Market update
Bitcoin was trading as high as A$77,000 earlier this week, but took a tumble over the past couple of days and is currently trading around $71K. That’s 3.1% down on seven days ago. Ethereum lost 5.7%, Litecoin dropped 6.9%, BCH (-2.5%), AAVE (-6.6%) and SNX (-3.8%). However, Polkadot increased 3.4%, XRP/Ripple was up a whopping 27.2% amid a new push to get it relisted on exchanges, LINK was flat and Stellar was up 4%. Sentiment has eased and the Fear and Greed Index is currently at 70, or Greed.
Bitcoin was closing in on the A$80,000 mark over the weekend before it fell almost ten grand on Monday and another three grand today. Various theories have been advanced for the correction: the usual weekend retail shenanigans, conflicting reports over the severity of a crypto ban in India, incorrect reports of $1.3B in BTC being deposited on Gemini. At the time of writing, we have ended about flat from a week ago at A$70k. Bitcoin futures open interest hit a record US$29B a few days ago suggesting bulls expect the uptrend to continue. Elsewhere it was a mixed bag: Ethereum and EOS were flat, Polkadot was up 1%, along with Litecoin (4%) and Bitcoin Cash (0.3%). Chainlink lost 10%, Stellar (-6.1%), AAVE (-11.5%) and Synthetix (-10.8%).
Bitcoin has just seen its second-best weekly close ever, according to Cointelegraph. BTC is currently up 5.7% on seven days ago and is trading just under AU$68,000. That’s only around 12% from the most recent record high. Ethereum surged by 17.7% this week as news of an important protocol upgrade emerged, XRP (Ripple) was up 7%, Chainlink (16.4%), Litecoin (10%), Bitcoin Cash (6.5%), Aave (15.4%) and SNX (6.9%). Meanwhile, Polkadot lost 1.1% and Stellar was down 1%. The Fear and Greed Index is currently at 81, which is Extreme Greed.
Volatility on traditional markets was mirrored in crypto this week, with Bitcoin seeing what CoinDesk described as its “most tumultuous weekly performance” since the March 2020 crash. After falling below A$56K on the weekend, Bitcoin has rebounded 10.1% in the past 24 hours to trade just under A$64,500. Analysts have tied the rebound to a recovery in shares and the return of the Coinbase premium, which indicates buying interest in the US. BTC is still down 8.6% down on this time last week. Although markets are now heading in the right direction, everything is down on seven days ago including ETH (-12.5%), DOT (-4.4%), XRP (-22.1%), LTC (-14.9%), LINK (-12.1%), Stellar (-6.8%), BCH (-20.1%), AAVE (-7%). EOS (-21.2%) and SNX (-1.1%).
After trading above $73K on Monday, traders appear to have grown nervous that valuations were flying a little too close to the sun with Bitcoin suddenly plunging around 15%, liquidating $5B in leveraged positions this morning. Various pundits blamed Elon Musk who said on the weekend that BTC and ETH prices “do seem high” or US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who once again criticised BTC as “inefficient” and used for criminal activity. The Bitcoin price is still up 13.4% to trade just above $68,350. Ethereum traded above $2,500 for the first time this week but has fallen back to $2,250 which is where it was this time last week. Polkadot surged 35.9%, Ripple was up 3.6% and AAVE was flat, but everything else was down on seven days ago: Litecoin (-1.2%), Bitcoin Cash (-9.7%), LINK (-3.7%), Stellar (-5.3%) and Synthetix (-15.6%)
Bitcoin has been hitting new all-time highs this week and edged close to the US$50K mark ($A64.25K) before taking a tumble yesterday. There was much talk of a “dip” however Cryptowatch reports BTC has just closed its biggest-ever weekly green candle. It’s currently up 8.2% on a week ago to be trading around $62,500 at the time of writing. The BTC market cap also crossed the US$900B mark for the first time and it’s already at $1.15 trillion in AUD. Ethereum finishes the week up 5.7% to $2330. That means 1 ETH is worth the same as one ounce of gold ($2346) for the first time. XRP was up 26%, Litecoin gained 29.6%, Bitcoin Cash (52.9%), Chainlink (32%), Stellar (28.8%), EOS (36.2%), SNX (16.4%). AAVE fell by 4.6%. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hit 95 this week, it’s currently 93 (extreme greed).