SHELL Buyback Address has once again withdrawn 1 million tokens from Binance, and the buyback progress has reached 81.2%.

According to market sources, SpaceX and Tesla plan to complete their merger deal before the end of Trump's term, aiming to finalize the merger agreement in the first half of 2027.

Tesla released its Q3 2026 financial results early this morning Beijing time, reporting $28.046 billion in revenue, nearly flat year-over-year. Net income attributable to common shareholders stood at $787 million, down around 43% YoY, with GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.22, lower than $0.39 in the year-ago period. Operating profit fell about 56% YoY to $718 million, with an operating margin of 2.6%, down 3.2 percentage points YoY. The decline was mainly driven by a sharp increase in spending on R&D, AI, robots and other areas (operating expenses rose around 39%). Overall GAAP gross margin rose to 19.6%, up around 1.6 percentage points YoY and also significantly higher than the previous quarter. The automotive gross margin, excluding regulatory credits, was around 18.1%, showing notable improvement compared to both the previous quarter and the same period last year. The company delivered 486,500 vehicles in the quarter, down 2% YoY; production reached 464,400 units, up 4% YoY. Automotive segment revenue fell around 3% YoY, energy generation and storage revenue dropped around 16%, while services and other revenue grew around 33%. Tesla said higher R&D and other operating expenses, lower regulatory credit income, and weaker energy segment gross margins weighed on operating profit. The company’s Q3 operating cash flow was $6.263 billion, and free cash flow was $1.531 billion, lower than $3.99 billion in the year-ago period. Tesla noted that battery supply remains a constraint on boosting automotive production; it has also launched mass production of the Semi in Nevada, started Optimus production in Fremont, and the Cybercab has been deployed in Austin’s Robotaxi fleet. According to market data from BIT (bit.com), SPCX fell 3.32% in after-hours trading, likely impacted by the earnings report.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, U.S. stocks closed higher: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose approximately 0.69%, the S&P 500 gained around 0.58%, and the Nasdaq increased by about 1.05%. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) closed down roughly 3.64% to 16.68. Most optical communication concept stocks closed higher: Credo (CRDO) rose around 6.3%, Ciena (CIEN) gained about 5.7%, Lumentum (LITE) increased by roughly 3.4%, Coherent (COHR) was up approximately 2.5%, and Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) rose around 0.8%. Semiconductor stocks closed higher: AMD gained about 3.4%, ASML (ASML) rose approximately 2.8%, NVIDIA (NVDA) increased by roughly 2.5%, Arm was up around 2.5%, Micron (MU) rose about 2.0%, Marvell (MRVL) gained approximately 1.8%, TSMC (TSM) increased by roughly 1.6%, Intel (INTC) rose around 1.4%, and Broadcom (AVGO) was up about 1.0%. Storage stocks closed higher: Western Digital (WDC) rose approximately 3.9%, Seagate (STX) gained around 3.2%, SK Hynix (SKHY) increased by roughly 2.5%, and SanDisk (SNDK) rose about 0.9%. Crypto-related concept stocks strengthened: BNB Standard (BNC) jumped over 11%, Strategy (MSTR) rose around 7.5%, Bitmine (BMNR) gained approximately 5.0%, Circle (CRCL) increased by roughly 4.5%, MARA was up about 4.1%, Robinhood (HOOD) rose around 3.8%, and Coinbase (COIN) gained approximately 3.6%. Among large tech stocks: Tesla (TSLA) rose around 3.4%, Apple (AAPL) gained about 1.3%; Alphabet (GOOGL) fell roughly 1.6%, while SpaceX (SPCX) jumped 7.79%.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index opened 56.36 points lower (0.98%) on Thursday, October 22, at 5,679.3 points.

Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski stated during the Q3 investor meeting: "We are currently pursuing licenses as a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO). We have spent extensive time communicating with staff at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to align with all its core principles. Many of these principles already have clear correspondences with how Lighter implements them on-chain. For other principles, we have developed entirely new approaches that are unprecedented for regulators, and they are now investing significant time engaging with us to understand how these work. Our next plan is to formally submit these license applications next month. Regulators then have a maximum of 280 days to review them. Since we have completed all this preparatory work, we believe the subsequent process will go smoothly. We are very much looking forward to obtaining these licenses in the U.S. and opening our platform to the American market—not for retail users, but for institutional clients." Earlier, LIT saw a price drop amid news that Robinhood launched perpetual contracts in the U.S. using Bitstamp. At the time, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told reporters that the decision not to select Lighter was due to regulatory structure. Novakovski’s remarks at the investor meeting have reignited community speculation that Lighter could collaborate more closely with Robinhood once it becomes compliant. According to HTX market data, driven by these remarks, LIT rose as much as 15% in 24 hours and is currently trading at $3.76.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will not bomb Iran before the midterm elections, but the U.S. is evacuating some non-essential personnel from Saudi Arabia, reducing troops at some Middle East bases, and deploying additional aircraft carriers and amphibious forces. Israeli military sources reported that dozens of fighter jets approached Iran's border this week before turning back, and its strike target list is also being updated. The U.S. State Department has ordered the evacuation of only non-emergency government employees and their families in Saudi Arabia, citing attacks on Saudi civilian targets by Iran-backed Houthi forces as the reason. Separately, the U.S. military has quietly reduced its forces stationed in Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and other locations in recent days. The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. is deploying another aircraft carrier to the Middle East, with a third carrier strike group en route from the Pacific, and is dispatching amphibious assault ships carrying U.S. Marines. If the additional forces are in place and existing vessels are not rotated or withdrawn, the total number of U.S. warships in the region is expected to exceed 24, up from around 20 currently. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly continuing to advocate for resuming large-scale strikes on Iran. Israel's Channel 12, citing U.S. sources, said dozens of Israeli fighter jets and refueling tankers flew over Syria and Iraq near Iran's border earlier this week, following a flight path highly similar to that of an attack on Iran, before turning back just before entering Iranian airspace. Israel said the mission was for exercises and deterrence. Meanwhile, Pakistan, Qatar and others are intensifying mediation efforts, but the U.S. is demanding talks on Iran's nuclear program, while Iran wants to first discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with no breakthrough in negotiations so far.