Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:
Market moves: Bitcoin’s price drops below $42,000 on continued concerns about macroeconomic conditions.
Technician’s take: BTC Buyers could remain active into the Asia trading day as momentum improves.
Catch the latest episodes of CoinDesk TV for insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis.
Prices
Bitcoin (BTC): $41,866 -1.4%
Ether (ETH): $3,144 -1.7%
Top gainers
| Asset | Ticker | Returns | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardano | ADA | +9.1% | Smart Contract Platform |
| Litecoin | LTC | +4.0% | Currency |
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Top losers
| Asset | Ticker | Returns | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos | ATOM | −7.9% | Smart Contract Platform |
| Chainlink | LINK | −7.2% | Computing |
| Polkadot | DOT | −7.2% | Smart Contract Platform |
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Markets
S&P 500: $4,532 -0.9%
DJIA: $35,028 -0.9%
Nasdaq: $14.340 -1.1%
Gold: $1,840 +1.4%
Market moves
Bitcoin continued to slide, falling under $42,000. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has been languishing well off last week’s high as investors worry about dicey macroeconomic conditions, including supply chain issues, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, rising inflation and a slump in technology markets.
At the time of publication, Bitcoin was trading at $41,866, down 1.4% for the day.
“The market is digesting a number of things,” Osprey Funds founder and CEO Greg King told CoinDesk TV on Wednesday. He added: “Risk assets like crypto are going to sell off or experience a bit of churn as the market adjusts to a different macro environment.”
Ether followed a similar path and was slightly down for the day, trading between $3,000 and $3,200 throughout the previous 24 hours. At the time of publication, ether was at 3,144, a 1.7% drop for this period. Most of the major altcoins spent their day in the red.
King noted the impact of inflation on the economy, which he said “nibbles away at your purchasing power over long periods of time,” and highlighted the correlation between the recent decline in tech stocks and crypto. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.1% and is off over 10% from its all-time high November. Shifts of more than 10% are thought of as market corrections. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both dropped nearly 1%.
Still, King sees crypto rebounding in the long term. “We are still bullish on the space and I would suspect that, at the end of the year, values will be much higher than they are.”
Technician’s take
Bitcoin Holding Support Above $40K; Faces Resistance at $43K-$45K
Bitcoin (BTC) continues to hold support above $40,000 as momentum improves on intraday charts.
The cryptocurrency is down about 4% over the past week, although multiple oversold readings suggest buyers could remain active into the Asia trading day.
Still, upside appears to be limited toward the $43,000-$45,000 resistance zone. And $48,000 could present another hurdle for buyers given the series of lower price highs since November.
The relative strength index (RSI) on the four-hour chart approached an oversold level on Tuesday, similar to what occurred on Jan. 5, which preceded a near 10% price bounce a few days later.
On the daily chart, the RSI has remained in oversold/neutral territory for about a month, which is common during a price downtrend.
Important events
8 a.m. HKT/SGT (12 a.m. UTC): Germany producer price index (Dec. MoM/YoY)
11 a.m. HKT/SGT (3 a.m. UTC): Eurostat consumer price index (Dec. MoM/YoY)
2:30 p.m. HKT/SGT (6:30 a.m. UTC): U.S. initial jobless claims four-week average (Jan. 14)
4 p.m. HKT/SGT (8 a.m. UTC): Existing home sales (Dec. MoM)
10:45 p.m. HKT/SGT (2:45 p.m. UTC): Visitor arrivals (Nov. YoY)
CoinDesk TV
In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of “First Mover” on CoinDesk TV:
Bitcoin Price Recovering From Slump, JPMorgan Report Suggests Ether Is Losing NFT Market Share to Solana
“First Mover” hosts were joined by Osprey Funds founder and CEO Greg King and eToro U.S. Managing Director Guy Hirsch for a look at today’s crypto markets and key trends to watch in 2022.
Latest headlines
Tom Brady’s NFT Platform Autograph Raises $170M: The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Kleiner Perkins and included the new fund of a16z alum Katie Haun.
Gemini Introduces Prime Brokerage Following Second Acquisition in a Week: Gemini Prime aims to attract institutional investors by providing access to multiple crypto exchanges and over-the-counter liquidity sources.
Former ConsenSys AG Investment Head Accuses Firm of Mistreatment in Lawsuit: Kavita Gupta said in an expanded version of a Dec. 31 complaint that ConsenSys AG had created a “toxic” work environment and demanded $30 million in monetary damages.
Damien Hirst Launches Chainlink Price Index for NFT Project: Hirst’s NFT collection, “The Currency,” gets its own dedicated price index.
NFT Scams: How to Avoid Falling Victim: With crypto-based scams becoming increasingly more sophisticated, it’s easier than ever to fall for them. Here’s how to keep your NFTs safe.
Longer reads
What You Own When You Own an NFT: Following an all-out bash of SpiceDAO’s plans to make a version of “Dune” “public,” it’s worth reflecting on copyright in crypto.
Today’s crypto explainer: How to Invest in the Metaverse
Other voices: Cryptocurrency is suddenly everywhere – except in the cash register (Washington Post)
Said and heard
“These tools would allow Meta to track your moods and reactions and alter your metaverse experience to elicit the responses that best serve its business model. (CoinDesk columnist David Z Morris) … “I have seen seed phrases scribbled in notebooks left in backpacks under the counters at bars during crypto conferences. I have acted as customer support on crypto projects and had users message me with their private keys (despite my admonitions not to) asking for help. I have seen users post their private keys in Discord channels.” (CoinDesk columnist Jill Gunter) … “Markets are still trying to find a level for rate increases. It was only in October the market was expecting one rate hike for 2022 and now it’s expecting four. That’s reflecting the level of uncertainty we have in the market right now about the path of Fed policy.” (Edward Park chief Investment officer at Brooks Macdonald/The Wall Street Journal) … “This is a terrible situation. Gas prices are in this political danger zone.” (Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets/CNN)
