A day after spiking and plunging, BTC returned to its rangebound ways.
After fluctuating all day, Bitcoin settles above $29,200. BCH and UNI fell over 5% and 6%, respectively.
Before Asia markets started Thursday, bitcoin’s 24-hour roller coaster ride was done, at least for now, trading at $29,207, about flat and back in the tight $500 spread it has generally held since the latter week of July.
Investors appear to have ignored industry-specific and macro events that sent BTC’s price surging past $30,000 on Wednesday amid reports of a Fitch downgrade of U.S. Treasurys and MicroStrategy’s plan to buy more bitcoin but then plummeted below $29,000 after Semafor wrote that Binance could face federal criminal charges.
Jeff Feng, co-founder of Sei Labs, emphasized the recent developments, including many spot bitcoin and ether ETF applications, that are affecting the crypto market and potentially causing even larger price shifts.
“We’re seeing a multitude of influential factors, which includes corporate investments, regulatory advancements, macroeconomic shifts, and potential for increased accessibility through financial products like ETFs,” Feng wrote. MicroStrategy’s continuous Bitcoin investment reinforces corporate interest in digital assets. As traders often regard milestones as catalysts, this and the approaching Bitcoin halving event are affecting market activity.
“These range-bound periods may indeed be precursors to more substantial market movements,” he said. Any market participant, from casual traders to institutional investors, must stay aware about…multifaceted influences.”
Ether, the second most valuable cryptocurrency, was trading at $1,842 yesterday, also flat. After a market rally, other major cryptos were mostly down. Uniswap’s token, UNI, and bitcoin offshoot BCH fell over 6% and 5%, respectively. Despite its predicted halving event, Litecoin (LTC) dropped roughly 6%.
“The market anticipates a considerable upswing in volatility,” he continued. The Blackrock spot ETF rule and Bitcoin Halvening drive this. Deribit has seen these expectations in the steep term structure (June ’24 trades at about 50) and the persistent call bias.
