Wang Feng: Cryptographic Assets Such as Bitcoin and Ethereum Will Become Anchors for Fundraising by Funds and Institutions

UBS said that despite a stronger U.S. dollar and rising U.S. real rates weighing on gold prices, and short-term speculative funds cutting net long positions in gold futures and options, gold ETFs have continued to attract capital inflows recently, signaling that medium and long-term allocation demand remains intact. The bank projects gold prices could find support near $4,000 per ounce, and rise to $4,600 in December 2026, $5,000 in March 2027, $5,200 in June 2027, and hit $5,400 in September 2027. UBS attributes gold’s support to sustained global central bank gold purchases, robust demand from China, and potential physical gold demand spurred by India’s festival season. Additionally, investor concerns over public debt, fiscal risks, and the long-term outlook for the U.S. dollar may also enhance gold’s allocation appeal. That said, if the U.S. dollar and real yields continue to strengthen, gold prices could still see further short-term pullbacks. For its part, Credit Agricole forecasts gold prices will reach $5,000 per ounce in December 2026. Both institutions agree that central bank reserve diversification and market worries over the Federal Reserve’s policy being impacted by fiscal pressures could drive gold’s medium and long-term gains.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, U.S. pre-market trading on Monday saw mixed performance across the semiconductor, storage, and optical communications sectors. Semiconductor stocks: Lam Research (LRCX) fell 1.04%, Applied Materials (AMAT) fell 1.08%, Arm (ARM) fell 1.48%. Storage stocks: Micron Technology (MU) fell 2.12%, Western Digital (WDC) fell 1.44%, SanDisk (SNDK) fell 1.7%, Seagate Technology (STX) fell 1.11%. Optical communications concept stocks: Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) fell 2.11%, Coherent (COHR) fell 1.64%, Credo (CRDO) fell 1.23%, Lumentum (LITE) rose 0.07%, Nokia (NOK) rose 0.09%, Astera Labs (ALAB) fell 1.61%.

Insight Beating AI Flash News: Mitchell Hashimoto, creator of the Ghostty terminal, has added an Activity Mode (activity view) to his new Rex terminal, now available to beta testers. The feature centrally displays running or temporarily idle programs and Coding Agents in a sidebar, marking task status and other relevant details, allowing users to quickly find tasks to handle and switch directly to the corresponding terminal. It leverages the previously proposed OSC 7501 protocol, which enables programs to proactively report their status—whether working, waiting for user input, or completed. Rex also integrates other information and judgment rules to determine when to display which statuses, minimizing unnecessary notifications. Mitchell noted that his team has long disliked similar task notification panels due to excessive alerts, with some even being less user-friendly than email. Developer almonk spent weeks refining these details, aiming to build a feature his team would actually use long-term. Beta tester feedback has been positive so far, though adjustments are still ongoing.

According to official sources, Ontology announced that following the conclusion of its investigation into a security incident affecting its ecosystem projects, its mainnet has resumed block production and returned to normal operation. Ontology’s core network infrastructure remains secure, with no funds lost on the network. The earlier suspension of block production was a preventive measure jointly implemented by Ontology and its consensus nodes, designed to support the investigation and mitigate potential risks.

Beating AI Express: Investor Deedy Das shared the latest data from market research firm Sensor Tower. Meta’s personal AI agent Muse posted a 73.3% day-one retention rate, far outpacing ChatGPT’s 41.3% by a full 32 percentage points. However, Muse’s lead was short-lived. By day seven, its retention remained above 30%, before ChatGPT gradually caught up and overtook Muse between days eight and nine. On day 14, Muse’s retention dropped to 22.5%, while ChatGPT held at 26.8%. Still, Muse outperformed peers including Threads (21.2%), Google Maps (18.5%), and Grok Bot (10.4%) in the same period. Launched on September 8, Muse hit 5 million downloads in just 22 days per Sensor Tower estimates, making it one of the fastest-growing consumer AI apps recently. Meta heavily promoted Muse across its platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The retention data tracks new mobile app installs in September 2026, covering iOS and Android. It should be noted that Muse was primarily available in the U.S. and Canada at launch, while ChatGPT has a broader market reach, so their user bases are not identical.

QCP Capital released a note noting that one year has passed since the crypto market hit its largest single-day liquidation record on October 11 last year, and Bitcoin’s price trajectory now looks far more stable. The mass repeat selloff markets had feared never materialized, even as the U.S. government’s large Bitcoin transfers sparked market unease and reports over the weekend emerged of an implant attack on Ledger hardware. Bitcoin has repeatedly failed to break above $87,000 but remains range-bound, with support holding near $80,000. Implied volatility stays elevated, while the risk reversal indicator shows put option premiums relative to call options are lower than usual—signaling defensive market positions have shrunk, though the market is still pricing in potential price breakouts. Should Bitcoin decisively break above $87,000, focus will turn to $94,000. Historically, October has been a strong month for crypto markets, though last year was a clear exception, and option pricing suggests this seasonal trend may reemerge. This week brings several key catalysts: U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on Wednesday, Producer Price Index (PPI) on Thursday, and a speech by Fed’s Christopher Waller at the IMF-World Bank annual meetings on Friday. If he repeats the hawkish signals he delivered at the Jackson Hole symposium, it could weigh on risk assets. Currently, markets price in a ~17% chance of a Fed rate hike in October, with holding rates steady remaining the consensus, though this week’s data could test that outlook. The options market also shows clear bullish positioning: large bullish butterfly spreads expiring October 30 with strike prices of $90k, $95k, and $100k respectively are the most concentrated open interest positions among end-of-October contracts.