Financial markets were traded in a relatively mixed manner during the previous week. The highest impact on the market sentiment had increased prices of oil and ECB`s rate hike as well as US inflation figures for August. The US equity markets were traded in a mixed manner, ending the week in red, while EU markets ended the week higher, supported by a potential peak in ECB rates. The crypto market managed to end one week in green, after three losing weeks. Bitcoin was last traded above 26K, Ether is still holding above 1.6K.
The crucial event of the previous week was the ECB meeting, where rates were further increased by 25 basis points. It was a 10th consecutive rate hike amid surging inflation within the Euro Area. In a n after-meeting speech, ECB President Lagarde commented that rate hikes have peaked with the latest increase, but they will stay at elevated levels in order to contribute to the “timely return of inflation to the target”. The ECB also lowered their economic growth projections from 0.9% to 0.7% in 2023 and from 1.5% down to 1% in 2024. Markets reacted in a negative manner, pushing the euro to a three-month low against the US dollar. At the same time, the EU equities rallied after the decision, where higher gainers were companies within the household goods and auto industry.
The second important event during the previous week was related to surged oil prices to the highest yearly level, which were traded above 90/barrel. Analysts are noting a high probability that the price might easily reach $100 in the coming weeks. Some two weeks ago Saudi Arabia noted their intention to continue with decreased oil output by 1 million barrels per day at least till the end of this year. Other OPEC members also followed the path of Saudi Arabia. This increased concerns of markets over possible tight-supply over the next months. The International Energy Agency issued a warning over potential “substantial market deficit” in Q4 this year. Surging oil prices would most certainly put additional pressures on monetary authorities of the western countries, in their efforts to fight inflation, as well as on further economic growth.
The crypto exchange company Bybit said that it is searching the ways to continue with its operations in the United Kingdom. The UK regulator extended the deadline till October for crypto companies operating on the UK market to register their operations with the Financial Conduct Authority. Some companies operating with crypto assets like Luno and PayPal halted their digital assets operations in the UK as a result of this regulation.
The Standard Chartered bank started operations of its crypto firm Zodia Custody in Singapore during the previous week. Zodia Custody represents the first company owned by banks to start its operations in Singapore. As noted by the company, its goal is to expand further within the Asia-Pacific area in order to position for the increasing demand from institutions for custody of digital assets.
Crypto market cap
During the previous week markets were mostly oriented toward the news related to ECB rate hikes and its future monetary moves, as well as, with increasing concerns over surging oil prices which might curb efforts of monetary authorities of western countries to fight inflation. Current market sentiment is showing that rate increases in both EU and US have peaked, increasing the potential of rate cuts in the future. This brought back sentiment for allocation of funds into riskier assets, like Bitcoin. Total crypto market capitalization bounced back during the previous week by 1%, adding total 11B back in the market cap. At the same time it should be noted that Bitcoin only increased its cap by 13B, which means that this coin was a major driver behind the weekly total market cap increase. Daily trading volumes were modestly increased to the level of 443B on daily basis, from 28B from the week before, however, it still holds at relatively low levels for the crypto market. Total crypto market capitalization increase since the beginning of this year currently stands at level of 37%, where it has added total 280B to the market cap.
It was a mixed trading week on the crypto market. Although total crypto market capitalization was increased by 11B, only Bitcoin brought back to it 13B on a weekly basis, increasing its value by 2.5%. Bitcoin Cash also gained 7.7% in value during the week. For the second week in a row Maker was gaining more than 10% in value, adding 10.7% during the previous week. Tron had a good performance, through increased value by 9%, while Zcash gained 5%, same as Filecoin. Monero and Stellar also managed to gain 3.1% and 5.1% respectively. On the opposite side were coins that finished the week in the red zone. Few of them were Polkadot with a loss in value of almost 7%, Miota was down by 4.5% Polygon and OMG Network lost around 3% both. Majority of other coins were traded flat on a weekly basis. For the second week in a row there has been increased activity when it comes to coins in circulation. Rarely seen, but Bitcoin added 0.1% to its total circulating coins. Among other coins, significant weekly changes were with XRP, with an increase of 0.4%, LINK added 3.5%, Filecoin was up by 0.8% and Solana surged its circulating coins by 0.6% on a weekly basis. At the same time, Polkadot decreased its coins in circulation by 4.8%.
Crypto futures market
The crypto futures market continues to be divided in opinions when it comes to future prices of BTC and ETH, as it is following the sentiment from the spot market. During the previous week BTC gained in value, which was fully reflected in BTC futures prices. The short term futures were traded higher by more than 2% on a weekly basis, while the longer term ones were traded higher by more than 1.5%. Futures maturing in December this year ended the week at price $26.915, which is almost 1% higher from the end of the week before, while those maturing in December next year managed to move 1.67% higher on a weekly basis, ending the week at price of $29.775. The 30K level seems back in the spotlight of the market for one more time. At the same time ETH futures were traded on a negative side. Short term futures were last traded around 0.7% lower from the week before, while long term ones closed the week around 1.5% lower. Futures maturing in December this year were closed with a price $1.664 or 0.12% lower from the end of the previous week, while those maturing in December next year were last traded at $1.773 or 1.5% lower from previous week. The price also managed to drop below 1.8K level for one more time. Such developments are showing that the market continues to be unsure regarding the prospectus for ETH in the future period.
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