Inflation data, a parade of Fed speakers, AI heavy earnings, and energy volatility all land at once. Crypto won’t move first. It will move after the bond market decides.

CRYPTO PULSE

So What Has to Happen for This Range to Break?

Last week showed us the boundaries. Bitcoin didn’t fall apart, and it didn’t lift either. It absorbed supply in the mid-$60,000s and stalled near $70,000, and every move made sense once you looked at yields and oil.

So this week isn’t about inventing a new story. It’s about asking one simple question: do the forces that capped crypto last week loosen, or do they tighten? Everything on the calendar feeds into that answer.

Let’s walk through it.

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© 2026 Boardwalk Flock LLC. All Rights Reserved. 2382 Camino Vida Roble, Suite I Carlsbad, CA 92011, United States. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Readers acknowledge that the authors are not engaging in the rendering of legal, financial, medical, or professional advice. The reader agrees that under no circumstances Boardwalk Flock, LLC is responsible for any losses, direct or indirect, which are incurred as a result of the use of the information contained within this, including, but not limited to, errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. Results may not be typical and may vary from person to person. Making money trading digital currencies takes time and hard work. There are inherent risks involved with investing, including the loss of your investment. Past performance in the market is not indicative of future results. Any investment is at your own risk.

THEME 1

Inflation Data Sets the Tone

The week builds toward Friday’s PPI, but it really starts earlier. Monday brings the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, Factory Orders, and the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index. None of those will shock markets on their own, but together they sketch the backdrop. Are we slowing, or just cooling?

Tuesday gets more meaningful with ADP employment, Case-Shiller home prices, and Consumer Confidence. That trio matters because it shapes the Fed’s comfort level. If hiring holds up, housing doesn’t crack, and confidence stays steady, the Fed has no reason to rush. That keeps the 10-year anchored near current levels.

If housing softens and confidence dips while inflation trends lower, yields can finally move down. Wednesday’s MBA mortgage reading quietly confirms whether housing is stabilizing or stalling under current borrowing costs. Thursday’s Initial Jobless Claims are the first real tripwire. Claims don’t need to spike to matter; they just need to stop improving. If labor shows real cracks, the rate conversation shifts quickly.

Then comes Friday’s PPI. It isn’t PCE, but in this environment upstream inflation pressure will be scrutinized closely.

Taken together, the setup is clear. Cooling inflation without labor breaking is the sweet spot. That combination allows yields to ease without triggering recession fear.

Investor Signal: Watch the 10-year reaction more than the headlines. If yields drift lower on soft but stable data, crypto gains breathing room. If yields stay firm despite softer prints, the ceiling likely remains intact.

THEME 2

Fed Speakers Can Calm or Agitate

Waller, Goolsbee, Bostic, Collins, Cook, Barkin, Musalem, Bowman. That’s not one voice; it’s a chorus.

Markets aren’t looking for a rate-cut promise. They’re looking for consistency. If messaging stays steady and measured, volatility cools. That’s constructive. Not explosive, but calmer.

If speakers contradict each other — one hawkish, another cautious — the bond market gets jumpy. And when bonds get jumpy, crypto feels it. Last week made that dynamic clear. Bitcoin is reacting to rate volatility, not isolated crypto headlines.

Markets don’t need dovishness. They need predictability.

Investor Signal: A uniform, steady tone helps more than a surprise dovish comment. Stability in rates unlocks risk appetite. Whiplash shuts it down.

From Our Partners

An Investment Once Reserved for the Wealthy Just Opened Up

For decades, this corner of the market was largely inaccessible to everyday investors. Then a recent executive order quietly changed the rules. What was once off-limits is now available in a much more accessible way, and it’s already drawing attention.

THEME 3

Energy Is Still the Wildcard

Oil remains the quiet lever behind everything. If crude drifts lower, inflation math improves automatically, giving bond yields room to soften even if economic data holds up. If oil spikes again on geopolitical tension, inflation expectations firm and yields stay pinned.

That single variable flows through the entire system. Look at the earnings calendar — Diamondback Energy, EOG Resources, Cheniere, Sempra, Public Service Enterprise Group. These names reflect commodity pricing discipline and infrastructure demand.

If management teams emphasize capital discipline and stable demand, markets relax. If they lean into aggressive expansion, inflation concerns linger. Crypto doesn’t need oil to collapse; it needs the geopolitical premium to stop expanding.

Investor Signal: Energy stability supports falling yields. Falling yields support crypto expansion. If oil volatility picks up, expect bitcoin to remain reactive rather than directional.

THEME 4

Earnings Show Where Capital Is Going

This earnings slate is heavy with signal. Home Depot and Lowe’s provide a read on housing sensitivity. Realty Income and American Tower show how rate-sensitive real estate cash flows are behaving. Dominion, NRG, and Sempra reveal whether grid investment and power demand remain strong.

Then there’s Nvidia, Synopsys, Autodesk, Workday, Salesforce, Intuit, and Dell. That cluster offers a clean read on AI demand versus spending fatigue. If Nvidia delivers strong guidance and the market rewards it decisively, the AI trade still has oxygen. If results are solid but stocks stall, that tells you capital is becoming more selective.

Add Axon, Monster Beverage, Keurig Dr Pepper, TJX, and Lowe’s to the mix, and you get a read on consumer resilience.

The through line is simple. If companies tied to infrastructure, energy, and AI guide confidently and hold gains, capital remains concentrated but healthy. If guidance tightens and reactions turn negative, risk appetite narrows further. Crypto trades downstream of that capital flow.

Investor Signal: Watch post-earnings price action more than the headline numbers. If strong results are rewarded and weak ones punished cleanly, liquidity is still functioning. If even strong reports fail to lift stocks, liquidity is tightening.

From Our Partners

Forget Amazon’s 1997 IPO… This Could Be 287 Times Bigger

Early Amazon investors saw extraordinary gains after its IPO. But if you missed that moment, a far larger opportunity may be forming.

According to Capital.com, Elon Musk’s Starlink could be preparing to go public — and Fortune says it may become the biggest IPO in history.

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That level of scale could create a rare early-stage window — before Wall Street fully steps in.

Now, James Altucher is revealing how individual investors may be able to gain pre-IPO exposure to Starlink with as little as $100.

THEME 5

Labor Is the Quiet Decider

Inflation gets the headlines. AI gets the excitement. Energy gets the volatility. Labor decides the outcome.

ADP, jobless claims, and confidence together show whether demand is cooling gently or cracking. If job growth slows modestly while claims remain stable and confidence holds, the Fed can wait. Yields stay elevated but contained.

If claims tick higher and confidence dips meaningfully, yields could fall fast. That’s the scenario where crypto catches a tailwind.

But there’s a complication. If labor weakens sharply while inflation remains sticky, markets don’t celebrate lower yields — they worry about recession.

The sweet spot remains balance. Cooling without stress.

Investor Signal: Gradual labor softening is constructive for crypto. A sharp deterioration introduces recession fear that offsets the benefit of falling yields.

THEME 6

Inside Crypto, Breadth Is the Tell

Beyond macro, two metrics matter most: ETF flows and stablecoin supply.

If ETFs stabilize and stablecoin balances rise, that signals fresh participation. Not recycled leverage, not internal reshuffling, but new money entering the ecosystem.

If stablecoin balances shrink and ETF outflows persist, even calm macro won’t spark a breakout.

Dominance also matters. If bitcoin holds steady while altcoins gain durable bids without leverage spikes, confidence is broadening. If every altcoin bounce fades quickly, participation remains narrow.

Last week showed endurance. This week we’re watching for early signs of expansion.

Investor Signal: Breadth matters more than price. ETF stabilization combined with stablecoin growth signals capital returning, not just repositioning.

From Our Partners

$50 Billion Says You’ll Want These Names

Wall Street’s big money is already moving, quietly building positions in a handful of stocks before the next rally.

Our analysts tracked the flows and found 10 companies leading the charge.

Some are household names. Others are under-the-radar innovators about to break out.

Together, they form the Post-Rate-Cut Playbook smart investors are following right now.

CLOSING LENS

What Would Actually Change the Tone?

Here is the clean sequence.

If inflation data softens, labor cools gently, oil stops pressing higher, and the 10-year drifts lower while earnings from Nvidia, Home Depot, and Salesforce hold up, liquidity loosens.

When liquidity loosens, crypto doesn’t need a new narrative. It simply needs room.

On the other hand, if inflation stalls, oil rises, yields stay pinned near 4 percent, and ETF flows keep bleeding, the grind continues.

That doesn’t mean collapse. It means continuation.

Last week showed the floor is firmer than it was earlier in the month. This week decides whether the ceiling starts to crack.

Crypto won’t move first.

It will move after the bond market makes up its mind.

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