Market update

Crypto markets are seeing a price correction with many altcoins down by double digits this week. As usual, there are plenty of potential contributing factors, with inflation hitting a 40 year high in the US potentially forcing the Federal Reserve to accelerate its tapering plan and Chinese real estate giant Evergrande being declared in restricted default after failing to repay overseas bond holders. Bitcoin has also dipped below the 200-day moving average, which is never a good sign and finishes the week down 10% to trade around AU$65,500 (US$46,800). Ethereum lost 16% and is trading just above AU$5,300 (US$3,800). Cardano (-16%), XRP (-8%) and Dogecoin (-14%) all lost ground. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 28, or ‘Fear’.

After its big weekend plunge, Bitcoin has been trundling along mostly below AU$70K/US$50K until today when it poked its head above. It’s still down 12.6% for the week and is trading at just above AU$72,100 (US$50.9K). Ethereum has performed considerably better and is now just 2.4% on this time last week to trade around AU$6,150. Everything else was down including Cardano (-10.7%), Ripple (-16.6%) and Dogecoin (-17.5%). The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 16, or Extreme Fear, the lowest reading since July.

Crypto markets held a Black Friday sale when they tanked AU$280B (US$200B) late last week along with share markets on fears of a scary new variant from Omicron Persei 8. Crypto Twitter immediately flipped the switch to suicidal and the Crypto Fear and Greed Index plunged to Extreme Fear, even as an obscure ‘Omicron’ token gained 900% (before crashing of course). Markets have since recovered with Bitcoin finishing the week flat at just under AU$81,000 (US$57.8K). Ethereum’s up 5% on seven days ago to just above AU$6,200 (US$4.4K) but Cardano fell 12%, Ripple lost 7%. And it wouldn’t be a BTC price dip without news that Microstrategy had bought an additional 7,002 Bitcoin at an average price of AU$82,821 (US$59,187), bringing its total stash to 121,044 BTC. Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan warns the volatility likely isn’t over just yet: “The over-exuberant recovery Bitcoin experienced once that fear subsided is of little consolation, as we can now see that the digital currency is clearly vulnerable to a stock market panic.”

After reaching new highs earlier in the month, crypto markets have pulled back across the board, with Bitcoin losing 14% on seven days ago to trade around AU$77,650 (US$56,500). Ethereum is trading around AU$5,650 (US$4,100) which is down 10.2% on seven days ago. Most other coins pulled back too: Cardano (-13%), Ripple (-13%) and Polkadot (-12.3%). Interestingly Dogecoin (-15.8%) was pushed out of the top ten by Avalanche which gained 42% this week. As you might expect sentiment took a dive from 72 last week (greed) down to 50 (neutral) this week according to the Crypto Fear and Greed Index.

‘Moonvember‘ isn’t quite as catchy as ‘Uptober’ but Bitcoin and Ethereum have still been making new all time highs. On November 10, Bitcoin hit AU$93,450 (US$68,514) before plunging 10%. It’s currently 3.9% down for the week and is trading around AU$87,100 (US$64K). ETH’s new ATH that same day was AU$6,612 (US$4,834) and it is currently 4.3% down for the week at AU$6,238 / US$4,563. Cardano lost 4.8% during the past week, XRP lost 8% and Dogecoin (-7.2%). The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 72, or ‘Greed’. Onchain analyst Willy Woo thinks high expectations are holding back a bigger price run. “Whenever everyone’s bullish, it’s very difficult for the price to run upwards because you get a whole lot of speculative long positions in the markets and that makes it very, very profitable to take the other side and short it,” he said. “The majority is very seldom right.”

After a big surge yesterday, and another one this morning, Bitcoin is officially in all-time high territory again against USD, AUD, SGD, and NZD.  The price is up 7% in 24 hours, and 9.5% on the week. Analyst Rekt Capital has just posted a chart suggesting a blistering end to the year: “One final resistance left before #BTC enters its parabolic phase of the cycle.” Ethereum cruised on through to hit a new all-time high of AU$6,503 (US$4,822) a few hours ago and is currently trading up 8% on the same time last week at AU$6,480 (US$4,800). Cardano was up 6%, XRP gained 14%, Polkadot (4%). The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 75 or Greed.