coverage endedJul 20, 2026, 9:00 PM
Equity markets await second-quarter earnings reports from key tech firms, which begin this week.
Bitcoin rises above $65,000 (CoinDesk)Iran jitters, rising interest rates take steam out of stock rally
Up more than 1% at its best levels on Monday, the Nasdaq steadily lost ground throughout the afternoon hours, closing roughly unchanged for the day.
The S&P 500 fell 0.15%, and the DJIA dropped 0.6%.
The rally began early in the morning as oil dipped by about $3 per barrel to below $80 on a report that Iran was seeking to renew ceasefire talks.
That report failed to have legs, though, with WTI crude rising back to about one-month highs of $82.50.
Alongside, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield gained five basis points to 4.59%, with short-term rate traders ratcheting up July Fed rate hike odds to 16% and September rate hike odds to 63%, according to CME FedWatch.
The risk selloff dented bitcoin’s tepid rally to a new one-month high of $65,700, the price falling back to $65,000 as stocks closed for the day.
Cantor reiterates $99 price target as IREN rockets 21% on new AI cloud contracts
While shares have come under major pressure in recent weeks, today’s announcement shows that IREN is continuing to make progress behind closed doors, said longtime bull Brett Knoblauch at Cantor.
The company, said Knoblauch, has access to significant amounts of power with the most compute available to sell in coming years. Its customer base is expanding as prices rise.
IREN is up by 21% on Monday to $40.70, but remains well off May highs closer to $70.
Read more: AI compute stocks bounce as Hut 8, IREN land billions in new contracts
Andrew Cuomo joins OKX board of directors
Crypto exchange OKX has appointed former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to its Board of Directors, formalizing a relationship that began in 2023 when he started advising the company on U.S. regulatory and institutional strategy.
The move comes as OKX expands its U.S. presence and broadens its focus beyond crypto trading into financial infrastructure. Cuomo co-chairs the recently announced OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) joint venture, which aims to connect traditional and digital financial markets through regulated blockchain infrastructure. Subject to regulatory approvals, the venture plans to support tokenized markets and expand institutional access to digital assets.
Securitize slides to fresh lows, bucking crypto stock gains
Securitize (SECZ), the tokenization firm backed by BlackRock (BLK), fell another 8% Monday to around $6.60, extending its post-listing slump to roughly 50% from its high following its late-June debut through a merger with a Cantor-backed SPAC.
There was no apparent company-specific catalyst behind the move, which comes even as most crypto-related stocks traded higher. The weakness fits a familiar pattern of newly listed crypto firms struggling to hold onto their early gains after going public.
The underperformance stood out against a broader advance across the publicly-traded digital asset firms. Circle (CRCL) climbed 9.5%, BitGo (BTGO) gained 7%, while Coinbase (COIN) and blockchain infrastructure firm Figure (FIGR) each advanced about 4%.
Bitcoin rises to one-month high of $65,400
A modest green candle in what’s otherwise very slow action on Monday has lifted bitcoin (BTC) to a one-month high of $65,400 just before the noon hour on the East Coast.
BTC is now up 1.4% over the past 24 hours, with ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), and solana (SOL) showing similar gains.
The Nasdaq is ahead 0.75% on Monday, while WTI crude oil is flat at $81.50 per barrel.
Crypto-related stocks showing gains include Galaxy Digital (GLXY), up 8%; Circle (CRCL), up 6%; Coinbase (COIN), up 1.5%; and Strategy (MSTR), up 3%.
Bitcoin has tested and failed at the $65,000 level on numerous occasions as it has tried to claw its way back from the June crash that took the price all the way down to $58,000.
SpaceX again cancels Starlink launch
“Standing down from today’s Starlink launch,” tweeted the company’s X account minutes ago. “Vehicle and payload remain safe.”
SPCX is lower by another 1% on Monday to $122.70, or roughly 9% below the $135 IPO price.
Strategy's STRC gains after company boosted cash reserves
The price of bitcoin (BTC) has given up early gains and turned lower for the day, but Strategy’s STRC (STRC) is higher by 2% in Monday morning trading to $87.
The company earlier today disclosed the sale of common stock last week, with proceeds to boost the cash reserve for paying dividends on the high-yielding (now 12%) preferred stock.
Strategy’s so-called USD Reserve now stands at $3.225 billion, or enough to pay 22 months of dividends on its outstanding preferred stock. Buyers of STRC today at $87 are getting an implied yield of nearly 14%.
The company continues to hold 843,775 bitcoin, valued at $54.3 billion at bitcoin’s current price just above $64,000.
Matt Cole's Strive added 21 bitcoin last week
Strive (ASST) bitcoin holdings now stand at 19,921 coins after the company reported the addition of 21 BTC last week.
The company sold 443,797 shares of common stock last week, raising somewhere in the area of $4.5 million. Cash reserves were boosted to $157.4 million from $154.1 million.
ASST is higher by 1.8% pre-market.
Tom Lee's Bitmine added small amount of ETH, bought back shares
BitMine Immersion (BMNR) reported the addition of just 7,430 ether tokens last week in what appears to be its smallest weekly purchase this year.
Led by Chairman Tom Lee, the company now holds 4.8% of the total supply of ETH.
Bitmine also repurchased 5.5 million of its struggling shares.
BMNR is higher by 1.8% pre-market alongside a small rise in the price of ETH over the weekend. The stock remains lower by about 50% year-to-date.
Strategy added $225 million to cash reserve last week
Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) sold $263.5 million in common stock last week, with $225 million of that boosting its cash reserve to $3.225 billion, according to a Monday morning filing.
The company continues to hold 843,775 bitcoin.
The company began building a cash reserve to soothe investor nerves about its ability to pay dividends on its high-yielding preferred stock, STRC. The current $3.225 billion is equal to 22 months of dividend coverage.
It’s the second consecutive week Strategy has purchased no bitcoin, instead using capital raising proceeds to add to cash holdings.
MSTR is up 1.1% pre-market alongside a small rise in the price of bitcoin over the weekend to $64,800.
Hut 8 and IREN up big on new data center deals
Hut 8 (HUT) has signed a second 15-year lease at its Beacon Point campus in Texas, doubling the existing tenant’s capacity to 704 MW. The contract value has also roughly doubled to $19.6 billion.
Shares are higher by 16.7% pre-market.
IREN (IREN) announced the signing of new cloud services contracts valued at $2.8 billion. The company lifted its year-end AI Cloud annualized ARR to over $4 billion from $3.7 billion.
Shares are up 9% pre-market.
Chip stocks catch a breather as Big Tech earnings loom
The rout that dragged chip stocks into a bear market paused Monday. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 0.4% and S&P 500 contracts added 0.2%, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF edging higher in U.S. premarket after last week's selloff. Alibaba rallied in Hong Kong after previewing its latest flagship AI model. Brent crude briefly topped $90 a barrel on the reignited Iran conflict.
The pause sets up a decisive week. Alphabet reports Tuesday, Tesla Wednesday and Intel Thursday, and traders will read the results for whether the AI spending boom that powered this year's rally is still climbing, or whether last week's volatility has further to run.
Oil slides, crypto and stock futures head higher on report of Iran proposal
Reuters is reporting that Iranian mediators are proposing a 10-day ceasefire to allow talks to revive the previous interim deal between the U.S. and Iran.
The news was enough to send WTI crude oil down about $3 per barrel to $80.
That has sent Nasdaq 100 futures higher by 1%, and the price of bitcoin also up about 1% to $64,900.
Smaller tokens surge over 10% as bitcoin stays above $64,000
Smaller coins are posting impressive gains even as bitcoin chops sideways around the $64,000 mark, extending a streak of listless trading since Wednesday.
In the past 24 hours, meme launchpad Pump.fun’s PUMP token has gained over 16% alongside a 12% gain in Pi Network’s PI token. Tokens such as JUP, ING, and BEAT have each gained 2% to 3%.
Meanwhile, Provenance Blockchain’s HASH token has slipped lower by nearly 10%. It’s the biggest loser among top 100 cryptocurrencies by market value. ZEC, NIGHT and LIT are down 3% to 5% each.
Bitcoin dips to $63,900 as markets weigh oil and lingering AI selloff
Bitcoin slipped to about $63,900 on Monday, down 1.3% on the day though still up 2% on the week, as crypto stayed caught between a war driving oil higher and the Chinese AI shock that hit chip stocks on Friday.
The board is red across the day. Ether eased 1.1% to $1,850, BNB fell 0.8% to $564, XRP slipped to $1.09 and dogecoin lost 1.4%. Hyperliquid's HYPE remained the weakest of the majors, down 8% on the week to $60.
Brent crude climbed to a one-month high above $91 a barrel as U.S.-Iran strikes widened, reviving the inflation worry that this month's soft U.S. price data had eased. Meanwhile, Asian chip stocks stayed under pressure from Friday's selloff, with South Korea's Kospi down 3.5%, though U.S. futures pointed higher.
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