First Mover Asia: Why Did Bitcoin's Price Hold Above $27K Over the Weekend? Two Analysts Expect Continued Resilience

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: As Asia's trading day begins with a minor rise in Bitcoin and dip in Ether, experts predict a pre-FOMC market correction, underlining digital assets' resilience amid US regulatory and debt challenges.

Insights: The decline in the bitcoin options put/call ratio suggests that crypto investors are less worried than they were in June as U.S. lawmakers clashed over raising the country's debt ceiling.

Prices

CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,185 +3.1 ▲ 0.3% Bitcoin BTC$88,305.15 $27,109 +39.7 ▲ 0.1% Ethereum ETH$2,983.40 $1,890 −2.9 ▼ 0.2% S&P 500 4,282.37 +61.4 ▲ 1.5% Gold $1,965 +12.5 ▲ 0.6% Nikkei 225 31,524.22 +376.2 ▲ 1.2% BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,185 +3.1 ▲ 0.3% Bitcoin BTC$88,305.15 $27,109 +39.7 ▲ 0.1% Ethereum ETH$2,983.40 $1,890 −2.9 ▼ 0.2% S&P 500 4,282.37 +61.4 ▲ 1.5% Gold $1,965 +12.5 ▲ 0.6% Nikkei 225 31,524.22 +376.2 ▲ 1.2% BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)

Bitcoin and Ether Are Still Thriving

As Asia begins its trading day, bitcoin is up 0.1% to $27,109, while Ether is down slightly to $1,890.

BitBull Capital’s Joe DiPasquale says the theme this week will be correction and consolidation before the next FOMC meeting minutes are released on June 14.

“We had been expecting a correction and consolidation between $25K and $27K levels, and that’s what we have been witnessing over the last month,” he told CoinDesk in a note. “While we haven’t had a major test of $30K, another attempt of the key resistance level would not be surprising.”

Mark Connors, head of research for digital asset manager 3iQ, points out that it's impressive that the digital asset market is still thriving despite the hostile regulatory environment in the U.S. This is all thanks to a market that continues to be concerned about the unprecedented debt issuance within the U.S.

“With equity and debt markets wondering how much the U.S. Treasury's renewed debt issuance will impact liquidity and thereby market prices, digital assets are taking matters into their own hands,” he wrote to CoinDesk.

Connors writes that despite 2023's focus on Bitcoin's increased dominance and surging fees amid a challenging U.S regulatory environment, Ethereum's post-merge performance, including an unexpected non-impact of staking 'unlock,' increased staking demand, and realized deflationary promise with over 250k ETH 'burned,' is garnering market attention.

“So while the fate of the $500 trillion equity and debt markets hinges on the ability of central banks and treasury departments to provide much-needed liquidity, the bellwether digital assets bitcoin and ether are taking care of business, and the market is responding – even if institutions and regulators are not,” he told CoinDesk.

Biggest Gainers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector Terra LUNA +11.5% Smart Contract Platform Decentraland MANA +4.4% Entertainment XRP XRP +3.8% Currency

Biggest Losers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector Gala GALA −1.5% Entertainment Polygon MATIC −0.9% Smart Contract Platform Polkadot DOT −0.8% Smart Contract Platform

Insights

Bitcoin Put/Call Ratio Declines Following Recent Debt Deal

Derivatives data shows a recent reduction in a metric that is prone to rise when bearish sentiment increases. The bitcoin options put/call ratio across exchanges is currently 0.47, down from 1.34 to begin in June.

The buyer of a put has purchased the right to sell the asset at a specified price, while the buyer of a call is purchasing the right to buy the asset. The relationship between the two can indicate investor sentiment, particularly when rising or falling to extreme levels

The volume of purchased puts and calls is measured over the most recent 24 hours, with levels above one signaling bearishness, and levels below one implying the opposite.

The recent decline indicates that fewer traders are looking to purchase downside protection against future price declines. The spike in protection toward the end of the prior month, was likely tied to concerns about the debt deal recently agreed to by Democrats and Republicans.

Important events.

9:45 a.m. HKT/SGT(1:45 UTC) China Caixin Services PMI (May)

10:00 p.m. HKT/SGT(14:00 UTC) United States ISM Services PMI (May)

7:30 a.m. HKT/SGT(23:30 UTC) Japan's Overall Household Spending (YoY/April)

CoinDesk TV

In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

Bitcoin Above $27K Following May Jobs Report; Justin Sun Discusses Crypto Regulations in Hong Kong:

Bitcoin BTC$88,305.15 was rising slightly above $27,000 after the U.S. added 339,000 in May, which was better than economists' expectations. Coinbase institutional head of research David Duong shared his crypto markets analysis. Plus, TRON founder and Huobi global advisor Justin Sun joined "First Mover" to discuss the impact of Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission now accepting applications for crypto trading platform licenses. And, Marathon Digital Holdings CEO Fred Thiel reacted to the latest state legislation impacting bitcoin miners in Texas.

Headlines

DeFi Tokens Rose in a Turbulent Week, CoinDesk Market Index: Lesser known altcoins had a strong week as bitcoin and ether wrestled with macroeconomic headwinds.

Marathon Digital Mined 77% More Bitcoin in May With the Help of Its Software: The spike in bitcoin mining is likely due to its mining machines producing at higher capacity than April.

Sotheby’s Golden ‘Goose’ Sale and Mercedes Benz Puts NFTs in Motion: Sotheby’s will sell Dmitri Cherniak's landmark NFT at a live auction this month, while Mercedes Benz released the 'Maschine' and Nike teamed up with EA Sports.

Coinbase Derivatives Exchange to Offer Institutional Bitcoin and Ether Futures: These products come on the back of the nano futures that were launched last year.

Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank-Backed Taurus Deploys on Polygon Blockchain: The Swiss firm aims to allow financial institutions and corporates to issue tokenized assets on the Ethereum layer 2 network.