Bitcoin
changed little over the day, remaining near $19.1K as the external outlook
turned bleak, but there was no positive change either. Ethereum is trading near
$1300, but the top altcoins are mostly down, losing between 0.2% (Tron) and 5%
(Cardano).
By Thursday,
the cryptocurrency fear and greed index was unchanged at 20 points
(“extreme fear”). The total capitalisation of the crypto market fell
by 0.7% to $915bn overnight.
There is a
lot of press attention on the US inflation data coming out today, which could
determine the Fed’s next move. This wait-and-see attitude leaves BTCUSD near
the lower end of the trading range, from where we could see an explosion of
volatility in either direction.
A sharp rise
from current levels would dramatically increase the chances that the
cryptocurrency bottom has already been passed in June. A step down from current
levels could kick-start a decline into the $12-14K area.
News
background
Arcane
Research has warned that the ratio of Open Interest (OI) in bitcoin and
Ethereum futures and perpetual contracts to their capitalisation indicated a
likely sharp increase in volatility in the crypto market.
Major
investment bank JPMorgan and payment processor Visa has announced the
integration of blockchain solutions Liink and B2B Connect for fast
international payments. Blockchain could make transactions fast and cheap and
even compete with the SWIFT interbank payment system.
The island
nation of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea has adopted Tron cryptocurrency as a
legal tender in the country.
Lastly, the
head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Benham,
expressed his belief that bitcoin and Ethereum are commodities and warned the
crypto industry that regulation is inevitable.
This article was written by FxPro’s Senior Market Analyst Alex
Kuptsikevich.
