Bitcoin Slumbers as ETF Hopes Simmer; PEPE Leads Altcoin Gains

Bitcoin BTC$68,056.29 and ether ETH$1,972.36 traded flat on Monday after a relatively uneventful weekend for crypto majors in the absence of a strong catalyst that could help add buying pressure to a dim market.

Bitcoin traded just over $29,300 while ether flirted around the $1,850 mark. Both assets have returned slightly over 1% for investors in the past week - making it one of the lowest volatility periods.

The bitcoin lull meant most majors and mid-cap tokens, such as cardano's ADA, solana's SOL and lido (LDO) moved similarly little, with sudden movements getting sold off quickly and no major declines.

The lack of market movement has possibly led traders to meme coins such as shiba inu SHIB$0.0₅6560 and pepe (PEPE), data analytics firm Santiment said in a Saturday report. Such rallies often mark local market tops - with record open interest in SHIB futures blaring a likely warning sign for bullish bitcoin moves in the coming weeks.

“Historically, we need to be aware that surges from speculative assets that really only see minimal development activity (at best), this can often signal that the entire crypto market may be veering toward 'overheated' territory,” Santiment said.

Meanwhile, some market traders say an ETF ruling could bring back the infamous volatility of the crypto market.

“While the options market's expected volatility (DVOL) remains notably low, we are observing a slight uptick in BTC, especially visible versus ETH,” shared Deribit chief commercial officer Luuk Strijers in an email. “A potential catalyst for this could be the looming ETF news on the shorter term and the halving impact on the longer run.

“Although the chances of imminent ETF-related news are slim, any announcement would likely have a more pronounced effect on BTC than on ETH,” Strijers added.