It was a bullish end to a bearish week for the crypto market. However, the gains were modest, as investors grapple with increasing scrutiny.
It was a mixed session for the crypto top ten on Sunday. MATIC led the top ten, while XRP, BNB, and ETH struggled. Despite the bullish session, BTC fell short of $23,000 for the second consecutive day.
There were no crypto events to distract investors on Sunday. The lack of events left dip buyers to return from the sidelines. However, investor jitters over Silvergate Bank and sentiment toward intensifying lawmaker and regulatory scrutiny left the market range-bound and with modest gains.
While easing Fed Fear removed one hurdle for investors to tackle, investors are contending with regulatory uncertainty and increased lawmaker scrutiny. The collapse of FTX has given the anti-crypto side of the aisle a better footing, with the G20 looking to roll out regulatory reforms to combat bad crypto practices and mitigate the risks cryptos pose to financial stability.
This week will be a busy week for the crypto markets. On Tuesday, Bitcoin mining will be the hot topic on Capitol Hill, with the ‘first-ever Senate hearing focused on the urgent need to crack down on the growing environmental impacts of crypto mining.’
We also expect more on Binance, Silvergate Bank, and FTX. Last week, US lawmakers targeted Binance with a letter to CEO CZ. The letter spoke of the platform facilitating over $10 billion in payments to criminals and sanction evaders.
Amidst the heightened scrutiny, investors will quietly hope for Ripple to make good progress in the ongoing SEC v Ripple case. A Ripple victory could ease pressure on the crypto market, particularly if the Hinman Documents become a matter of public record.
Binance, FTX, and Silvergate Bank updates will remain investor focal points, with regulatory activity and US lawmaker chatter also needing consideration.
However, investors should also monitor FOMC member chatter ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday. A hawkish turn would weigh on the NASDAQ Composite Index and give the crypto bears a better footing. The NASDAQ mini was down 20 points this morning.
It was a bullish but range-bound Sunday session. In a choppy start to the day, the total crypto market cap fell to an early low of $978.69 billion before rising to a late high of $1,004 billion. However, a bearish end to the session left the crypto market cap down $4.00 billion to end the week at $989.08 billion.
Despite the bullish end to the week, the crypto market cap ended the week down $45.68 billion. Friday’s $41.41 billion drawdown did the damage.
It was a mixed session for the crypto top ten.
BTC (+0.38), DOGE (+0.13%), and MATIC (+0.61%) avoided the red with modest gains, with ADA ending the day flat.
However, a bearish end to the Sunday session left XRP down by 1.79%, with BNB (-0.28%), and ETH (-0.12%) also seeing red.
From the CoinMarketCap top 100, it was a mixed session.
Conflux (CFX) and maker (MKR) rallied by 10.30% and 9.99%, respectively, to lead the way. Synthetix (SNX) was also a front-runner, gaining 7.92%.
However, trust wallet token (TWT) fell by 3.73%, with dash (DASH) and theta network (THETA) seeing losses of 2.98% and 2.72%, respectively.
Over 24 hours, crypto liquidations fell further below-normal levels. Short positions had a higher share of liquidations, accounting for 54.75% of total crypto liquidations. This morning, 24-hour liquidations stood at $29.74 million, down from $48.97 million on Sunday morning (UTC).
Liquidated traders over the last 24 hours were also lower. This morning, liquidated traders stood at 13,019 versus 32,246 on Sunday morning. Crypto liquidations were lower over 12 and four hours while higher over one hour.
According to Coinglass, 12-hour liquidations stood at $9.31 million, down from $40.79 million on Sunday morning, with four-hour liquidations falling from $28.07 million to $5.51 million. However, one-hour liquidations rose from $0.482 million to $2.29 million.
The chart below shows market conditions throughout the session.
With over 20 years of experience in the finance industry, Bob has been managing regional teams across Europe and Asia and focusing on analytics across both corporate and financial institutions. Currently he is covering developments relating to the financial markets, including currencies, commodities, alternative asset classes, and global equities.