SAFE, the native token of Safe Wallet, surged 20% as Bithumb listed the token on its platform.

Safe (SAFE) rose to $1.10 on Jan. 10, marking a 20% surge from its monthly low of $0.924 while bringing its market cap to nearly $600 million at the time of writing.

The altcoin’s rally occurred in a high-volume environment. Its daily trading volume surged by 429%, climbing from $15 million early Thursday morning to over $80 million.

Despite the recent rally, the altcoin still holds significant growth potential, considering that SAFE’s price remains 69% below its all-time high of $3.56 in April last year.

SAFE rallied as Bithumb, a major South Korea-based crypto exchange, announced it would add a KRW trading pair for the SAFE token on Jan. 10, along with SONIC and AHT tokens.

A SAFE/KRW trading pair will allow direct trading between the SAFE token and the South Korean won, making it more accessible to a wider audience, particularly in the South Korean market.

Typically, a listing on a premier South Korean exchange such as Upbit or Bithumb results in a strong rally in the related token. One such instance was reported earlier in October last year when SAFE secured a listing on Upbit, leading to a 72% surge in just one day. 

SAFE also rallied as a result of increased demand among its derivatives traders. According to CoinGlass, open interest for SAFE in the futures market surged by 151% over the past day, reaching $19.5 million, much higher than the $5.5 million recorded at the beginning of the year.

However, it’s important to note that rallies following exchange listings often face a reversal as investors sell their holdings to secure profits. Notably, data from CoinGlass shows that over $5.96 million SAFE was sent to centralized exchanges on Dec. 10, compared to the $5.65 million withdrawn.

Additionally, the weighted funding rate for SAFE at press time was -0.6690%, which means short sellers were dominating the market, with more traders betting on its price to dip lower.

Such levels also increase the possibility of a short squeeze if the price reverses upwards, potentially forcing short positions to close.

At press time, SAFE had wiped most of its gains, falling 7% from its daily high, and was trading at $1.01 per coin.

Coinbase has announced upcoming support for perpetual futures for Aerodrome Finance, Beam, and Drift Protocol.

Perpetual futures trading for Aerodrome Finance (AERO), Beam (BEAM), and Drift (DRIFT) will go live on Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced, the U.S.-based exchange announced on Jan. 9.

Specifically, Coinbase plans to open trading for AERO-PERP, BEAM-PERP, and DRIFT-PERP markets on Jan. 16, 2025. The assets are expected to go live on or after 9:30 a.m. UTC.

Perpetual futures or “perps” offer contracts where traders can speculate on cryptocurrency or other assets’ price. 

Unlike futures contracts, perps do not have an expiration date. Coinbase announced the launch of perpetual futures trading in May 2023 and expanded the service to non-U.S. retailers in September. Recent perps listings for crypto tokens include support for ORDI, WLD and PEPE.

Following the latest announcement, the prices of Aerodrome Finance, Beam, and Drift saw slight gains, with the three bouncing off intraday lows alongside other cryptocurrencies. However, all three assets—AERO, BEAM, and DRIFT—remained in the red as of the time of writing, having declined earlier in the day as Bitcoin (BTC) struggled for upside momentum.

Aerodrome Finance is a decentralized exchange on Base, offering liquidity solutions for various digital assets. Beam operates a gaming network powered by the BEAM token. Following Avalanche’s Etna upgrade, Beam has transitioned to a fully-fledged Layer 1 blockchain, unlocking new possibilities for network growth.

Meanwhile, Drift is a Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) that enables users to trade, earn, and participate in prediction markets.

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds experienced a sharp drop in inflows on Jan. 7 as Bitcoin fell 5%, driven by rising expectations of a more hawkish approach from the Federal Reserve.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, surged past $102,000 yesterday, sparking renewed optimism among investors anticipating a market rally ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration.

However, the gains were short-lived as Bitcoin dropped by 5.7% within 24 hours, weighed down by rising U.S. bond yields and investor caution ahead of key economic updates, including the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes and nonfarm payroll data.

The increase in bond yields has fueled expectations of a more hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve. Officials have already signaled plans for only two interest rate cuts in 2025, fewer than previously anticipated. Investors are now awaiting the Fed’s meeting minutes, set to be released on Wednesday, Jan. 8, for more clarity on policymakers’ deliberations.

Further pressure on Bitcoin came from a U.S. Labor Department report revealing job vacancies had climbed to a six-month high, driven by growing demand in the services sector.

It precedes the crucial nonfarm payroll report scheduled for Friday. A stronger-than-expected jobs report could solidify expectations of prolonged Fed tightening, as a resilient labor market may continue to fuel inflationary pressures.

Bitcoin ETF inflows plunge by 94%

The falling Bitcoin price resulted in inflows of just $52.9 million across the 12 Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 7, as expectations of a hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve dampened risk-on sentiment among investors. Notably, this figure represents a 94% drop compared to the $987 million inflows recorded the previous day.

According to data from SoSoValue, BlackRock’s IBIT was the only BTC ETF to record an inflow on Tuesday. The asset manager’s spot Bitcoin ETF drew in $596.11 million of inflows managing to offset the collective outflows seen from the other BTC ETFs.

ARK and 21Shares’s ARKB logged the highest outflows of the day with $212.55 million exiting the fund. Grayscale’s two Bitcoin ETFs tickered GBTC and BTC also contributed to the negative momentum with $125.45 million and $113.85 million outflows respectively.

Fidelity’s FBTC reported an outflow of $86.29 million while Franklin Templeton’s EZBC saw a more modest outflow of $5.58 million. The remaining BTC ETF saw “0” flows on the day.

Meanwhile, the daily trading volume for these investment products stood at $4.62 billion on Jan. 7 a jump from the $3.96 billion witnessed a day before.

AT press time Bitcoin (BTC) was exchanging hands at $96,145 per coin.