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Polkadot crypto price has remained in a narrow range this year, but its contrarian technicals and strong fundamentals point to an OKB-like short squeeze in the near term.
Summary
Polkadot (DOT) token was trading at $4.40, inside the support and resistance levels at $3.95 and $5.30, where it has remained since February of last year.
DOT price has several highly bullish catalysts that will propel it higher in the near term. The first key one is that the final stage of the Polkadot 2.0 update will be implemented in October.
In a note, Parity Technologies noted that elastic scaling was already live on the Polkadot Relay Chain and was only waiting for the Polkadot SDK 2509 to be updated. This will happen in early October.
🚧 Let’s clear up where Elastic Scaling and @Polkadot 2.0 stand today.
To clarify:
– Elastic Scaling is live on the Polkadot Relay Chain. – Production deployments require that collators and parachain runtimes are upgraded to Polkadot SDK version 2509, which is…— Parity Technologies (@paritytech) September 18, 2025
Elastic scaling will enable dynamic and on-demand resource allocation for decentralized applications on the network. It is the third stage of the Polkadot 2.0 upgrade after asynchronous backing and agile coretime.
The other main catalyst for the DOT price will be the upcoming Join-Accumulate Machine (JAM) upgrade. This upgrade, which is seen as Polkadot 3.0, will transform the Relay Chain to enable running numerous applications.
Polkadot token will also rebound ahead of the implementation of the hard-pressure tokenomics mechanism in March. This transition will put a hard cap on DOT’s supply to 2.1 billion tokens and reduce the supply every two years. As such, this change could lead to a squeeze as OKB (OKB) did when OKX changed its tokenomics.
Furthermore, the Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to approve several DOT ETFs, which will likely lead to increased demand from investors.
Polkadot price chart | Source: crypto.news
The weekly chart shows that the Polkadot crypto price has remained in a three-year consolidation between $3.39 and $11.20. It has failed to move below this support even in the worst of crypto bear markets.
Polkadot is likely in the accumulation phase of the Wyckoff theory, mirroring the performance of OKB before the recent squeeze. In this case, a rebound may push it to the upper side of the channel at $11, which is about 150% above the current level.
By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
The SEC, as market regulator, now couldn’t be more pro-crypto if it tried! On Thursday, a spot ETF tied to one of the least “serious” cryptocurrencies — dogecoin — debuted in the U.S. alongside payments-focused XRP.
Unlike bitcoin , ether (ETH) and stablecoins, which act as a stores of value and facilitate decentralized finance, memecoins like DOGE are driven entirely by tweets, and cult-like fandom, just like baseball or pro-wrestling cards. Some observers are understandably worried that wrapping such an asset in an ETF gives it a false veneer of legitimacy, putting investors at risk.
You might call this the “peak pro-crypto SEC” moment, when regulators become so friendly that even memecoins get their own institutional wrapper. And, coincidentally, peak liquidity moment too, because when cash flows freely, traders get more adventurous. That’s one reason why the Fed may need to go slow with rate cuts.
The crypto market seems unimpressed. DOGE dropped over 2% in 24 hours, a sharp contrast to 2021, when a single tweet from Elon Musk could send it skyrocketing. The entire meme token gang is taking a hit; names like M, PUMP, and TOSHI are down nearly 10% in the same period.
XRP isn’t getting off easily either, falling 2%. Bitcoin and ether remain under pressure too, with traders aggressively seeking downside protection in the options market. The CoinDesk 20 Index was 1.3% lower at press time.
In other news, Consensys CEO reportedly said a Metamask token is arriving sooner than expected. Popular newsletter writer Christine Kim relayed that Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade is scheduled for Dec. 3. This upgrade bundles multiple Ethereum Improvement Proposals focused on enhancing data availability and reducing costs for layer-2 rollups.
Meanwhile, traditional markets aren’t making it easy for crypto bulls. The dollar index and Treasury yields edged higher. The Bank of Japan stayed put on rates, with two dissenters signaling hikes in the coming months. The central bank announced the gradual selling of ETFs to slim its bloated balance sheet. Stay alert!
By Oliver Knight
BTC’s CME futures open interest has ended downtrend. (Velo)
Crypto Treasury Companies
Spot BTC ETFs
Spot ETH ETFs
Source: Farside Investors
Crypto market participants may be underestimating how aggressive the US Federal Reserve will be in shifting its policy direction, according to an economist.
“Markets are underpricing the likelihood of rapid rate cuts in the coming months on the part of the Federal Reserve,” economist Timothy Peterson told Cointelegraph on Friday.
“There has never been a gradual reduction in rates like that currently envisioned by the Fed,” Peterson said, explaining that he expects “the surprise effect” to kick in and potentially catch the market offside.
“It will jolt Bitcoin and alts up substantially, and I think that will happen in the next 3-9 months.”
Peterson’s comments come just days after the Fed implemented its first rate cut of 2025 on Sept. 17 by 25 basis points. The rate cut was widely anticipated, with the CME FedWatch Tool showing a 96% probability of a quarter-point cut and just a 4% chance of a 50-point reduction in the hours leading up to the announcement.
Bitcoin (BTC) briefly surged to $117,000 hours before the Fed’s rate cut announcement but has since retreated to levels seen in the days prior, trading at $115,570 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin is up 1.03% over the past 30 days. Source: CoinMarketCap
CME data shows that market participants are pricing in a 91.9% chance of another 25 basis point rate cut at the Oct. 29 meeting, with only an 8.1% probability that rates remain unchanged.
Related: Bitcoin price forecasts eye $110K target as $4.9T options expiry arrives
Fed officials said they expect two more quarter-point rate cuts this year. However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, “We’re not on a pre-set path.”
Some financial institutions expected a more aggressive rate cut at the September meeting, with Standard Chartered forecasting a 50 basis point reduction.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, however, was more confident that the Fed would stick to a 25 basis point cut.
Lowering interest rates tends to be bullish for risk-on assets, including cryptocurrencies, as traditional investments like bonds and term deposits become less lucrative to investors.
Magazine: Meet the Ethereum and Polkadot co-founder who wasn’t in Time Magazine
Trust Wallet Token (TWT) exploded nearly 30% in the past 24 hours, surging to $1.26 before slipping back near $1.16. The sudden rally was widely linked to Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s latest X post, but technical charts show the move was already set in motion before social media hype kicked in.
On the 2-day chart, TWT had been forming an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern. a classic bullish setup. Once the breakout triggered, prices rushed again toward the projected target of $1.17. CZ’s quote X helped accelerate the push, but once the target was met, traders quickly booked profits.
CZ wrote on X, “TWT token started as an experiment. The FDV got too high quickly. They burned 99% of the supply, but didn’t have too many use cases for it. Now that’s expanding.” His post fueled attention, but the breakout was already primed technically.
After the spike, profit-taking hit hard. Exchange net flows flipped from 177,980 TWT on September 17 to +2.84 million just two days later, a massive 1,600% jump. This shows holders rushed to send tokens onto exchanges to lock in gains.
Whales too participated in the sell-off. Wallets holding 10 million–100 million TWT trimmed their holdings by over $8 million in September, adding to selling pressure.
Despite the short-term excitement there, the long-term indicators are wary. Since late 2024, TWT has shown hidden bearish divergence, suggesting momentum isn’t strong enough to break its broader downtrend.
Key support sits at $1.00, then $0.84 and $0.71. On the upside, only a daily close above $1.42 and ideally $1.63 could shift sentiment bullish again. For now, the rally looks like a breakout target achieved and followed by heavy profit-taking, not yet a sustainable trend.
Also Read: BNB Jumps as Changpeng Zhao Hints at Binance Comeback
With Ethereum struggling, Shiba inu and XRP are following the rest of the market. The new descending channel on XRP, the secret triangle formation on ETH and the poor performance of SHIB shapes the negative outlook of the market over the weekend.
Around the $4,530 mark, where a sizable symmetrical triangle has been forming for the past few weeks, Ethereum (ETH) is currently sitting on a crucial price signal. One of technical analysis’s most dependable volatility setups is this consolidation structure, and how it resolves may determine Ethereum’s next significant move.
After a daily decline of -2.9%, ETH is currently trading at about $4,454. The 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages (EMAs) are serving as strong support layers, as the coin is rising above its key EMAs, which are at $4,322 and $3,800, respectively. Ethereum appears to be neither overbought nor oversold according to the RSI, at about 54, which puts the market in a balanced position for a significant break.
ETH/USDT Chart by TradingView
In the triangle pattern, compressed volatility is highlighted. ETH has historically generated explosive momentum when it coils inside such constricted structures. The $4,530 zone, where the triangle’s upper resistance converges, is the area that traders are keeping a careful eye on. If there is a clear breakout above this level, short liquidations and fresh institutional inflows into ETH-based products could trigger a rapid move toward $5,000 and higher.
Conversely, the inability to maintain the triangle’s lower boundary, around $4,400, might validate a brief downward trend. This situation might push ETH back toward $3,800, the 100-day EMA, which has historically protected against significant corrections.
The timing, rather than the pattern itself, is what makes this setup secret. While Bitcoin has been making headlines, Ethereum has been consolidating. However, the triangle formed by ETH suggests that the altcoin market may be preparing for a volatility implosion, which, if it gains traction, could lead to a wider rally.
XRP has failed to maintain momentum above short-term resistance and is currently trading at about $3.00, indicating weakness. There is a distinct descending channel on the chart, which frequently indicates bearish continuation. As XRP consolidates within this smaller range, traders should brace themselves for possible downside volatility.
Two short-term support levels are the 50-day EMA at $2.99 and the 100-day EMA at $2.98. Bulls may be losing control, though, if they are unable to break through the descending trendline resistance. If XRP breaks below these clustered EMAs, the 200-day EMA at $2.83 will be the next target for a decline. If XRP drops sharply below this level, it may signal a more significant correction and move closer to the $2.58 region, which was a good place to accumulate earlier this year.
On the upside, the bearish channel and signal strength would need to be invalidated by a move above $3.20. The RSI is currently between 51 and 53, indicating a lack of strong buying momentum, so the bias is still leaning toward sellers until that time.
Given the bearish channel structure, XRP’s most likely price range in the near future is between $2.83 and $3.20, with a probability bias toward testing lower levels. If sentiment on the market worsens, XRP may fall back into the mid-$2.50s, where long-term buyers might reenter.
To sum up, XRP is stuck in a channel that is getting narrower, which usually happens before a significant move.
The $0.000013 threshold, a crucial psychological and technical level that should be monitored, has been breached once more by Shiba Inu. This breakdown shows how SHIB’s market structure is becoming weaker, which raises the possibility of a more severe decline in the near future.
The most concerning indication, in this case, is that SHIB’s moving averages have not offered any significant support. The 100-day and 50-day EMAs, which frequently serve as stabilizing zones on markets that are consolidating, have not held up. Instead, there appears to be bearish dominance, as price action has been consistently breaking below these averages. There is not much upside momentum left for SHIB to rely on because the 200-day EMA is positioned close to $0.0000138 and serving as a ceiling.
A narrowing triangle structure is also visible on the chart, with SHIB moving toward the lower boundary at about $0.0000128. A quicker sell-off could be triggered if this floor gives way, pulling the token in a longer correction toward $0.0000120 or even the $0.0000110 region. The declining RSI, which is currently hovering slightly above the neutral zone, indicates that buyers are retreating, giving sellers more space to exert control.
The outlook in the near future is still cautious. The market may be viewing $0.000013 as resistance rather than support if it loses that level but is unable to reclaim it decisively. This means that the path of least resistance remains downward until SHIB closes above both $0.000013 and the clustered EMAs.
Right now, the market is entering a weekend trading session on a negative note, which means volatility and liquidity will get even thinner and potentially cause a foundation for a bearish rally on the market.
The U.S. Treasury Department is pushing forward with a narrow comment window on its preliminary, formal efforts to solidify the recently established stablecoin law into a set of regulations.
This arm of President Donald Trump’s administration has opened what’s known as an “advance notice of proposed rulemaking” on Friday, which is an early step taken to gather information that will be used to put together an actual proposal. In this case, the government is asking for data on building out its requirements under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS) Act, including prohibitions on issuers, sanctions obligations, anti-money laundering compliance, the balance between state and federal oversight, tax matters and any further need from the industry for clarity.
A one-month period is now open in which the public — and crypto businesses — can weigh in on these complex issues before it closes on October 20. The notice posted dozens of questions, such as, “Is additional clarity necessary regarding the extent to which reserve assets are required to, or should, be held in custody?” and “Are there foreign payment stablecoin regulatory or supervisory regimes, or regimes in development, that may be comparable to the regime established under the GENIUS Act?”
The Treasury Department’s role in GENIUS is varied, including requirements to address sanctions compliance, tax treatments and how foreign jurisdictions will interact with U.S. regulations. The Friday action is meant to build on a less formal effort announced last month to start gathering input on how best to detect illicit activity in crypto.
The GENIUS Act was the first major U.S. crypto legislation to become law, and it marked a huge win for the industry, which has shifted focus now onto an even bigger legislative effort to establish rules for the wider industry. That market structure bill is a focus of lawmakers from both parties in the Senate, who are also in talks with their House of Representatives counterparts who already approved a similar bill, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
Republicans in Congress and atop the federal financial regulators are trying to speed ahead to meet orders from President Trump to establish friendly crypto regulations that will help the U.S. become a global hub for the sector.
Also on Friday, JP Morgan said in a research note that the overall crypto market needs to expand significantly for continued growth in the stablecoin sector, or new stablecoins may start cannibalizing each other.
Read More: U.S. Treasury Department Starts Work on GENIUS, Gathering Views on Illicit Activity
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has confirmed a record-breaking seizure of cryptocurrency linked to the centralized exchange TradeOgre, taking control of assets worth more than 56 million Canadian dollars—about 40 million US dollars—following a federal policing investigation in Quebec. The agency described the operation as “the largest cryptocurrency seizure in Canadian history,” and said it dismantled the platform’s Canadian infrastructure. The news was announced on September 18 from Montréal.
According to details released by Canadian media quoting the RCMP, investigators seized servers in Beauharnois in the Montérégie region, which supported TradeOgre’s operations. RCMP Sgt. Mathieu Lagarde said: “The servers that allowed this platform to conduct these transactions were located in Canada. So we seized these servers and then seized the crypto assets controlled by the exchange.” Authorities added that this marks the first time a cryptocurrency exchange has been dismantled by police in Canada.
The yearlong probe was run by the RCMP Federal Policing – Eastern Region’s Money Laundering Investigative Team and began in June 2024 after a tip from Europol, according to the accounts of the investigation provided by authorities and reported by national outlets. The RCMP alleges TradeOgre failed to register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) as a money services business and did not identify its customers, conditions that investigators say allowed criminal organizations to conceal the origins of funds.
Open-source blockchain intelligence platform Arkham said its tooling was used in the case. In a public post, Arkham wrote that “as per the RCMP’s website, Arkham was used as part of the investigation,” and in a research note the firm documented earlier on-chain indicators—specifically messages embedded in Bitcoin transactions—signaling that Canadian police had claimed ownership of funds. Arkham’s report also noted TradeOgre’s social and site activity had gone dark earlier this summer (X account inactive since May; website offline since July 30).
The RCMP said it is now analyzing transaction data from the platform and that enforcement actions may follow: “The transaction data obtained from the platform will be analyzed and charges may follow. The investigation is ongoing.” Authorities emphasized that no arrests had been announced as of the release and encouraged anyone with relevant information to contact investigators.
While the RCMP’s statement framed TradeOgre as an unregistered venue used to launder proceeds of crime, the seizure has already prompted a broader debate among some users who claim legitimate balances were swept up with illicit funds. What is clear, however, is that Canadian law enforcement has established a new high-water mark for domestic crypto enforcement and, for the first time, has taken down the Canadian infrastructure of a cryptocurrency exchange as part of a money-laundering investigation.
At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $4 trillion.
Total crypto market cap breaks above $4 trillion, 1-week chart | Source: TOTAL on TradingView.com
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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Rekt Brands Inc. has sold over one million drinks, primarily through its own website, a milestone that challenges the notion that crypto-native communities cannot support massive, tangible product ventures beyond digital collectibles.
Summary
According to a press release shared with crypto.news on Sept. 19, the Los Angeles-based company hit the seven-figure sales milestone in under a year, with the vast majority of transactions occurring directly through its e-commerce platform.
The milestone followed the sale of “Moon Crush,” a limited-edition beverage drop created in collaboration with crypto payments infrastructure firm MoonPay. According to Rekt, this direct-to-consumer approach allowed it to capture nearly all revenue and customer data, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of retail distribution.
Rekt’s business model highlights the growing influence of Web3 in areas once thought impervious to crypto-native strategies. By relying almost entirely on direct-to-consumer distribution, the company shows that digital communities can fuel growth at a pace traditionally seen in venture-backed CPG startups.
“It shows that a community-powered model can compete with and even surpass the fastest-growing CPG brands in history. We’re building not just a drinks company, but a cultural brand that lives at the intersection of Web2 and Web3,” Ovie Faruq, Co-Founder and CEO of Rekt Brands Inc., said.
The company’s growth has been fueled by partnerships with major industry players including MoonPay, Coinbase’s L2 Base, OpenSea, and Jupiter Exchange. Each collaboration, like the “Moon Crush” drop with MoonPay, acted as a cultural event, driving traffic and sales directly to Rekt’s digital storefront.
Notably, the most recent partnership with GameSquare involves the esports giant holding REKT tokens on its balance sheet and integrating the brand with FaZe Clan’s talent and jerseys, effectively blending Web3 loyalty with mainstream gaming culture.
The REKT token has been a cornerstone of this growth story. Issued in late 2024, it rewarded early supporters and reached a market capitalization of $600 million by August 2025, marking a rare example of a consumer-facing “brand coin” achieving material market value.