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Crypto Daybook Americas

Bitcoin (BTC) Dominance Tumbles as Altcoins Rumble: Crypto Daybook Americas

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(All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

By Omkar Godbole

Bitcoin is starting the week on a despondent note, trading 2% lower at $95,000 amid risk-off sentiment in traditional markets. European stocks are falling and the euro is diving against the dollar as concern the French government is on the verge of collapse pushes its bond yields to levels matching those of debt-ridden Greece.

BTC’s decline follows a failed attempt to break through the multimillion-dollar wall of sell orders near $100,000 over the weekend and MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor’s bitcoin presentation to Microsoft.

Still, bulls shouldn’t lose hope just yet, because the supply scarcity is real, with nearly 75% of bitcoin classified as illiquid and less than 14% in centralized exchanges, according to Andre Dragosch of Bitwise.

There’s chatter about countries adopting BTC as a strategic reserve, with a Middle Eastern nation potentially unveiling something big at the Abu Dhabi Finance Week that runs Dec. 9-12. The noise could get louder as the event draws close.

Ether’s technical analysis is particularly bullish, reminiscent of BTC’s positioning in mid-October, which was signaling a massive rally even before the U.S. elected crypto-friendly Donald Trump as president.

Market flows are on the same page. On Friday, net inflows into nine ether ETFs listed in the U.S. hit nearly $333 million. That’s even more than the BTC funds’ $320 million. Talk about the change in market leadership. In addition, ETH whales have snapped up ETH worth $5.7 billion in 20 days, according to IntoTheBlock.

Meanwhile, XRP has surged over 27% in just 24 hours, making it the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value and pushing Tether’s USDT to fourth place. The rally was accompanied by record volumes in South Korea, indicating strong retail participation. While a surge of 350% in four weeks may look overstretched, that’s not necessarily the case. XRP’s market value-to-realized value (MVRV) ratio, a popular metric modeled alongside the price-to-book ratio in equities and tracked by Santiment, has bounced only to its lifetime average, meaning prices need to rise more before we can start talking about overvaluation.

On the macro front, this week’s focus is the U.S. ISM non-manufacturing PMI on Wednesday, along with Friday’s payrolls and average hourly earnings report. If the employment component and wage growth exceed expectations, the dollar could get a lift while trimming Fed rate-cut bets. Additionally, there’s talk of more easing from China, though the impact of earlier measures has been downplayed. Stay alert!

What to Watch

  • Crypto:
    • Dec. 18: CleanSpark (CLSK) Q4 FY 2024 earnings. EPS Est. $-0.18 vs Prev. $-1.02.
  • Macro
    • Dec. 2, 3:15 p.m.: Fed governor Christopher J. Waller gives a speech (“Economic Outlook”) at the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) Monetary Conference, in Washington, D.C.
    • Dec. 4, 4:00 a.m.: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is set to release its latest Economic Outlook. Secretary-General Mathias Cormann and Chief Economist Álvaro Pereira present the findings during an event available online.
    • Dec. 4, 10:00 a.m.: The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) releases its Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for November. Est. 55.5 vs Prev. 56.0.
    • Dec. 4, 1:45 p.m.: Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell takes part in a moderated discussion at The New York Times DealBook Summit in New York City.
    • Dec. 4, 2:00 p.m.: The Fed releases the Beige Book, an economic summary used ahead of FOMC meetings.
    • Dec. 6, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the October Employment Report.
      • Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) Prev. 12K.
      • Unemployment Rate Prev. 4.1%.

Token Events

  • Token unlocks
    • Ethena (ENA) to unlock 0.44% of circulating supply worth $10.75 million on Dec. 3.
    • Cardano (ADA) to unlock 0.05% of circulating supply worth $20.18 million on Dec .4.
    • Jito (JTO) to unlock 102.7% of circulating supply worth $464.1 million on Dec. 7.
  • Governance votes
    • SafeDAO opened preliminary discussions on allocating $50,000 toward creating a modular treasury management system. The discussion opened on Dec. 1.
    • Arbitrum is voting on allocating $20,000 to research user behavior and subsequent development direction. The vote closes Dec. 5.

Conferences:

Token Talk

By Oliver Knight

HyperLiquid’s native token, HYPE, hit the market last week to become one of the most profitable airdrops of the year. It tripled in price over the weekend after debuting at a $1 billion market cap. The token is now trading at $8.57 after touching a record high of $9.79.

Unlike many other generic native tokens that offer utility through governance votes, HYPE can be staked to secure HyperBFT, the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm that powers the HyperLiquid exchange. It is also being used as the primary token for paying transaction fees on the network.

True to its ticker, the token garnered notable attention among crypto enthusiasts on X (the so-called Crypto Twitter community) with almost all of the well-known influencers mentioning, recommending and occasionally scrutinizing it.

The bull case for HYPE is in the tokenomics because supply is skewed toward the community as opposed to venture capitalists and early investors. As a result, it is trading more like a meme coin with a viral following without the risk of supply suppression by anyone who bought in a funding round at a cheaper price.

Quant trader Flood, who goes under the X account @ThinkingUSD, wrote that they were “adding huge” under $4 on the day of release. Since then trading terminal Insilico announced it was strategically accumulating a HYPE reserve, allocating 25% of weekly revenue.

Derivatives Positioning

  • The three-month basis in BTC and ETH futures on offshore exchanges has softened from weekend highs, suggesting a moderation in bullish sentiment.
  • Perpetual funding rates across the broader market are normalizing, which could pave the way for a more sustained price rally.
  • In the options market, calls for BTC and ETH are still trading at a premium to puts. However, ETH calls are more expensive than BTC calls, indicating bullish expectations for ether relative to bitcoin.
  • IBIT and MSTR’s high implied volatility has sparked interest in covered call strategies.

Market Movements:

  • BTC is down 2.6% from 4 p.m. ET Friday to $94,939.66 (24hrs: -2%)
  • ETH is down 0.5% at $3,579.86 (24hrs: -3%)
  • CoinDesk 20 is up 3.6% to 3,641.28 (24hrs: 6+2.13%)
  • Ether staking yield is unchanged at 3.07%
  • BTC funding rate is at 0.017% (18.8% annualized) on Binance
CoinDesk 20 members

(CoinDesk Indices)

  • DXY is up 0.4% at 106.2
  • Gold is down 0.6% at $2,635.20/oz
  • Silver is up 1.2% to $30.26/oz
  • Nikkei 225 closed +0.8% at 38,513.02
  • Hang Seng closed 0.65% at 19,550.29
  • FTSE is up 0.14% at 8,273.78
  • Euro Stoxx 50 is 0.20% at 4,813.85
  • DJIA closed on Friday +0.42% to 44,910.65
  • S&P 500 closed +0.56% at 6,032.38
  • Nasdaq closed +0.83% at 19,218.17
  • S&P/TSX Composite Index closed +0.41% 25,648
  • S&P 40 Latin America closed -1.58% at 2,328.18
  • U.S. 10-year Treasury was unchanged at 4.2%
  • E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 0.2% to 6039.50
  • E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.21% to 20949
  • E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are down 0.12% at 44999

Bitcoin Stats:

  • BTC Dominance: 56.78% (-0.04%)
  • Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.0379 (-0.37%)
  • Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 744 EH/s
  • Hashprice (spot): $62.14
  • Total Fees: 20.1 BTC/ $1.9 million
  • CME Futures Open Interest: 181,105 BTC
  • BTC priced in gold: 36.2 oz
  • BTC vs gold market cap: 10.32%
  • Bitcoin sitting in over-the-counter desk balances: 421,809

Basket Performance

Basket performance, month to date

Basket performance, month to date (CCData)

Technical Analysis

BTC's dominance rate

BTC’s dominance rate

BTC’s dominance rate has slipped below an ascending trendline that tracks its year-to-date rise. The breakdown points to a continued investor preference for altcoins over bitcoin.

TradFi Assets

  • MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Friday at $387.47 (-0.35%), down 2.17 % at $379.05 in pre-market.
  • Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $296.20 (-4.75%), up 0.22% at $296.84 in pre-market.
  • Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$25.61 (+1.83%)
  • MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $27.42 (+1.86%), down 1.42% at $27.03 in pre-market.
  • Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $12.65 (+2.26%), down 1.03% at $12.52 in pre-market.
  • Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $17.88 (+0.96%), down 1.17% at $17.67 in pre-market.
  • CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $14.35 (+3.54%), up 0.14% at $14.37 in pre-market.
  • CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $29.14 (+4.18%).
  • Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $57.02 (-6.6%), up 0.63% at $57.38 in pre-market.

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs:

  • Daily net inflow: $320 million
  • Cumulative net inflows: $30.67 billion
  • Total BTC holdings ~ 1.076 million.

Spot ETH ETFs

  • Daily net inflow: $332.9 million
  • Cumulative net inflows: $576.8 million
  • Total ETH holdings ~ 3.047 million.

Source: Farside Investors

Overnight Flows

Table of 24-hour token volume trading

(CryptoCompare)

Chart of the Day

Crypto sector-wise performance breakup of the past 30 days

Crypto sector-wise performance breakup of the past 30 days

  • The chart shows the 30-day change in the fully diluted market capitalizations of tokens grouped by category.
  • The store-of-value sector, comprising cryptocurrencies with BTC-like appeal, has seen an industry-beating 262% surge in four weeks.
  • DeFi, meanwhile, has put in a below-average performance.

While You Were Sleeping

  • XRP Replaces Tether as 3rd-Largest Cryptocurrency While BTC Faces $384M Sell Wall (CoinDesk): XRP has surged 375% in 30 days to $2.40, becoming the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. TikTok trends, speculation on a Ripple stablecoin and ETF hopes are fueling interest. Bitcoin, meantime, faces resistance near $100,000, with a $384 million wall of sell orders.
  • Ether’s Price Chart Now Mirrors a Pattern That Foretold Bitcoin’s Record Rally (CoinDesk): Ethereum’s price chart shows a bullish breakout, ending an eight-month corrective trend and resuming its October 2023 uptrend from $1,500. Similar to Bitcoin’s October rally, it may trigger cascading gains. Supporting this are rising network activity and $332.9 million in net inflows to U.S. spot ether ETFs last Friday.
  • Ethereum ETFs See Record $333M Inflows, Outpacing Bitcoin Funds as Catch-Up Trade Gains Momentum (CoinDesk): Ethereum ETFs in the U.S. saw record inflows Friday, totaling $332.9 million, led by BlackRock and Fidelity funds. Last week, ether outpaced bitcoin in ETF flows and price gains, hitting $3,700. Analysts attribute the resurgence to improving DeFi sentiment, anticipation of regulatory clarity and potential bottoming in the ETH-BTC ratio after three years.
  • Establishment’s Takeover of Bitcoin Creates a New List of Risks (Bloomberg): Spot bitcoin ETFs hold over 1 million tokens, or 5% of the supply, rivaling Satoshi Nakamoto’s stash. Rising institutional demand, potential U.S. government stockpiles and supply constraints fuel price forecasts of high as $1 million per BTC. However, concentrated ownership and policy risks could create market vulnerabilities despite ongoing price surges.
  • Yen Strengthens Past 150 per Dollar on BoJ Rate Rise Expectations (Financial Times): The yen has strengthened past 150 per dollar after stronger Tokyo inflation data fueled speculation of a December Bank of Japan interest-rate increase. Core CPI rose 2.2% year-on-year, driven by higher rice costs. Despite recent yen declines and $100 billion in interventions, a rapid yen appreciation could deter the bank from raising rates.
  • Russia’s Central Bank Acknowledges ‘Short-Term’ Impact on Ruble Exchange Rate (The Moscow Times): On Friday, Russia’s Central Bank attributed the ruble’s drop to U.S. sanctions on Gazprombank while expressing confidence in its own actions, including halting foreign currency purchases and maintaining a 21% interest rate. Friday’s official rate was 109.57 per dollar and 116.14 per euro, with officials optimistic about currency stabilization.

In the Ether

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Crypto Daybook Americas

Bull Momentum Stalls Ahead of Fed Rate Cut

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By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Bitcoin and ether’s bull momentum has hit a roadblock. The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) came in hotter than expected Thursday, prompting investors to tighten their stances and keep a bid for the dollar, as we anticipated. There’s also the Truflation index stirring up concern. Seen by some as more reliable than government numbers, it rose above 3% for the first time in over two years.

But guess what? Fed fund futures remain confident the central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points next week, and traders on decentralized exchanges, who have a knack for catching big trends, remain as bullish as ever.

The sentiment is reflected in the impressive $64.8 million open interest for active BTC call options on Derive, the leading on-chain options protocol. That’s a staggering six times larger than the open interest in put options. Ether traders are also leaning heavily toward calls, figures from Amberdata show.

On top of that, funding rates for BTC, ETH, and SOL on HyperLiquid, a prominent on-chain perpetuals trading protocol, are also positive, albeit with reservations. They’re hovering well under an annualized 50%, showing that while the sentiment is bullish, the leverage level is measured and not overly aggressive.

In the broader market, AVAX, the native token of the Avalanche network of blockchains, struggled to chew through selling pressure near $55, teasing a “double top” pattern on the charts. The lackluster price action comes on the heels of Thursday’s $250 million fundraise led by Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly and ParaFi Capital. Keep an eye out for a pick-up in volatility as the highly anticipated Avalanche9000 upgrade, aimed at making the platform more affordable and flexible for creating layer-1 chains, is set to go live on Dec. 16.

LQTY, the native token of censorship-resistant decentralized stablecoin lender Liquity, took a breather near $2.45, having more than doubled in value in the past four weeks because of the V2 launch and overall bullish market sentiment.

The Polygon ecosystem token, POL, wasn’t stirred by a proposal suggesting deploying DAI, USDC and USDT reserves locked in the PoS bridge — the equivalent of cash under a mattress — into yield-generating strategies.

Lastly, a survey by Vietnam’s leading digital assets exchange, Coin68, showed over half of respondents reporting profits from their investments last year and 93.5% anticipating an altcoin season in 2025. Emerging countries, in general, could see more pivot toward alternative investment vehicles as President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs cause fiat volatility, although that could also motivate local governments to implement capital controls. So stay alert out there.

What to Watch

  • Crypto:
    • Dec. 13: Nasdaq announces its annual changes to the Nasdaq-100 index. MicroStrategy (MSTR), the world’s largest corporate holder of bitcoin, is widely expected to be added.
    • Dec. 18: CleanSpark (CLSK) Q4 FY 2024 earnings. EPS Est. $-0.18 vs Prev. $-1.02.
  • Macro

Token Events

  • Governance votes & calls
    • Arbitrum DAO has an active vote to allocate 22 million ARB ($22.8 million) to cover operating costs for OpCo, an entity it can use to create a more structured approach to governance. The vote closes Dec. 19.
    • The Polygon community is evaluating a governance proposal that would see the deployment of $1 billion of its stablecoin reserve to generate a yield.
  • Unlocks
    • Axie Infinity (AXS) will unlock $6.4 million worth of tokens on Dec. 13, representing 0.52% of circulating supply.
    • Starknet (STRK) will unlock $41.5 million worth of tokens on Dec. 14, representing 2.83% of circulating supply.
    • Sei (SEI) will unlock $49 million worth of tokens on Dec. 15, representing 2.07% of circulating supply.
  • Token Launches
    • Binance announced that data sovereignty platform Vana (VANA) will release a token on the launchpool. Trading will start Dec. 16.

Conferences:

Token Talk

By Shaurya Malwa

This digital fart is worth nearly $700 million.

The scatologically named AI agent token fartcoin (FART) has zoomed to over $670 million in market cap, lifted by gains in the general AI agent sector we discussed on Thursday.

The coin allows users to engage with the token by submitting fart-related memes or jokes to claim tokens. It boasts a “Gas Fee” system — a parody of gas fees on serious projects such as Ethereum — with certain transactions producing a name-appropriate digital sound, adding a unique layer of what some might call fun.

Some community members see the token as more than just a meme; they view it as a cultural phenomenon within the crypto space — one that gets funnier as prices rise.

Fartcoin was conceived within the digital conversation space known as “Infinite Backrooms,” the chatroom that directly led to the creation of the first AI agent, Gospel of Goatse (GOAT).

The idea was initially discussed by an AI agent known as “Terminal of Truths” (@truth_terminal on X) in conversation with another AI bot. It was explored, among other token launch concepts, as part of a broader discussion on how to raise funds for various projects, including making a film and supporting environmental initiatives.

Derivatives Positioning

  • BTC and ETH calls continue to be pricier than puts.
  • Still, flows have been mixed in BTC, with uptake for $70K puts expiring in February and March.
  • Speculative excesses remain at bay, keeping perpetual funding rates positive but low.

Market Movements:

  • BTC is up 0.69 % from 4 p.m. ET Thursday to $100,468.14 (24hrs: -0.14%)
  • ETH is up 0.83% at $3,899.63 (24hrs: -0.15%)
  • CoinDesk 20 is up 0.36% to 3,830.21 (24hrs: -1.1%)
  • Ether staking yield is up 7 bps to 3.24%
  • BTC funding rate is at 0.01% (10.95% annualized) on Binance
CoinDesk 20 members’ performance
  • DXY is unchanged at 106.99
  • Gold is unchanged at $2,689.5/oz
  • Silver is up 0.38% to $31.35/oz
  • Nikkei 225 closed -0.95% at 39,470.44
  • Hang Seng closed -2.09% at 19,971.24
  • FTSE is up 0.11% at 8,321.32
  • Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.44% at 4,987.3
  • DJIA closed on Thursday -0.53% to 43,914.12
  • S&P 500 closed -0.54% at 6,051.25
  • Nasdaq closed -0.66% at 19,902.84
  • S&P/TSX Composite Index closed -0.96% at 25,410.7
  • S&P 40 Latin America closed -2.02% at 2,349.72
  • U.S. 10-year Treasury is up 7 bps at 4.34%
  • E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.34% to 6,081.25
  • E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.68% to 21,798.0
  • E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are up 0.24% at 44,083.00

Bitcoin Stats:

  • BTC Dominance: 56.47% (24hrs: +0.11%)
  • Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.03888 (24hrs: +0.18%)
  • Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 763 EH/s
  • Hashprice (spot): $64.3
  • Total Fees: 19.68 BTC/ $1.9 million
  • CME Futures Open Interest: 196,355 BTC
  • BTC priced in gold: 10.64%
  • BTC vs gold market cap: 37.4 oz
  • Bitcoin sitting in over-the-counter desk balances: 422.9k

Basket Performance

Basket performance as of Dec. 13

Technical Analysis

AVAX's daily chart (TradingView/CoinDesk)

AVAX’s daily chart (TradingView/CoinDesk)

  • The chart shows the upside in Avalanche’s AVAX being capped at around $55, the resistance level seen earlier this month.
  • A renewed decline from here would translate into a double-top bearish reversal pattern. Keep an eye on this.

Crypto Equities

  • MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Thursday at $392.19 (-4.67%), up 1.87% at $399.52 in pre-market.
  • Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $312.96 (-0.27%), up 0.9% at $315.83 in pre-market.
  • Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$27.45 (+0.59%)
  • MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $22.58 (-2.97%), up 1.42% at $22.90 in pre-market.
  • Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $12.33 (+4.76%), up 1.46% at $12.51 in pre-market.
  • Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $15.54 (-2.02%), down 0.26% at $15.50 in pre-market.
  • CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $12.33 (-3.9%), down 2.6% at $12.01 in pre-market.
  • CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $27.86 (-0.11%).
  • Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $71.84 (+11.33%), down 1.17% at $71.00 in pre-market.

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs:

  • Daily net inflow: $597.5 million
  • Cumulative net inflows: $35.14 billion
  • Total BTC holdings ~ 1.121 million.

Spot ETH ETFs

  • Daily net inflow: $273.7 million
  • Cumulative net inflows: $2.24 billion
  • Total ETH holdings ~ 3.440 million.

Source: Farside Investors

Overnight Flows

Top 20 digital assets’ prices and volume

Chart of the Day

Chart showing top chains by developers. (Electric Capital)

Top chains by developers. (Electric Capital)

  • Solana leads all blockchains with the highest number of new developers actively exploring its ecosystem.

While You Were Sleeping

In the Ether

Bitcoin crossing $100K
Bitcoin ETFs keep growing
Buying Bitcoin at $100K checklist
U.S. strategic reserve could include ether
ARK Innovation ETF’s performance compared to Berkshire Hathaway





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