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Bitcoin Little Changed This Week as Broader Crypto Gauge Sheds 1.6%
The theme of relatively flat prices continued as July turned to August.
Updated Aug 4, 2023, 6:54 p.m. Published Aug 4, 2023, 6:03 p.m.
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- The price of bitcoin barely fluctuated all week and is set to end Friday at around $29,200.
- As measured by the CoinDesk Market Index, the broader crypto market lost 1.6% for the week.
Except for the drama around Curve Finance and its CRV token, major cryptocurrencies had a relatively uneventful week in regards to news and price movement.
While bitcoin (BTC) barely moved all week, the CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) fell 1.6% over the past five days, with more than 90% of its 183 constituents falling. That high percentage indicates weakening breadth within cryptos, even if the declines are relatively small.
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Ether (ETH) added to its underperformance versus bitcoin this year, dropping 1.76% this week, compared with bitcoin’s 0.3% decline. With five months remaining in 2023, BTC has risen 76%, while ETH has gained 54%.
Within the CMI, individual top performers came via the Culture and Entertainment Sector, despite the group as a whole declining 5% on the week. Yield guild games (YGG) rose 57%, while origin protocol (OGN), added a less pronounced, but still impressive, 18%.
Among crypto assets with a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion, XDC network (XDC) led the way, jumping 33.5% on the week.
For the year, XDC – the token for a hybrid blockchain with a focus on global trade and finance – has risen 200%, taking the top spot among the $1 billion-plus market cap group.
What’s next for bitcoin and ether
Going into the next week, the obvious question is whether either of the two largest cryptocurrencies will make moves out of their current trading ranges. From a technical vantage point, current indications are that prices are likely to stay flattish for the foreseeable future.
Bitcoin’s and ether’s relative strength index readings of 46 and 45, respectively, are decidedly neutral and both are hovering near their respective 20-day moving averages.
There don’t appear to be many bearish indications either, which may give a measure of comfort to current holders. On-chain data has given no indication that either BTC or ETH is being moved onto exchanges, which can often precede a bearish move.
The week ahead in macro
The end of this week brought the U.S. July jobs report from the government. Though softer than economist forecasts, the jobs number had little effect on bitcoin's price. Next week brings inflation data for July, which could have an impact on market direction.
Forecasts are for both the headline and core July consumer price index to have risen by 0.2% versus 0.2% gains for both gauges in June. The headline year-over-year rate is expected to rise to 3.3% from 3% and the yearly core rate is seen dipping to 4.7% from 4.8%.
Digital assets, however, have done a fair job recently of pricing in macro expectations. As long as the inflationary data comes in somewhere close to as expected, cryptocurrencies are likely to react mildly.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Here's what bitcoin bulls are saying as price remains stuck during global rally
It's about a lot more than "zooming out." Supply overhangs and investor "muscle memory" regarding gold help explain bitcoin's poor absolute and relative performance.
What to know:
- Bitcoin has failed so far to act as an inflation hedge or safe-haven asset, lagging badly behind gold, which has surged amid high inflation, wars, and interest rate uncertainty.
- Crypto advocates argue that bitcoin’s weakness reflects a temporary supply overhang, investor “muscle memory” favoring familiar precious metals and its correlation with risk assets, rather than a collapse in long-term demand.
- Many bitcoin proponents still see BTC as a superior long-term store of value and “digital gold,” predicting that, once traditional hard assets are overbought, capital will rotate into bitcoin, allowing it to “catch up” to gold.
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