Oct 9: Bitcoin Fund Flows Hit the Alert Line
Bitcoin fund flows crossed into alert at -$679M while Bitcoin holds 15% above its 200-day average. Credit is strong and stocks are calm. September CPI lands in five days.
Risk dashboard
How to read this
We watch 12 warning signs across the economy, markets and digital assets. Each one has an alert line where trouble has often followed.
The four cards show anything in caution or alert first, then the biggest moves, then the closest to a line.
Each card shows today’s reading on the left and the line to watch on the right.
Green is clear. The bar turns amber at a caution line or red at an alert line. The white tick is today’s reading.
The two ISM surveys update monthly and appear in the full list below.
Bitcoin fund flows, 5 days fell from -$163M to -$679M, into alert. The alert line is -$500M.
Stock fear (VIX) fell from 15.3 to 14.8, moving away from its alert line (alert above 35).
Corporate credit (OAS) rose from 3.09% to 3.15%, moving toward its alert line (alert above 4.50%).
See all 12 warning signs1 alert · 10 clear ⌄
Recession Watch: Yield Curve
clear2Y yield2Y
4.75%
↓ from 4.77
10Y yield10Y
5.22%
↓ from 5.28
Spread
+0.47pts
↓ from +0.51
What to watch: every U.S. recession since the 1970s came after this spread went negative. The twist: the recession itself usually starts a few months after the spread turns back positive again. Fed's chart of past recessions ↗NY Fed: why inversions predict recessions ↗
More info on yield, spread and recessions
A yield is the interest rate the U.S. government pays to borrow for that length of time. The spread is the 10-year yield minus the 2-year, measured in percentage points: at +0.47, the 10-year pays 0.47 points more than the 2-year. Positive is normal; between 0 and +0.50 the curve is flat and close to flipping; below zero is called inverted.
The curve was inverted from mid-2022 to Sept 2024, the longest stretch on record, and has been positive for 25 months, but it has flattened from +0.74 in February. No recession has followed so far, which would make this cycle the first exception to the pattern.
Why it matters: the 2-year tracks where the Fed sets rates. The 10-year is set by investors, who buy long-term bonds when they expect the economy to slow and rates to fall later. When the 10-year drops below the 2-year, the bond market is saying it expects the Fed to be cutting rates soon, and the Fed cuts when the economy is in trouble.
Coming up
What is this?
CPI: the Consumer Price Index, the government’s main measure of inflation, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
How much prices changed for everyday things like groceries, rent, gas and insurance. Inflation drives what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates, and rates affect the price of almost everything else, including stocks and digital assets.