Crypto Week Ahead: Derivatives Expansion and Global Business Surveys in Focus -

Markets are heading into the week of October 19 with a packed schedule of crypto developments, inflation reports, business surveys and corporate earnings. CME Group is expected to roll out standard and micro futures tied to Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Uniswap (UNI) on Monday, pending regulatory review. CoinShares’ Bitcoin and Ether ETF, meanwhile, is scheduled to suspend trading before Wednesday’s opening bell as part of its planned liquidation.

Economic data will remain in focus after last week’s U.S. inflation releases. Investors will assess new figures from Canada, the U.K. and Japan, alongside preliminary October purchasing managers’ index (PMI) reports from the U.S. and eurozone. The readings could offer further clues about business conditions and the broader economic outlook.

Crypto events and market calendar

All times are Eastern Time (ET), unless otherwise specified.

Crypto industry updates

Oct. 19: CME Group plans to introduce standard and micro futures contracts for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Uniswap (UNI), subject to regulatory review.
Oct. 21: CoinShares’ Bitcoin and Ether ETF is scheduled to stop trading before the market opens as the fund proceeds with liquidation.

Key economic releases

Oct. 19, 8:30 a.m. — Canada’s September CPI: The previous readings were -0.1% month over month and 3.0% year over year.
Oct. 20, 8:30 a.m. — U.S. housing starts and permits: Housing starts are estimated at 1.30 million, compared with 1.275 million previously. Building permits are forecast at 1.40 million, versus 1.394 million.
Oct. 21, 2 a.m. — U.K. September inflation: Previous figures were 0.5% for monthly CPI, 3.1% for annual CPI and 2.6% for annual core CPI.
Oct. 22, 8:30 a.m. — U.S. initial jobless claims: Claims for the week ending October 17 are expected to reach 200,000, following 199,000 in the prior report.
Oct. 22, 10 a.m. — Eurozone consumer confidence: The preliminary October index is due, with the previous reading at -16.5.
Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m. — Japan’s September CPI: Previous annual readings stood at 1.9% for headline inflation, 1.7% excluding fresh food and 1.9% excluding fresh food and energy.
Oct. 23, 4 a.m. — Eurozone preliminary composite PMI: The previous reading was 53.1.
Oct. 23, 9:45 a.m. — U.S. preliminary composite PMI: The index follows a previous reading of 58.4.
Oct. 23, 10 a.m. — University of Michigan consumer sentiment: The final October reading is expected after a preliminary result of 46.3.

Corporate earnings calendar

Four notable companies are scheduled to report quarterly results:

Oct. 21: CME Group (CME) reports before the market opens, with estimated earnings of $2.98.
Oct. 21: Tesla (TSLA) reports after the market closes, with estimated earnings of $0.40.
Oct. 22: Nasdaq (NDAQ) releases earnings before the market opens, with an estimate of $1.02.
Oct. 22: Blackstone (BX) reports before the opening bell, with estimated earnings of $1.29.

Blockchain governance and development

Several proposals and developer discussions are scheduled across major crypto networks:

Oct. 19 — Ethereum: All Core Devs Testing call No. 101 will focus on testing the Glamsterdam and Hegotá upgrades.
Oct. 19 — WalletConnect Network: Voting closes on a proposal to implement a power-law APY formula alongside a separate RewardWeight system designed to improve staking incentives.
Oct. 19 — ZKsync: The deadline arrives for a vote on resubmitting the v31 protocol upgrade with corrected calldata. The proposal would introduce Priority Mode for chains settling on Layer 1 and unify the Era and ZKsync OS codebases.
Oct. 21 — QuickSwap: Voting ends on a proposal to retire the Soneium deployment and remove the network from the project’s landing-page interface.
Oct. 22 — Arbitrum DAO: Votes conclude on several initiatives, including changing L1 pricing parameters for Glamsterdam, creating an L1 voting recovery system, transferring 1,700 ETH to ADG and Treasury strategies, and making USDG a core strategic initiative.
Oct. 22 — Starknet: A non-binding vote on researching a move toward an independent post-quantum Layer 1 reaches its deadline.
Oct. 22 — Optimism: A veto-only vote on transferring Unichain’s sequencer operations and fee routing to the Optimism Foundation closes.
Oct. 25 — ENS DAO: Voting ends on activating ENSv2 on mainnet. The proposal would halt new v1 registrations while preserving renewals for existing names and placing control under the DAO.

Scheduled token unlocks

Oct. 20 — LayerZero (ZRO): 3.83% of circulating supply, worth approximately $44 million.
Oct. 25 — Humanity (H): 6.84% of circulating supply, valued at around $15.27 million.
Oct. 25 — Plasma (XPL): 5.02% of circulating supply, worth approximately $17.76 million.