Hello, Asia. Here’s what’s making news on the markets:
Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of the top news stories during U.S. business hours and insight into market movements and analysis. For a detailed overview of US markets, see Crypto Daybook Americas from CoinDesk.
Since October’s flash crash, cryptocurrencies have been trading around a single fault line.
Glassnode identifies Bitcoin’s true market average near $81.3k as the level separating time-based drawdowns from realizing more aggressive losses. In the post-October diet, this level gained even more weight.
Correlation data helps explain why this level is important beyond bitcoin itself. Over the past 90 days, and particularly since the October 10 flash crash, large-cap crypto assets have remained closely correlated with bitcoin, reinforcing its role as a market anchor.
As a result, a sustained breakout below the true market average would not only worsen the already small token losses.
Data from Glassnode shows that when bitcoin trades below this level for extended periods of time, selling pressure has historically spread more broadly across the market.
While large-cap assets are still moving closely with Bitcoin while high-beta tokens have already been sold off, a move below $81.3k would risk bringing this weakness back to the heart of the market.
Overall, it’s less about talking about a collapse and more about identifying where market equilibrium lies. As long as bitcoin remains above the true market average, losses may remain uneven.
But if $81.3k gives way and fails to recover, historical data from Glassnode suggests that selling pressure would be more likely to spread beyond the long tail. In a post-October market characterized by low liquidity and tight correlations with large caps, this would mark a shift from a slow and frustrating pullback to a more synchronized reset.
Market movement
BTC: Bitcoin was little changed, near $86,400, down about 1% on the day and about 6.5% over the past week as the recent pullback extended.
ETFs: Ether was trading around $2,830, down about 3.6% over the past 24 hours and about 15% for the week, underperforming Bitcoin as the broader market weakened.
Gold: Gold hit record highs in 2025, with prices doubling in two years to exceed $4,300 an ounce, as central bank buying, geopolitical risk, U.S. fiscal concerns and a widening investor base prompt major banks to forecast a price rise toward $5,000 in 2026.
Elsewhere in crypto
- California’s Newsom Pushes Trump, Reporting Convicted Crypto Allies CZ, Ross Ulbricht (CoinDesk)
- Indian MP pushes tokenization bill to democratize access to investment for the middle class (Decrypt)
