On Friday, May 29, 2026, U.S. equities finished at fresh records, with the S&P 500 closing near 7,592 as technology earnings, AI-related momentum, and hopes for a U.S.-Iran framework supported risk appetite. Over the same period, the University of Michigan's May consumer sentiment reading sank to a record-low 44.8, highlighting a widening gap between market gains and household strain.

On Thursday, May 28, bitcoin and ether ETFs recorded combined net withdrawals of $350.23 million as BTC funds extended a nine-session outflow streak and ETH products marked 13 straight sessions of redemptions. Bitcoin ETFs saw $228.88 million leave, while ether ETFs posted $121.35 million in outflows, even as smaller funds tied to XRP, HYPE, and Solana logged modest inflows.

BlackRock reduced its equity overweight in its $220 billion model-portfolio business, lowering the tilt from 3% to 1% on May 29, 2026 as US equities set record highs after a strong earnings season. The change coincided with large ETF reallocations, including more than $12 billion into iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and about $10 billion leaving several factor and thematic funds. The firm also shifted away from longer-dated US debt toward global fixed income and liquid alternatives while reassessing traditional hedges.

Crypto venture investment slowed in Q1 2026, with firms putting about $4 billion into 355 crypto and blockchain deals, down 50% quarter-over-quarter and 16% by deal count. Later-stage rounds took roughly 57% of capital, while median deal sizes rose above $4.5 million even as valuations eased from Q4 2025 highs. The US led activity with over 70% of invested capital and 43.5% of deals, while only eight new crypto-focused venture funds raised nearly $1.1 billion.

Hyperliquid's synthetic SpaceX pre-market perpetual, SPACEX-USDH, fell about 45% on May 28, sliding from $2,277 to $1,254 before rebounding near $2,157. The 30-minute move liquidated 1,393 leveraged positions across 405 users, with total notional losses reported at exactly $1.51 million.

On May 29, 2026, Coinbase said Coinbase Financial Markets began offering U.S. institutional clients regulated access to global crypto derivatives, starting with Deribit options and with perpetual futures planned for a later rollout. The company said crypto derivatives make up about 80% of global crypto trading volume and cited Deribit data showing more than $31 billion in bitcoin options open interest as of May 28.

Coinbase said on Friday, May 29 that it received approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to broaden regulated access to global crypto derivatives for U.S. traders. The exchange said it is now the first CFTC-regulated futures commission merchant (FCM) able to offer crypto perpetual futures and options in the U.S., with institutional access to global options via Deribit. CEO Brian Armstrong added that U.S. users had previously been excluded from about 80% of the global crypto market due to limits around perps and options.

Kalshi said Friday it will seek to launch perpetual futures contracts, starting with crypto perps, positioning them as a regulated option for U.S. traders. The company said offshore perpetuals expanded from $28 trillion in annual volume in 2023 to more than $90 trillion in 2025, and that its products would be offered under Commodity Futures Trading Commission supervision.