📊 Crypto Trading Signals - October 17, 2025

🔥 Top Stories

1. Limit Orders are live on f(x) Protocol, you can now set limit orders to automatically open or close long/short x/sPOSITIONs at your price

Source: 𝕏/@protocol_fx

🏷️ $fxUSD • f(x) Protocol • DeFi

"base deployment next 🚀"
— @Ktodjam

2. Mastercard, Chainlink, Swapperfinance, and XSwap team up to connect global payments to Web3 — enabling secure onchain execution and onboarding 3.5B+ cardholders into the onchain economy.

Source: 𝕏/@xswap_link

🏷️ Chainlink • Payments • Mastercard

"will be interesting when we actually see Visa or Mastercard finally go live with stables somehow on chain"
— @Spencer420

3. DL Research breaks chronicles the evolution of Yield Optimizers in new report: "Solving the DeFi Yield Maze"

Source: 𝕏/@dl_research

🏷️ Vaults • Yield • Multichain

"sounds like we're in the second set"
— @Second

4. Kraken acquires Small Exchange from IG Group, gaining a CFTC-regulated DCM license to launch onshore crypto derivatives and strengthen its fully regulated U.S. trading network.

Source: crypto.news

🏷️ trading • CFTC • Kraken

"Really good news. More expansion as usual "
— @Hades

5. Usual Money reveals Q4 roadmap, unifying its USD lineup under a common architecture: $USD0 (flagship product with accrual and rebasing mode), $USD0x (delta-neutral yield) and $bUSD0 (bond & ownership)

Source: 𝕏/@usualmoney

🏷️ Usual Money • $USD0 • $USD0x

"The current slate of pools still earning good $USUAL rewards"
— @0xiidae

🎯 Trading Signals

Lead Story Deep Dive: Kraken's Regulatory Power Play

Kraken just made the smartest move of Q4 by acquiring Small Exchange from IG Group, and if you think this is just another M&A headline, you're missing the plot. What they really bought is a CFTC-regulated Designated Contract Market (DCM) license - the golden ticket to launch onshore crypto derivatives in the US without spending years kissing regulatory boots.

Here's what everyone's glossing over: while offshore exchanges have been dominating the derivatives game (and eating most of the volume), the entire regulatory landscape is shifting. The smart money knows that institutional flows won't touch unregulated platforms, and Kraken just positioned itself as the only major exchange with a fully regulated US trading network that can offer both spot AND derivatives.

This isn't about competing with Binance or Bybit on volume today - it's about owning the infrastructure when regulations actually get enforced. Small Exchange was a futures platform that never gained traction retail-side, but its DCM license is worth more than any amount of marketing spend could buy. Kraken basically bought regulatory compliance as a finished product instead of building it from scratch.

The timing matters too. With Bitcoin pushing $120k+ and institutional adoption accelerating, the firms that can offer compliant derivatives products will capture the next wave of Wall Street money. Kraken's betting that regulated onshore derivatives will be the moat that separates winners from losers in the 2025-2026 cycle.

Other Trends We Noticed: Infrastructure Finally Delivering

The real narrative this week isn't about price action - it's about crypto infrastructure actually shipping products that matter. Mastercard partnering with Chainlink, Swapperfinance, and XSwap to connect global payments to Web3 isn't just another partnership announcement. They're targeting 3.5 billion cardholders for onchain onboarding, which means mainstream payment rails are finally accepting that crypto settlement is inevitable.

This is the convergence play everyone's been talking about since 2017, except now the rails actually exist. Chainlink's oracle network enables secure onchain execution

Generated by Squid Digest - AI-powered trading signals for crypto natives