Bitcoin gallops onward
What's being bought and sold*
TOP TRENDING ASSETS
*Trading activity in the past 24 hours on the Uphold platform, as of 7 a.m. 4th January 2024.
The combined total of buy and sell percentages can exceed 100% due to customers who engage in both buying and selling the same asset within the 24-hour time frame.
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What’s up
BTC Sinks, Snaps Back, Stabilizes
Despite a sobering industry report rebuffing rosy expectations regarding the supposedly imminent regulatory approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF – sparking jitters and sending BTC's price plummeting – the largest crypto spent most of yesterday tiptoeing back toward the vicinity of $44,000.
The biggest digital asset’s recent hike to well above $45,000 quickly faded from memory after an analyst at Matrixport, a financial firm that closely researches crypto, declared yesterday that it expected the SEC to "reject all proposals in January."
In 120 frantic minutes, BTC cratered by as much as 8%. It briefly sank below $41,000. "Rug pull of the decade," Forbes sniped in a knee-jerky post describing the apparent dashing of ETF hopes. But a steady uptick eventually ensued.
As of Thursday, at 7 a.m. (EST), BTC was $43,200, up 0.8% in the past 24 hours, per CoinGecko.
What's down
XRP, SOL Visit Village Of The Damned
The global crypto market cap today is $1.73 trillion following a 3.6% decline in the past one day, as of 7:06 a.m. (EST).
Among Big Ten digital assets, XRP took the heaviest lick, shedding 5% in 24 hours, slipping below $0.60.
XRP, as well as Solana, were among the top five tokens in terms of long liquidations, as of late Wednesday, suggesting, The Motley Fool explained, "leveraged upside bets on these tokens are turning sour."
SOL actually just now ticked mildly green (+0.2% in 24 hours) as it lurched back toward $99 after momentarily sinking to $93 on Wednesday.
And while Bitcoin has bounced back somewhat after its steep drop yesterday, the trauma of the harpoon-gashing event won't soon be forgotten; the sudden impaling spurred the liquidation of $500 million worth of positions across derivatives exchanges.
What's next
Crypto Catalyst Confounds, Captivates
While Uphold’s Unboxed rested last week, crypto’s biggest storyline continued to unspool.
Reuters, citing sources, reported that a spot BTC ETF could be approved this week, possibly Tuesday or Wednesday.
Yesterday, Matrixport splashed back, hurling an industrial-sized vat of freezing cold water, exacerbating skepticism already showing up in crypto mining stocks, CoinDesk said, referring to a post on X from GreeksLive.
"The likelihood of the ETF's passage became less likely," the options analyst said.
Thus, the likelihood of BTC reaching $50K any time soon also has diminished?
No, not necessarily. While current spot BTC ETF applicants may fall short of SEC requirements as of this month/quarter, there’s still a possibility that they get fulfilled in Q2 2024, Matrixport emphasized.
By dawn's early light on Thursday, BTC's spot price was stabilizing, and fresh speculation of a positive nature was once again being bandied about.
Lucas Kiely, CIO of Yield App, a wealth platform, early this morning told CoinDesk that reports of the demise of the chances for BTC ETF approval have been greatly exaggerated.
"It’s still likely that we see an approval from the SEC in January," Kiely said. "There is too much pressure from the world's biggest asset managers."
