Suddenly, traders go risk-off

All bets are off – at least as far as riskier assets go. U.S. stocks, including mega-cap Apple, sold off Tuesday in the first trading session of 2024, with major equity indexes (Dow, S&P, Nasdaq) tumbling after what seemed to be a collective reset in terms of expectations for lower rates. Bitcoin sank as well.

"Investors appeared to be selling last year’s tech winners, which soared as the market anticipated easing monetary policy in 2024," CNBC said.

But with the economy still on shaky ground, investors seem to have “curbed their enthusiasm," CNBC added.

U.S. treasury yields rose yesterday and jumped again today. And the dollar followed suit. As Reuters put it, "a cautious turn has weighed on Wall Street."

After hitting a five-month low last week, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six peer currencies, rose 0.22% to 102.47, building on yesterday's 0.86% increase, Reuters said.

Crypto kicked off '24 with an impressive big-picture splash as Bitcoin topped $45,000, its highest level in 21 months.

Spot BTC ETF approval expectations – speculative and ever-burgeoning – coupled with the upcoming springtime “halving” event together appeared to conspire to keep overall sentiment elevated, which in turn lifted a bevy of altcoins. The noisemaker of a rally Tuesday spawned glowing news coverage. Crypto, positive headlines, an item, again, go figure.

Ah, but that was yesterday.

As of 7 a.m. (EST), the largest crypto sat near $44,500 after a decline of 2.2% in the past 24 hours, and was still falling. A stronger dollar and risk-off herd mentality will tend to dampen even the most raucous digital asset party. Total crypto assets are $1.793 trillion, down 2.2% in the past one day.

Solana was a top-performer Monday night into Tuesday afternoon, but it's started to slump. SOL lost 9% since this time yesterday (when it was up 9%).

While we came across about a half-dozen double-digit climbers in the Top 100 when we combed its ranks some 24 hours ago, a just now check of the biggies' chart does not reveal any overly steep descents, save for one connected with SATS. That’s the so-called “BRC-20” token named for Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi, thought to be a pseudonym for one or more persons. Satoshi is also the term to describe the smallest BTC increment.

"With its unique nomenclature and association with the fundamental unit of Bitcoin, SATS captured the imagination of crypto enthusiasts," U.Today said in mid-December as the SATS token, essentially a Satoshi-themed memecoin, reached an all-time high of $0.000000922983 after securing some exchange support.

SATS, which is the 58th-largest coin, has shed 18% of its value since Dec. 15. Owing to its enormous supply, customary for memecoins, SATS still has a market capitalization in excess of $1.5 billion.

Non-fungible token (NFT) enthusiasts yesterday welcomed in the New Year with all the whistle-screeching gusto of an old-time riverboat captain.

As of Jan. 1, the 95-year-old copyright on an early iteration of Disney’s iconic "Mickey Mouse" character officially expired. And faster than you can say "public domain" or "fair use," the black and white, much scrawnier, no-pupils version of Mickey (featured in the 1928 animated short “Steamboat Willie”) was transformed into an NFT collection that went straight up to the number-one spot on OpenSea.

According to Cointelegraph, the “Steamboat Willie Public Domain 2024” NFT collection garnered 521 ETH ($1.2 million) worth of trading volume. Two other quick-draw troves, "Steamboat Willie" and "Steamboat Willie's Riverboat" took the second and third spots. More contemporary fare, from the realms of Mutant Apes and Pudgy Penguins, rounded out the Top 5 most-traded NFT spots.

Other illustrious pieces of media now entering the public domain after nearly a century include A.A. Milne's "Tigger the Tiger," who now joins his Pooh-bear pal (public property as of last year), as well as the original "Peter Pan" play by J.M. Barrie.