Market Wrap: Bitcoin in Tight $35K-$36K Range; Ether Volumes Still Beating BTC

Investors are parking bitcoin in places like decentralized finance (DeFi) while excitement in trading ether continues to be elevated.

• Bitcoin BTC$91,054.25 trading around $35,679 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Losing 0.25% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $35,335-$36,742 (CoinDesk 20)
• Ether ETH$3,034.61 trading around $2,736 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). In the green 2% over the previous 24 hours.
• Ether’s 24-hour range: $2,677-$2,840 (CoinDesk 20)

Remember when bitcoin was at $59,506?

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down Monday by 0.25% as of press time. It was below the 10-hour moving average and the 50-hour, a bearish signal for market technicians.

BTC’s price jumped from $35,335 at 22:45 UTC (6:45 p.m. ET) Sunday to $36,742 by 02:45 UTC Monday (10:45 p.m. ET Sunday), a 4% climb based on CoinDesk 20 data. Bitcoin then fell below $36,000, at $35,679 as of press time.

“We are now seeing consolidation, with higher lows, and we want to see bitcoin gradually move back up to the higher trend,” said Nick Mancini, research analyst at crypto sentiment analytics platform Trade the Chain. “We expect to see a large price move in the next 48-72 hours.”

Lest traders and investors forget, less than a month ago bitcoin was priced over $55,000. Specifically, according to CoinDesk 20 data, spot BTC was at $59,506 on May 8.

“The range will break out, yes, definitely, but energy is still not in the market,” said Chris Thomas, head of digital assets at Swissquote Bank. “That said, the energy is shifting to ether from bitcoin.”

Read More: Bitcoin, Gold Are Likely to Withstand Fed Taper, SkyBridge Capital Says

Ether signals some bullishness

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was trading around $2,736 as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET), climbing 2% over the prior 24 hours. The asset is below the 10-hour moving average but near the 50-hour, a flat-to-bearish signal for market technicians.

Ether gained from $2,677 at 22:45 UTC (6:45 p.m. ET) Sunday to $2,840 by 16:15 UTC (9:15 a.m. ET) Monday, a 6% jump based on CoinDesk 20 data. ETH has lost some of that climb, at $2,736 as of press time.

“Ether has been making higher highs, order book support continues to rise and sentiment is increasing,” noted Trade the Chain’s Mancini. “These are all bullish signs in a bullish technical formation.”

Another bullish trend: Ether’s dominance, or its share of the greater cryptocurrency ecosystem, is at 19.78% as of press time, the highest it has been since May 16.

Ether volumes higher than bitcoin's

Bitcoin and ether volumes have been lower of late, but one signature phenomenon persists: ETH trading volumes have been higher than BTC's for nine straight days. On Sunday, ether volumes on major spot exchanges tracked by CoinDesk hit $28 million, while bitcoin was a bit behind at $27 million.

Traders seem to be feeling some exhaustion when it comes to bitcoin, and they might be moving some of their investment to DeFi applications where they can park it in blockchain-based protocols to earn yield on the asset. The amount of bitcoin “locked” in DeFi is at 181,455 BTC, the highest since Feb. 26 when it reached a six-month high of 194,519 BTC, according to DeFi Pulse.

Pressure from China

Government officials in mainland China are still putting pressure on crypto mining and trading, quantitative fund QCP Capital noted over the weekend in an investor update. Some investors could be parking bitcoin for the time being, especially given the relative market lull in the past week.

“As China continues to tighten its regulation of cryptocurrencies, the central government has blocked Weibo accounts that promote crypto investing and mining activities,” QCP said. “We will be monitoring the price action over the next few days.”

And while analysts like Trade the Chain’s Mancini are bullish, Alessandro Andreotti, an over-the-counter crypto trader, echoed QCP’s skepticism.

“Right now the market is going through a bit of uncertainty,” Andreotti said. “I personally think the bears might be here to stay for a while.”

Read More: Cayman Islands, U.S. and Gibraltar Are Top Crypto Hedge Fund Jurisdictions

Other markets

Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are mixed, but mostly lower Monday. Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):

• tezos (XTZ) + 4.2%
• filecoin FIL$1.4941 + 3.8%
• aave AAVE$191.32 + 3.1%

Notable losers:

• nucypher (NU) - 3.6%
• eos (EOS) - 1.6%
• bitcoin cash (BCH) - 1.5%

Equities:

• The S&P 500 in the United States gained 0.60% as traders signaled their optimism of economic growth due to coronavirus-related business reopenings across the nation.

Commodities:

• Gold was up 0.50% at $1,899 as of press time.

Read More: Remember JPM Coin? Next Step Is Programmable Money, Bank Exec Says

Treasurys:

• The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield climbed 1% Monday to 1.569.