MARKETS week ahead: April 5 – 11Crypto Total Market Cap, $CRYPTOCAP:TOTALXBTFXLast week in the news New week brought the old stories and investors' worries. The price of oil was still the main topic impacting investors sentiment, as well as US macro data. The S&P 500 managed to recover at least some 4% of its previous weekly losses, by closing the week at 6.582. The price of gold is trying to find the direction, but still ending the week at $4.676. The US 10Y Treasury yields continue with higher volatility, this week a bit lower from the previous one, but still closing higher, at 4,3%. The only asset still “chopping” and waiting for investors liquidity is the crypto market. BTC was traded in a lower weekly range, managing to close above the $67K. U.S. markets were closed on Friday due to Holiday, but still some important macro data were posted. February JOLTs job openings came in at 6.88M, slightly below expectations, signaling a modest cooling in labor demand. In contrast, March Nonfarm Payrolls surprised strongly to the upside at 178K, rebounding sharply from February’s contraction of -133K and pointing to renewed hiring momentum. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.3% from 4.4%, while wage growth remained relatively contained, with average hourly earnings rising 0.2% m/m and 3.5% y/y, suggesting limited immediate wage-driven inflation pressure. Beyond jobs data, February retail sales also showed resilience, increasing 0.6% m/m (above expectations) and 3.7% y/y, reinforcing the view that consumer demand remains supportive despite tighter financial conditions. News is reporting that quantum computing firms are increasingly going public despite volatile market conditions, aiming to capitalize on recent technological breakthroughs and accelerate commercialization. Companies are raising fresh capital to scale operations and move beyond experimental stages toward real-world applications. Strong investor interest reflects growing confidence that the industry is nearing an inflection point, where practical use cases become viable. Overall, the wave of listings signals a shift from research-driven development toward early-stage commercialization of quantum technologies. Chinese semiconductor firms reported record revenues, driven by strong demand for AI infrastructure and ongoing chip shortages. U.S. export restrictions have further accelerated this growth by pushing domestic tech companies to rely more on local suppliers, boosting China’s push for technological self-sufficiency. Rising demand from cloud providers, data centers, and AI developers has supported continued expansion across the sector. Overall, the combination of AI-driven demand and geopolitical constraints is reshaping China’s chip industry and fueling its rapid growth. In light of ongoing conflict in the Middle East and surging prices of oil, news is reporting that global food prices continued to rise in March, with the United Nations’ FAO Food Price Index climbing to its highest level since late last year and up 2.4% from February as energy related costs spill over into agricultural commodity markets. The broad based increase was driven by higher prices across major food groups, including cereals, vegetable oils, meat and sugar. While overall supplies remain ample, the FAO warned that persistent high energy and fertilizer costs linked to geopolitical tensions could sustain upward pressure on food prices and affect future production decisions. CRYPTO MARKET The overall crypto market remains largely on the sidelines as investors weigh potential US and global macroeconomic developments, particularly the impact of rising oil prices on inflation. If higher energy costs translate into sustained inflation, central banks could maintain elevated interest rates or even raise them further, tightening liquidity conditions. Reduced liquidity tends to limit risk appetite, which can weigh on high-risk assets like cryptocurrencies. Market activity has been relatively muted during the week. Total market capitalization remained relatively flat compared to the previous week. This was also reflected in daily trading volumes, which were significantly reduced to the level of only $76B on a daily basis, from $134B traded a week before. Total market capitalization since the beginning of this year currently stands in a negative territory of -22%, with a total outflow of -$647B. BTC and ETH once again set the tone for the market. Bitcoin posted a marginal 0.6% weekly gain, indicating stabilization after the previous week’s decline, while Ethereum performed slightly better with a 1.9% w/w increase, suggesting mild improvement in sentiment among large-cap assets. Performance across other major cryptocurrencies was mixed. XRP declined 2.3%, while BNB fell 3.8% and Solana lost 3.3% on a weekly basis. On the positive side, LINK advanced 3.5%, while Avalanche and Tron both recorded modest gains of around 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively. This week Algorand delivered an exceptional 43.4% weekly surge, clearly outperforming the broader market. Zcash also posted a strong gain of 15.0%, while IOTA increased by 9.8% during the week. On the negative side, Hyperliquid recorded the largest decline, falling 9.5% w/w, followed closely by Uniswap with an 8.7% loss. ONDO also faced notable pressure, declining 7.9%, while DASH fell 6.8% and Stellar dropped 5.6%, highlighting continued weakness across parts of the altcoin segment. Several tokens delivered strong upside performance. Aside from Algorand, DeXe advanced by 22% and Bitcoin SV gained 21% w/w, placing them among the top performers for the week. Circulating supply dynamics showed a few notable changes. LINK recorded a significant increase in supply of 2.7% w/w, while SUI followed with a 1.5% increase. Filecoin expanded supply by 0.7%, and IOTA by 0.5%. XRP, Stellar, DASH, Zcash and Solana each recorded 0.1% increases, while Hyperliquid posted a slight 0.1% decrease. Overall, supply-side developments remained selective but somewhat more pronounced compared to previous weeks. CRYPTO FUTURES MARKET Bitcoin futures posted a modest recovery this week, reversing part of the prior week’s losses with gains distributed across the curve. The April 2026 maturity increased by 1.37% w/w, settling at $67,135. Along the term structure, advances ranged between 1.13% and 1.83%, with the strongest increase observed in the May 2026 maturity. Longer-dated futures also moved higher, with the December 2027 maturity closing at $73,360, up 1.28% on the week. The relatively even gains across maturities suggest a measured upward shift in the curve, pointing to stabilization rather than a strong directional rebound. Ether futures outperformed Bitcoin, posting more pronounced gains across all maturities. The April 2026 contract settled at $2,077, rising 4.06% w/w. Across the curve, weekly increases ranged between 2.85% and 4.06%, with the strongest gains concentrated in the front and mid sections. The December 2027 maturity closed at $2,270, up 3.04% on the week, indicating sustained demand across longer-dated exposures. Overall, this week’s price action reflects a partial recovery following the previous correction, with Ether futures showing stronger momentum relative to Bitcoin. Despite the rebound, both futures curves remain in contango, with longer-dated maturities trading at progressively higher price levels. This continues to suggest that while near-term sentiment has improved, the market remains in a broader stabilization phase rather than a fully established uptrend.