regulated accumulation, while Hyperliquid’s fee mechanism removes token supply permanently.

The latest burn alone does not automatically raise market valuation because demand, liquidity and broader risk appetite also shape trading. BHYP shares also differ from direct token ownership and carry product-specific fees and risks.

HYPE price now sits between nearby support and its recent record. A break above $88.06 would confirm that buyers have cleared the latest supply area. Holding above $83.70 would preserve the short-term rebound structure established after Friday’s intraday decline.

Hyperliquid [HYPE] is heading into a major supply event, with core contributors set to receive another large chunk of HYPE tokens.

According to the Tokenomist data, on the 6th of September, contributors released just 0.19%, worth $36.56 million, far below the intended 2.32% scheduled allocation.

This gap matters because Hyperliquid faces another 9.92 million HYPE release on the 6th of October, valued near $860 million, representing nearly 3.9–4.5% of the circulating supply.

Needless to say, this creates a substantial risk of dilution if contributors claim and sell heavily.

Source: Tokenomist Moreover, the price of these new tokens is significantly larger than the average daily spot volume. Essentially, this means heavy distributions could cause a tremendous decrease in market liquidity, ultimately putting downward pressure on the price.

However, the September scheduled supply may not reach markets immediately. Therefore, contributor wallet activity will help determine if the 6th of October token distribution causes true selling pressure or another small token distribution.

Bitwise adds $10.5M in HYPE demand While October introduces a potential supply increase, institutional demand is already building another side of HYPE’s liquidity equation. After four days without purchases, Bitwise’s BHYP clients bought $10.5 million in HYPE on on the 4th of September.

With each purchase averaging approximately $85 per token, this totals approximately 123,500 HYPE. Cumulative purchases by the BHYP investor base total $166.3 million.

As such, however, the $10.5 million spent on HYPE by BHYP investors on Friday equates to less than one percent of the 9.92 million tokens set to be unlocked as part of Hype’s October schedule.

Source: Arkham The difference here illustrates how BHYP cannot handle the headline unlock by itself should heavy contributions from participants occur. However, continued institutional demand will likely create softer incremental selling rather than eliminating it.

Furthermore, BHYP inflows would strengthen that buffer, while stalled purchases would leave market liquidity carrying more of the burden.

HYPE burns add another layer of demand The demand supporting HYPE extends beyond outside buyers. This is because Hyperliquid’s trading activity also creates continuous token purchases.

In the last 24 hours, $859,500 in fees generated $823,800 in HYPE-directed revenue as of writing. In turn, this funded purchases of 9,730 tokens.

Those tokens, worth $829,500, were bought near $85.27 before being permanently burned. This mechanism matters because every burn removes purchased HYPE rather than simply shifting tokens between holders.

Source: OnChain Lens According to OnChain Lens, lifetime removals of HYPE have reached 48.42 million HYPE. This accounts for only 4.84% of the 1 billion max HYPE token limit. Although current burns cannot match major unlocks anytime soon, they do continually lower the available pool of HYPE tokens over time.

Thus, increasing trade volume could provide a faster way for HYPE to continue growing internal demand by institutions.

Final Summary Hyperliquid [HYPE] faces a 9.92 million-token October unlock, with actual contributor claims determining the scale of supply pressure. Bitwise demand and Hyperliquid burns provide absorption but remain too small to offset heavy contributor distribution alone.

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

A major bundled fix amendment is scheduled to activate on the XRP Ledger mainnet in the next five days if validator support remains above the required threshold. According to XRPscan data, fixCleanup3_3_0 is scheduled for September 11 mainnet activation if it holds 80% support for a 14-day window.

XRP Ledger's amendment system uses a consensus process to approve changes that affect transaction processing. Fully functional transaction processing changes are introduced as amendments; validators then vote on these changes. If an amendment receives more than 80% support for two weeks, it passes, and the change applies permanently to all subsequent ledger versions.

The fixCleanup3_3_0 amendment was introduced in the XRPL software version release 3.3.0, launched in August, and is designed to strengthen several features across the network.

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fixCleanup3_3_0 quickly gained traction after it opened for voting on August 6, attaining a majority (that is, reaching 80% support) on August 28, following which the two-week activation timer began to tick, with five days now remaining.

XRP Ledger overhaul continuesThe fixCleanup3_3_0 amendment is a collection of fixes for Single Asset Vaults, the Lending Protocol, Automated Market Makers, the permissioned DEX, Checks, and pseudo-accounts, with 11 changes outlined.

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These include a fix to hybrid offers being removed from the open order book when the account that placed them loses access to the permissioned domain, and Automated Market Maker liquidity being included in quality estimates for permissioned DEX order books. The upgrade will also add further precision and rounding fixes for Single Asset Vaults and the Lending Protocol, which are currently in voting.

fixCleanup3_3_0 follows previous fix upgrades fixCleanup3_1_3 and fixCleanup3_2_0, which were activated on the XRPL mainnet in May and July, respectively. The fixCleanup3_1_3 amendment marked a collection of fixes for NFTs, Permissioned Domains, Vaults, and the Lending Protocol, while fixCleanup3_2_0 included fixes for Single Asset Vaults, the Lending Protocol, the permissioned DEX, Multi-Purpose Tokens, and permissioned domains.

The fixCleanup3_3_0 amendment gained 82.86% support, with 29 Yes votes out of 35, and is currently holding this threshold, with the potential for its activation in days.

XRP price traded near $1.42 on Sunday, gaining 0.71% as cryptocurrency markets steadied after a volatile week.

Bitcoin price hovered at around $79,973, and Ethereum was at $2,499 as the market awaits the FOMC meeting on September 15-16th.

Nevertheless, XRP remained vulnerable to Washington politics with another Senate postponement of the CLARITY Act.

The legislation could define regulatory roles for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

CLARITY Act Delay Extends Regulatory Uncertainty Senators postponed action before recess after lawmakers failed to settle several political and policy disagreements.

The Senate returns September 14, leaving lawmakers a narrow window before election campaigning further limits available floor time.

Any procedural cloture vote would require 60 senators, making bipartisan support essential for the bill to advance.

🇺🇸 CLARITY Act Could Be Delayed AGAIN

The U.S. House just canceled its final two September voting weeks, leaving lawmakers with only 4 days to get work done before the midterms.

That puts the CLARITY Act in a much tighter spot.
If the Senate changes the bill, the House may need… pic.twitter.com/Z2jWsKylR4

— Crypto Patel (@CryptoPatel) September 5, 2026

Disputes include ethics restrictions, stablecoin rewards, decentralized finance protections, and the balance between financial regulators.

The postponement does not formally defeat the measure, but it reduces time for negotiations and possible House reconciliation.

XRP held above $1.40 despite the setback, suggesting buyers still defend the token’s immediate support area.

Bitcoin’s ability to remain near $80,000 and Ethereum’s hold around $2,500 could also influence XRP’s next direction.

Traders will watch Senate scheduling updates closely, because further delays may keep regulatory uncertainty attached to XRP.

XRP ETFs Hold $1.48 Billion in Assets Despite Zero Daily Inflows On September 4, XRP spot exchange-traded funds had no daily net inflows, but cumulative inflows stood at $1.68 billion. Total net assets amounted to 1.69% of the overall market capitalization of XRP, totaling $1.48 billion. 

Source: Sosovalue data Trading activity totaled $36.21 million as every listed fund closed lower during the session. Franklin’s XRPZ posted the steepest decline at 4.94%, narrowly exceeding Bitwise’s XRP fund’s 4.86% loss. Bitwise continued to dominate the market in general, with a net asset of $507.47 million and reported cumulative inflows of 599.31 million.

Will XRP Price Hold $1.40 Support Before Its Next Rally? The XRP price traded at $1.41 after holding above the important $1.40 support level on the four-hour chart. 

The XRP price kept consolidating above $1.40, which indicates that buyers are still active within the immediate support of the market. The RSI was 54.92, with a balanced momentum and a slight bullish inclination.  

Source: TradingView The MACD line fell a little below its signal line, which indicated a lower short-term momentum. A four-hour close above $1.50 would prove the resurgence of demand and create an avenue to $1.60. The inability to hold $1.40 may lead to increased selling pressure and the lower support target of $1.30.