By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
Narratives are changing rapidly in crypto.
Just yesterday we were talking about the weak institutional demand for bitcoin. noting net outflows of more than $500 million from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the first two days of the week.
Guess what? As of Wednesday, they raised more than $457.3 million, the highest single-day total in five weeks. This is a trend that should continue to propel BTC upward. The bull runs early in the year saw multiple days of net inflows above $500 million almost every week.
For now, the cryptocurrency remains stuck in Wednesday’s indecisive trading range between $86,000 and $90,000 as traders await U.S. inflation data due at 8:30 a.m.
A figure lower than the expected figure of 3.1% over one year could encourage further risk-taking. Fed member Christopher Waller said Wednesday that interest rates remain well above the neutral level, meaning the central bank has room to cut them.
After this report, attention will shift to the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision, expected late Friday US time, Friday morning in Asia. The central bank is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points to 0.75%. Some observers say this could trigger a rally in the yen, causing risk aversion, although positioning in the foreign exchange market suggests low chances of a sudden bullish reaction.
XRP is starting to look more and more bearish on the charts. Veteran trader Peter Brandt has cited a double breakdown of the cryptocurrency, which could see prices plummet to $1 or less. It recently changed hands at $1.87.
Ether the second largest cryptocurrency, is down more than 2% over 24 hours and BNB is trading down 1.8%. Compare that with privacy-focused tokens XMR and ZEC, both up 2%. The CoinDesk 20 Index was down 1%, while the CoinDesk 80 Index was down 3.2%, indicating weakness in smaller tokens.
In traditional markets, the dollar index rose for a second day, announcing a bullish recovery. The index hovered at 98.50, while gold fell to $4,324 after testing the recent resistance zone of $4,340 to $4,350. Stay vigilant!
Read more: For analysis of current altcoin and derivatives activity, see Crypto Markets Today
What to watch
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Cryptocurrency
- December 18, 12:30 p.m.: BNB channel is hosting an end-of-year AMA on X with former Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”).
- Macro
- December 18, 8:15 a.m.: decision by the European Central Bank on interest rates. Reference rate Est. 2.15%.
- December 18, 8:30 a.m.: November inflation rate in the United States. Title YoY Est. 3.1%; Core YoY Est. 3%.
- December 18, 8:30 a.m.: unemployment claims in the United States. Initial (for the week ended December 13) Est. 225K; Continuous (for the week ending December 6) Est. 1930K.
- December 18, 2:00 p.m.: Unemployment rate in Argentina in the third quarter (previous 7.6%).
- December 18, 2 p.m.: decision by the central bank of Mexico on interest rates. Reference rate Est. 7%.
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
Token Events
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Votes and calls on governance
- December 18: STONfi will host a community call.
- December 18: IOTA will host an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session with Dominik Schiener, co-founder and chairman of the IOTA Foundation.
- December 18: Cardano will host an AMA session with the CEO of the Cardano Foundation, Emurgo and other leaders from its ecosystem.
- Unlocks
- Token Launches
Conferences
For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- BTC is up 1.55% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $87,291.26 (24 hours: +0.39%)
- ETH is up 1.26% at $2,853.16 (24 hours: -2.41%)
- CoinDesk 20 is up 0.96% at 2,671.22 (24h: -1.5%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate Up 2 Basis Points to 2.87%
- BTC funding rate is -0.0007% (-0.8026% annualized) on Binance
- The DXY is up 0.14% at 98.51
- Gold futures are down 0.39% at $4,356.80
- Silver futures are down 1% at $66.24
- The Nikkei 225 closed down 1.03% at 49,001.50
- Hang Seng closed 0.12% higher at 25,498.13
- The FTSE is up 0.25% at 9,798.54
- The Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.37% at 5,702.83
- DJIA closed Wednesday down 0.47% at 47,885.97
- The S&P 500 closed down 1.16% at 6,721.43
- The Nasdaq Composite closed down 1.81% at 22,693.32
- The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 0.04% at 31,250.02
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed down 1.36% at 3,058.30
- The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is down 2 basis points at 4.131%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.39% at 6,804.75
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.72% at 25,078.25
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 0.12% at 48,298.00
Bitcoin Statistics
- BTC dominance: 59.97% (+0.38%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03273 (-0.39%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,049 EH/s
- Hash price (spot): $37.29
- Total fees: 2.81 BTC / $244,324
- CME Futures Open Interest: 121,680 BTC
- BTC valued in gold: 20.1 ounces.
- BTC vs. gold market capitalization: 5.83%
Technical analysis
- The chart shows the weekly price fluctuations of DOGE on a logarithmic scale. The logarithmic scale is used to track prices of assets with extreme price ranges, like DOGE.
- The joke token has crossed the ascending trendline taken from the 2023 and 2024 lows.
- The breakdown indicates that the bull market is likely over and larger losses could be seen in the coming weeks.
Crypto Stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Wednesday at $244.19 (-3.33%), +2.63% to $250.60 in pre-market
- Circle (CRCL): closed at $79.20 (-4.58%), +1.57% at $80.44
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $22.81 (-6.17%), +1.05% to $23.05
- Bull (BLSH): closed at $42.15 (-1.89%), +0.52% at $42.37
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $9.93 (-7.11%), +1.31% to $10.06
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): close at $12.96 (-3.79%), +1.31% to $13.13
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $11.48 (-7.88%), +3.02% to $13.98
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $14.03 (-3.20%), +1.13% at $11.61
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): Closed at $36.51 (-4.82%)
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $14.54 (+0.76%)
Crypto Cash Companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $160.38 (-4.25%), +1.87% to $163.38
- Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $16.93 (-2.7%)
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $9.27 (-4.53%), +1.94% to $9.45
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.87 (-8.78%), +2.14% to $1.91
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.37 (-9.87%)
ETF Feed
Spot BTC ETF
- Daily net flows: $457.3 million
- Cumulative net flows: $57.71 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.3 million
ETH Spot ETF
- Daily net flows: -$22.4 million
- Cumulative net flows: $12.64 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~6.16 million
Source: Farside Investors
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