Share this article
Ether Prices in Downtrend as Bitcoin Challenges $64K
Some other catalyst needs to happen before bullish sentiment returns, says one trader.
Updated Apr 17, 2024, 4:40 a.m. Published Apr 17, 2024, 4:37 a.m.
- BTC is up, trading above $64,000 while ETH prices continue to decline.
- The CD20 is flat, trading at 2,174.
Ether was changing hands just above $3,000 during the opening hours of the Asia trading day as the CoinDesk Indices Ethereum Trend Indicator flipped negative, signaling a bearish shift in momentum.
At the same time, bitcoin , is trading slightly above $64,000 after challenging it for most of the Asia trading morning.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
"Unexpected higher U.S. treasury yields, a stronger dollar, and geopolitical risks in the Middle East weighed down on crypto markets," Jun-young Heo, a Derivatives Trader at Singapore-based Presto, said in an interview on Telegram with CoinDesk.
Yeo said that risk-off sentiment was also reflected in the derivatives market, with funding rates in some exchanges turning negative and three-month basis yields "plunging" to 10%.
"Short-term put options are more expensive than call options for both BTC and ETH," Heo continued.
Liquidations in the last 12 hours came in almost evenly split between bullish and bearish futures bets, with $31.1 million in long positions getting liquidated and $36.49 million in shorts getting rekt.
"It seems investors have been unable to break all-time highs but remain unwilling to completely turn bearish either," Justin d'Anethan, head of business development at Keyrock, a crypto market maker in Hong Kong, said in a note to CoinDesk.
The CoinDesk 20, an index measuring the performance of the world's largest digital assets, is effectively flat trading at 2,174.
"It is a difficult environment to navigate with a series of positive crypto-centric catalysts," he continued. On the other hand, the macro side of things seems to be dominating all risk assets, with more hawkish rate expectations in light of surprisingly higher inflation and, of course, the increase in tension in the Middle East."
d'Anethan also noted that sideways price action and settling into a range could, in crypto, set the stage for more explosive moves, with leveraged traders taking a view and then suffering from violent liquidation events when the scene clears up, bringing a decisive move in markets.
"It might need some time or other catalyst rather than known events to turn this sentiment back to bullish," added Heo.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
These Three Metrics Show Bitcoin Found Strong Support Near $80,000
Onchain data shows multiple cost basis metrics confirm heavy demand and investor conviction around the $80,000 price level.
What to know:
- Bitcoin rebounded from the $80,000 region after a sharp correction from its October all time high, with price holding above the average entry levels of key metrics.
- The convergence of the True Market Mean, U.S. ETF cost basis, and the 2024 yearly cost basis around the low $80,000 range highlights this zone as a major area of structural support.
Top Stories
