It was another bullish session for the crypto market, with Ethereum and Lido DAO leading the way on updates on the Merge.
It was a bullish Saturday session for the crypto top ten. Bitcoin (BTC) rose for a fourth consecutive day, with ETH touching $1,400 for the first time since June 13.
There were no speeches from FOMC members to provide direction, with members entering the blackout period, which extends from July 16 to July 28.
From Friday, the talk of a 75-basis point continued to resonate, delivering the upside on the day. FOMC members Bostic and Bullard spoke of a 75-basis point hike this month, easing fears of a 100-basis point hike.
With the US equity markets entering the earnings season, the crypto market will be looking to decouple from the NASDAQ 100. However, sentiment toward Fed monetary policy and the economic outlook will likely leave the two interlinked.
A bearish start to the Saturday session saw the crypto market cap fall to a day low of $897 billion before finding support. A breakout session, supported by further investor reaction to the US retail sales figures and Fed chatter led to a high of $965 billion before easing back.
Despite a late pullback, investors poured $31.5 billion back into the market to take the crypto market cap up $80 billion for July.
From the CoinMarketCap top 100, Lido DAO (LDO) led the way, surging by 22%, supported by the ETH breakout.
Progress towards the ETH Merge remained the key driver for LDO, with Ether staking on the rise.
Several coins bucked the broader market trend, however. Convex Finance (CVX) and TerraClassicUSD (USTC) fell by 3.90% and by 3.60%, respectively, with Quant (QNT) seeing a 1.55% loss.
On Sunday, 24-hour liquidations jumped at the turn of the day, despite a bullish start to the Sunday session.
This morning, 24-hour liquidations stood at $372.31 million, up from $144 million on Saturday.
Liquidated traders surged over the last 24 hours, suggesting a possible deterioration in market conditions. At the time of writing, liquidated traders stood at 63,031 versus 47,290 on Saturday morning.
Significantly, 12-hour liquidations surged to $344 million, driving four-hour and one-hour liquidations northwards.
According to Coinglass, one-hour liquidations stood at $31.6 million, up from $0.924 million on Saturday.
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.