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First Mover Asia: Bitcoin Drops Following First US Omicron Case
Ether falls, breaking a four-day streak of gains; equity markets tumble.
Updated May 11, 2023, 6:33 p.m. Published Dec 1, 2021, 11:30 p.m.
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:
Market moves: Crypto markets opened December with mixed performances as traders remain in a wait-and-see mode.
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Technician’s take: BTC’s uptrend is intact with improving price momentum. Downside appears to be limited around the $53K-$55K support zone.
Catch the latest episodes of CoinDesk TV for insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis.
Prices
Bitcoin (BTC): $57,095 -0.2%
Ether (ETH): $4,593 -1%
Markets
S&P 500: $4,513 -1.1%
Dow Jones Industrial Average: $34,022 -1.3%
Nasdaq: $15,254 -1.8%
Gold: $1,782 +.53%
Market moves
Bitcoin briefly dropped below $57,000 during U.S. trading hours on Wednesday after news broke that health officials in the country confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, in California. At the time of publication, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading just above $57,000 but still down for the day.
The drop wiped out bitcoin’s earlier gains when it increased above $59,000 from a low at roughly $55,920 a day ago. Stocks also fell, with the S&P 500 dropping by 0.49% on Wednesday.
One analyst remains positive about the potential Omicron’s long-term impact on crypto.
“While the new coronavirus variant has raised concerns over potentially tumbling down crypto prices, it is also essential to note that crypto markets had observed strong growth throughout [the pandemic],” Danny Chong, co-founder of Tranchess, a Binance Smart Chain-based, yield-enhancing, asset-tracking protocol, said via a representative.
Ether also retreated, down to about $4,575 from as high as $4,782.40, according to CoinDesk’s data, ending its four-day winning streak. As an investment asset, ether posted a strong monthly return in November, beating bitcoin and macro assets, including the S&P 500, gold and bonds.
But a few other layer 1 blockchain tokens remained in the green on Wednesday, including , and solana .
Technician’s take
Bitcoin Rangebound Between $55K Support and $60K Resistance
Bitcoin’s price momentum is improving, which could limit further downside between the $53,000-$55,000 support range.
Buyers will need to make a decisive move above $60,000 resistance to yield an upside target toward the all-time price high of nearly $69,000.
For now, BTC is trading in a tight range and has been roughly flat over the past week. The relative strength index (RSI) on the daily chart is rising from oversold levels of last week, which typically precedes a price bounce.
Support remains intact given the upward-sloping, 100-day moving average. This indicates a positive intermediate-term trend, which could encourage additional buying on pullbacks.
Important events
8:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 a.m. UTC): Australia imports/exports (Oct. MoM)
1 p.m. HKT/SGT (5 a.m. UTC): Japan consumer confidence index (Nov.)
6 p.m. HKT/SGT (10 a.m. UTC): Eurostat producer price index (Oct. YoY/MoM)
9:30 p.m. HKT/SGT (1:30 p.m. UTC): Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic speaks on housing prices
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CoinDesk TV
In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of “First Mover” on CoinDesk TV:
Venture Capital Investor Tim Draper on Crypto, Investment Strategy and the State of Economy
“First Mover” hosts spoke with prominent venture capitalist Tim Draper for his insights on the crypto markets, the booming non-fungible token (NFT) space, the state of the economy and his investment strategy. Plus, NFT Ecosystem Enjin’s Chief Technology Officer Witek Radomski shared details behind the $100 million metaverse fund for Efinity.
Latest headlines
Hashed Raises $200M for Web 3 Investments: The South Korean venture firm has now raised $320 million in the past 12 months.
Payments Giant Square Is Changing Its Name to Block: The move creates room for the company to move further beyond its roots as a business focused on serving sellers.
Morgan Stanley Sees Crypto-Banking Regulation Arriving Faster Than Expected: The bank’s analysts say this is positive for crypto banks Silvergate and Signature.
Structure Raises $20M to Fund Development of Mobile App:Polychain Capital led the seed round investment.
AAG Ventures Raises $12.5M to Launch New Learn-to-Earn Platform:The company will also create a platform for building play-to-earn guilds.
Longer reads
Who Sets the Rules of Bitcoin as Nation-States and Corps Roll In
Today’s crypto explainer: How to Store Your Bitcoin
Other voices: Why it is wise to add bitcoin to an investment portfolio(The Economist)
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What to know:
Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.
The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.
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Gold in 'extreme greed' sentiment as it adds entire bitcoin market cap in one day
Bullion ripped past $5,500 and sentiment gauges hit “extreme greed,” while bitcoin stayed pinned below $90K — a split that’s getting harder to ignore.
What to know:
- Gold’s surge above $5,500 an ounce has taken on the feel of a crowded trade, with its notional value jumping about $1.6 trillion in a single day.
- Sentiment gauges such as JM Bullion’s Gold Fear & Greed Index are signaling extreme bullishness in precious metals, even as similar crypto indicators remain stuck in fear.
- Bitcoin is lagging despite the “hard assets” narrative, trading like a high-beta risk asset while investors seeking a store of value are favoring physical gold and silver over digital tokens.
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