QCP: Bitcoin May Consolidate Short-Term After Dropping Below $78,000

May 18 — Per HTX market data, Bitcoin hit $77,000 this morning, while Ethereum extended its losses. The ETH/BTC exchange rate has notched a new low for this bear market, now trading at 0.02752.

May 18 marked a pivotal legislative step for U.S. policymakers advancing the Clarity Act, which cleared a key 15-9 vote and locked in a bipartisan compromise on stablecoin yield rules. Bernstein analysts note this provision will structurally benefit Circle, further reinforcing its market position. The compromise text prohibits issuers from offering passive yields on stablecoin balances equivalent to interest on bank deposits, but explicitly allows incentives tied to actual usage—such as rewards for transactions, payments, and other real-world use cases. Notably, Circle does not directly provide passive yields to USDC holders itself; instead, it runs incentive programs through partners like Coinbase, using distribution arrangements and usage-based reward structures. In a Monday client report, Gautam Chhugani-led Bernstein team outlined that this legislative language safeguards "usage-based incentives" and the distribution framework supporting USDC growth, while curbing the prior mark

May 18th, Goldman Sachs’ Q1 2026 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows the Wall Street giant sharply scaled back its crypto-related ETF holdings this quarter. The firm fully liquidated all its positions in XRP-linked ETFs, plus every Solana ETF it held from issuers including Grayscale, Bitwise, and Fidelity. For Bitcoin ETFs, Goldman still holds roughly $690 million in BlackRock’s IBIT and about $25 million in Fidelity’s FBTC—but both stakes dropped by around 10% compared to the prior quarter. Ethereum ETF exposures saw a far deeper cut: the firm slashed its holding in iShares’ Ethereum ETF (ETHA) by roughly 70%, leaving just $114 million in that position. Looking at individual crypto and fintech stocks, Goldman increased its stakes in Circle, Galaxy Digital, Coinbase, Robinhood, and PayPal during the first quarter, while trimming positions in names like Strategy and Riot Platforms.

Per Onchain Lens monitoring, on May 18, a trader shorted 5,151 units of SPCX — SpaceX’s Pre-IPO perpetual contract — with 3x leverage. The position carries a notional value of approximately $1.07 million, and its liquidation price is set at $250.41.

On May 18, per Hyperinsight monitoring, a whale on Hyperliquid opened a 40x leveraged long position: 31.36 BTC, with a total position size of $2.4 million, entry price at $77,008 and liquidation price set at $76,032. This address closed all its positions today amid the broad market selloff, liquidating long positions across 10 different assets it had built up earlier. The long positions were held for over 30 days; their unrealized gains were completely erased by this downturn, and the whale ultimately exited at the break-even price. Wallet address: 0x21ed8665dabe127dba334147de0a73c2978f6995

May 18: According to Bitget market data, U.S. pre-market crypto-related stocks were broadly lower, with movements as follows: Sharplink (SBET) down 3.869%, American Bitcoin (ABTC) down 2.703%, MicroStrategy (MSTR) down 3.478%, Robinhood (HOOD) down 1.263%, and Gemini (GEMI) down 2.867%.