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By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) -Following the largest crypto liquidation in history last Friday, options market investors are bracing for more volatility and further declines in bitcoin and ether, aggressively positioning in trades that offer protection against another potential freefall. Market participants said the crypto sector on Friday saw more than $19 billion in liquidations across leveraged positions as panic selling and low liquidity triggered sharp swings. The plunge came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced late on Friday a 100% tariff on Chinese imports and threatened export controls on critical software.  Crypto analysts said this was the largest wipeout in a 24-hour period in the market's history, nine times larger than the February 2025 crash and 19 times bigger than the March 2020 meltdown and the FTX collapse in November 2022. Bitcoin fell as low as $104,782.88 during the October 10-11 period, down more than 14% from its high of $122,574.46 on Friday. It was last up 0.6% at $115,718.13. The world's largest cryptocurrency hit a record high above $126,000 on October 6. Ether, the second biggest digital currency, dropped 12.2% to a low of $3,436.29 on Friday. It last changed hands at $4,254, up 2.4% on the day.  Altcoins took an even bigger hit as HYPE (-54%), DOGE (-62%), and AVAX (-70%) all experienced steep drawdowns before recovering to post more modest losses. Trump over the weekend softened his rhetoric on China, however, noting that "it will all be fine" and the U.S. did not want to "hurt" China. That helped the crypto recovery. China on Sunday blamed the U.S. for the escalation, but did not roll out further countermeasures. "Last Friday, you saw volatility just jump across the board, not only for short-dated, but also for long-dated maturities. The sentiment around short-dated volatility is that more people are worried about downward turns," said Sean Dawson, head of research at Derive.xyz in Canberra. Data from Derive.xyz, a crypto options trading platform, showed heavy "put" buying from traders in bitcoin and ether, which suggested hedging against potential downside risks. In bitcoin, there were hefty purchases of puts conferring the right to sell bitcoin at strike prices of $115,000 and $95,000 for the October 31 expiry, according to Dawson. There was also a sharp reversal from call buying to call selling at the $125,000 strike for the October 17 expiry, suggesting a bearish short-term view.  Calls in the options market reflect expectations that the price will increase. For ether, Nick Forster, Derive.xyz co-founder, said traders focused on the $4,000 strike for the October 31 expiry and $3,600 strike for the October 17 expiry. He also noted substantial buying of $2,600 puts for the December 26 expiry. Those strikes, he said, are indicative of growing bearish sentiment through year-end. Despite the meltdown, Willy Woo, a leading onchain crypto analyst with more than a million on X, noted that bitcoin investor flows have been holding up well and may be the reason it fared better than expected against a sharp decline in stocks. In contrast, Woo said he saw a large drop in ether flows while Solana continued a decline. He believes that capital in altcoins is likely rotating into bitcoin rather than leaving the system. Altcoins, also known as alternative coins, refer to cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin, which are often treated as high-risk, high-reward investments. Some altcoins deliver massive returns, but many fail or lose liquidity. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is widely viewed as a "blue-chip" crypto asset, widely-held by institutions. "The good news is that this (crash) has cleaned out the excessive leverage and reset the risk in the market, for now," said Nic Puckrin, crypto analyst and co-founder of The Coin Bureau.  "However, bitcoin now faces another uphill battle to break past key resistance levels that will allow it to reach a meaningful new all-time high this year." ​ (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Additional reportinng by Michelle Price; Editing by Alden Bentley)

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London (PA Media/dpa) – Eating peppermints can increase alertness in people who are ill with the common cold, according to research. Scientists at Cardiff University looked at whether having a cold impaired mood and performance and if these effects could be removed by sucking peppermints. They monitored 81 students over 10 weeks and during that time 17 participants developed a mild upper respiratory tract illness. Six of the ill participants were given peppermints, six were given butterscotch, and five were not given sweets. Of the 64 healthy controls, 21 sucked peppermint, 22 were given placebo sweets, and 21 did not eat any sweets. The healthy controls and unwell participants were given tests for their mood, performance, and time reaction tasks. The study confirmed that having a cold was associated with slower reaction times, slower eye movements and reduced alertness. They found that sucking a peppermint increased alertness in both those with colds and those who were healthy. But there were no significant effects of sucking a peppermint on performance. They found that eating peppermints influenced malaise because it soothed the signals from body to the brain. "When people are sick with a mild upper respiratory tract illness, they will likely experience malaise – a general discomfort and a lack of wellbeing. This can impact performance and reduce our alertness," Dr Andy Smith, who led the research, said. "Vapours are known to have therapeutic benefits – and aromatics, such as mint, have been shown in previous research to have an impact on our wellbeing when ill and in perfect health. We thought it was plausible that peppermints might help reduce the malaise associated with the common cold and its symptoms," he said. The results confirmed that common cold illnesses are associated with slower psychomotor speed and reduced alertness, Smith said. "But sucking on a peppermint, compared to a butterscotch or nothing, during a cold can increase your alertness. These results show that, with the right understanding, simple things can be done to improve our wellbeing when unwell – and that includes eating a peppermint to help with a cold." The study "Effects Of Mild Upper Respiratory Tract Illnesses And Sucking Peppermints On Mood And Performance" is published in the World Journal Of Pharmacy And Pharmaceutical Sciences. The following information is not intended for publication pa dpa coh

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By James Pearson LONDON (Reuters) -British cyber incidents classed as "highly significant" have risen by 50% over a year ago, the head of the country's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will say on Tuesday.    A series of cyber attacks in recent months has knocked some of Britain's biggest brands, including Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), offline.    "Every leader, whether you're one person at your kitchen table  or the boss of thousands of people,  you must have a plan to defend against criminal cyberattacks," NCSC CEO Richard Horne is due to say at the launch of its annual review in London.    The NCSC, part of Britain's GCHQ spy agency, was asked to help with 429 cyber incidents in the 12 months to August, half of which were considered of "national significance".    Of those, Horne said, 18 were classed as "highly significant" because they had "serious impact on central government, UK essential services, a large proportion of the UK population, or the UK economy".    Ministers have written to companies, including the largest 350 on the FTSE Index, urging them to understand what support is available and to make cyber resilience a board-level responsibility, Britain's Department for Science, Innovation & Technology Press said in a statement.    The NCSC said it had dealt with 204 attacks in the three most serious categories in the year to August 2025, more than doubling from 89 the year before.    That has cast a light on the resilience of companies and particularly the smaller businesses in their supply chains, which may be more vulnerable to suddenly losing orders, and payments, if their clients are unable to operate.           JLR, which analysts estimated was losing around 50 million pounds per week from the shutdown, last week restarted some manufacturing after an almost six-week pause.     The luxury carmaker, owned by India's Tata Motors, was given a 1.5 billion pound loan guarantee by the British government in late September to help it support suppliers.    "If your IT infrastructure was crippled tomorrow  and all your screens went blank,  could you run your payroll systems, keep your machinery working, or stock your shelves? ," Horne said in his speech.    "If the answer is no, or more likely ‘don’t know’, act now".  (Reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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-Global smartphone shipments grew 2.6% in the third quarter this year, fueled by strong consumer demand for premium and AI-enabled devices, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation on Monday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Demand for smartphones has been resilient despite economic uncertainty and tariff challenges, boosted by premium features, favorable pricing models and promotional trade-in deals that make the upgrading decision a "no-brainer" for most customers. KEY QUOTE "The smartphone industry continues its upward trajectory, posting solid growth – a remarkable achievement given persistent economic uncertainty and tumultuous tariff dynamics," said Nabila Popal, senior research director for Worldwide Client Devices, IDC. "Demand for Apple's new iPhone 17 lineup was robust, with pre-orders surpassing those of the previous generation. At the same time, Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 outperformed all earlier foldable models, creating renewed momentum for the foldables segment," said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president, Client Devices, IDC. BY THE NUMBERS Third-quarter shipments rose to 322.7 million units, with Apple delivering its best results ever in a three-month period ended September and Samsung achieving its strongest September-quarter growth on record, IDC said. Samsung maintained its top spot with 61.4 million units shipped in the quarter, while Apple saw nearly 3% growth in shipments with 58.6 million. WHAT'S NEXT IDC said it maintains a positive outlook for the rest of 2025, projecting strong year-end sales driven by aggressive promotions, expanding AI capabilities and ongoing device innovation. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

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