Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:
Market moves: The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization falls under $41,000; ether and other major altcoins also drop.
Technician’s take: Oversold conditions are attracting short-term bitcoin buyers.
Catch the latest episodes of CoinDesk TV for insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis.
Prices
Bitcoin (BTC): $40,882 -2.2%
Ether (ETH): $3,024 -2.8%
Top gainers
| Asset | Ticker | Returns | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos | ATOM | +4.7% | Smart Contract Platform |
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Top losers
| Asset | Ticker | Returns | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum Classic | ETC | −6.5% | Smart Contract Platform |
| Filecoin | FIL | −4.8% | Computing |
| Stellar | XLM | −3.7% | Smart Contract Platform |
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Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive, and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges.
Markets
S&P 500: $4,482 -1.1%
DJIA: $34,715 -0.8%
Nasdaq: $14,154 -1.3%
Gold: $1,839 +.05%
Market moves
After jumping over $43,000 for a short time, bitcoin plummeted below where it started 24 hours ago. Ether and the largest altcoins by market capitalization also rose promisingly before falling back.
At the time of publication, bitcoin was trading under $41,000, ether had dropped below $3,100, and 19 of the 20 largest major altcoins by market cap were in the red.
The moves downward reflected ongoing pessimism about the economy and rising interest rates, and mirrored bearish sentiment about once, high-flying tech stocks. After a late sell-off of stocks, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index dropped 1.1% in U.S. trading hours. The S&P 500 fell similarly.
Joe DiPasquale, the CEO of the crypto fund BitBull Capital, said investors were initially upbeat about a study by the U.S. Federal Reserve on a digital dollar. “Any news that comes from such an official sources lends crypto credibility, and that credibility leads to increased demand,” DiPasquale said.
He attributed crypto markets’ recent down trend “to lower demand and some seasonability. “January is historically a soft month,” he said. “So I’m hopeful as we lead into the next few weeks that there will be increased activity and demand.”
Technician’s take
Bitcoin Returns Above $43K; Resistance Near $45K-$48K
Bitcoin (BTC) buyers are attempting to reverse a short-term downtrend on the charts.
Over the past two weeks, price action has been anchored around the $40,000 support level, which is where buyers previously stepped in ahead of the October price rally.
Still, the cryptocurrency could face resistance around $45,000-$48,000 as intraday signals approach overbought territory.
The 100-day moving average on the four-hour chart is sloping downwards, indicating a declining price trend over the past month. A decisive break above $43,000 could signal a positive trend shift on intraday charts.
On the daily chart, bitcoin appears to be oversold, albeit within a downtrend that began in November. That means upside could be limited given the decline in long-term momentum.
Important events
Australia Housing Industry Association new home sales (Dec.)
3 p.m. HKT/SGT (7 a.m. UTC): UK retail sales (Dec. MoM/YoY)
8:30 p.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 p.m. UTC): Speech by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde
11 p.m. HKT/SGT (3 p.m. UTC): European Commission consumer confidence – preliminary (Jan.)
CoinDesk TV
In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of “The Hash” on CoinDesk TV:
Will EU Ban Proof-of-Work Crypto Mining? Is Ether or Solana Winning the Hearts and Minds of NFT Investors?
“The Hash” hosts discussed hot topics, including the possible ban of proof-of-work crypto mining in Europe, Argo’s new venture into non-mining business, JPMorgan’s report on NFT market share and more.
Latest headlines
In Long-Awaited CBDC White Paper, Fed Flags Privacy, Financial Stability Risks: The Federal Reserve does not commit to launching (or not launching) a CBDC in the long-anticipated document.
Agoric Raises $50M in CoinList Token Sale to Bring JavaScript Developers Into Crypto: Some 40,000 investors snatched up the BLD tokens in a mere two hours.
UFC Joins NBA, NFL in Dapper Labs’ Sports NFT Suite: The marketplace will feature non-fungile tokens of iconic moments in the fighting league’s history.
Trading Technology Provider BlockFills Raises $37M For Expansion: The Series A was led by a number of institutional investors including Susquehanna Private Equity, CME Ventures and others.
Bank of Russia Calls for Full Ban on Crypto: Russia’s central bank suggests making crypto trading, mining and usage illegal.
Multichain Hack Worsens as Loss of Funds Reaches $3M: Report: Users of the cross-chain bridge say the company is not providing clear information or enough support.
Longer reads
Meta Leans In to Tracking Your Emotions in the Metaverse: Meet the new world, same as the old: Horizon Worlds, where you will be bagged, tagged and mercilessly monetized.
Today’s crypto explainer: What It Takes to Be a Content Creator
Other voices: Experts Raise Warnings About Steve Bannon’s New Cryptocurrency (Mother Jones)
Said and heard
“We’ve seen crypto winters pop up before and it’s possible that we can see that but what strikes me is a year ago $37-something-thousand is still a lot more than bitcoin’s peak price in 2017 when that crypto winter began. (CoinDesk editor Nik De on Cheddar News) …. “In fact, none of the 682,569 items listed when searching Squid Game on OpenSea have any relationship with the intellectual property (IP) holder as it has not licensed anyone to use the trademark for a digital blockchain asset. Yet, all of these derivatives and, frankly, some direct stolen imagery are available for purchase or trade on the world’s largest NFT platform.” (CoinDesk SVP, head of CoinDesk Studios)
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/01/20/first-mover-asia-bitcoin-altcoins-rise-and-then-sink/