Skip to main content

Bitcoin Stuck at $29K, Ether at $1.8K as Market Awaits Fed Decision

 

The market is waiting for the Fed’s next move, or clarity around an ETF, say analysts

By Sam Reynolds, James Rubin
AccessTimeIconJul 26, 2023 at 4:22 a.m.
Updated Jul 26, 2023 at 1:57 p.m.
Bitcoin daily price chart (CoinDesk Indices)

Bitcoin daily price chart (CoinDesk Indices)


Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) were mimicking the dullness of traditional finance ahead of Wednesday’s key FOMC rate decision during the Asia trading day. The world’s largest digital asset changed virtual hands at $29,213 according to CoinDesk data, while ether moved at $1,853 as east Asia's day came to a close.

A big breakout isn’t going to come until the Fed changes course on rate decisions, or the Securities and Exchange Commission approves a bitcoin ETF, say analysts.

Bitcoin zoomed above $30,000 about a month ago after finance giant BlackRock's application for a bitcoin ETF spurred speculation this – if the world's largest asset manager wins regulatory approval – could funnel large amounts of money from conventional investors into digital assets. But it's been stuck around that level ever since, partly due to worry about the Fed's looming July 26 decision – a likely 25 basis point (bps) rate increase. 

“The increase in liquidity is volatile and is currently quite flat. This is because many central banks are still tightening, and China’s policy is still unclear, so it’s still too early to call for a bull market in digital assets, however, these ranges represent excellent accumulation zones for those with a long-term outlook,” Vivien Fang, head of financial products at Bybit, told CoinDesk.

Bitcoin had tumbled below $29,000 at one point Monday – its lowest level since June – after The Wall Street Journal reported that Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao had suggested in a private conversation that the crypto exchange's affiliates had conducted wash trading several years ago, and China's policymakers warned of a tortuous economic recovery.

"Inflation and rate concerns could be what [has been] keeping crypto prices depressed," Noelle Acheson wrote in her "Crypto is Macro" newsletter Tuesday. "These usually recover relatively quickly, but the new lower BTC level seems to be holding, reinforcing the idea that there are just not enough new buyers ready to take positions yet."

According to Coinglass data, $5.68 million short positions have been liquidated in the last 12 hours versus $9.3 million in longs. Overall, on-chain data shows that 49% of traders are taking long positions on bitcoin, while 50% are taking short positions.

Outside of crypto, U.S. banking sector issues resurfaced overnight, with shares in regional lender PacWest Bancorp (PACW) falling by more than 26%. Bitcoin barely budged in stark contrast to its bullish reaction to the banking sector instability of March.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin experienced its largest single-day gain in four months with a 10% jump, amidst speculation of its usage in the revamped Twitter platform, leading the futures open interest to exceed $500M for the first time since April.

Musk has taken a special interest in DOGE with his various pronouncements even before he acquired Twitter, driving the token's price. “Elon clearly has an affinity for DOGE, almost as part of a running joke, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually went through with enabling payments via DOGE,” Brian D. Evans, CEO and founder of BDE Ventures, a Web3 venture studio and advisory firm, told CoinDesk.

Ether (ETH), XRP, Solana (SOL)

Ether (ETH), the second-largest crypto by market value, was recently changing hands at around $1,853, up 0.16% versus 24 hours earlier. Among other major altcoins, XRP was recently up 2.3%, while SOL, the native crypto of the Solana smart contracts platform, gained 2.24%.

The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of overall crypto market performance, was recently up 0.38%. The CoinDesk Bitcoin and Ethereum trend indicators were in neutral territory, a downturn from earlier this month when they held steady in uptrend mode

"Some investors may be taking profits as they bet on hawkish language from the U.S. Fed following reports of rising house prices in the worlds biggest economy, which will likely give the [Federal Open Market Committee] reason to continue hiking rates throughout the year," Tim Frost, CEO of digital wealth platform Yield App, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/07/25/crypto-markets-today-btc-eth-doge-xrp-price-analysis/



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blow To Bitcoin As Coinbase CEO Makes Stark Warning

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sits for a portrait in their San Francisco headquarters on May 4, 2018. (Photo by Christie Hemm Klok for The Washington Post via Getty Images) Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption rates around the world are growing, but not quickly enough to prevent  the bitcoin price from falling  — and now the chief executive of San Francisco-based Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has warned that widespread, mass bitcoin adoption for payments is going to be a long time coming. The bitcoin price is currently just over $6,000 after falling below the psychological barrier yesterday for the second time this year. The bitcoin price is down some 70% from its highs at the end of last year and many of newer cryptocurrencies that have been created in the last few years have been all but wiped out. The bitcoin price has fallen far from its 2017 highs in recent months. COINDESK “I think it will be quite some time before you cross t
1 comment
Read more

90% of Cryptocurrency Market Facing ‘Extinction-Level Event’: Xapo President

A reckoning coming to the cryptocurrency markets, an “extinction-level event” that’s poised to wipe out 90 percent of the more than 1,800 coins and tokens that aren’t named bitcoin. That’s the prognostication of  Xapo  President Ted Rogers, anyway, who said that the impending altcoin bloodbath will provide discerning investors with an incredible opportunity to load up on  bitcoin  at a discount. “We could be in the midst of the extinction-level event for “cryptoassets” that many maximalists have predicted. 90%+ of @CoinMarketCap list will disappear eventually – might as well happen now,” Rogers wrote on Twitter. “Meantime, lower BTC price means incredible opportunity to buy more #bitcoin.” Ted Rogers @tedmrogers We could be in the midst of the extinction-level event for “cryptoassets” that many maximalists have predicted. 90%+ of @ CoinMarketCap list will disappear eventually - might as well happen now. Meantime, lower BTC price means incredible opportuni
1 comment
Read more

There Is No ‘Bitcoin’: What the SEC Doesn’t Get About Cryptocurrency

Edan Yago is the founder of  CementDAO , an effort to bring together stablecoins into a unified ecosystem.  He previously was the CEO and co-founder of software firm Epiphyte and helped set up the industry associations DATA and the Stablecoin Foundation.  The views expressed here are his own. —————————- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been gone to significant lengths in an attempt to understand the crypto asset space. This effort is to be applauded. However, the SEC has failed to come to terms with one fundamental aspect of crypto assets and systems. Namely, properly constructed crypto systems do not involve “persons” or “entities” and do not represent a form of property. For this reason, they do not have any analogue in the traditional financial world, nor can they fall under financial regulation. In the traditional financial world, assets are a claim on a specific property. For example, a commodity, shares in a company or a debt owed. Crypto asset
5 comments
Read more