On the back of the lowest weekly close in eight months, Bitcoin took a somewhat unspectacular bellyflop below US$31,000 today, bringing most of the crypto market lower with it.
Much of the cryptoverse has been anticipating a move down, with several analysts eyeing targets of US$29K to $28K and some much lower still towards the $20K range. Bitcoin is at least hanging in above US$30,500 for now.
At UK press time, BTC was at US$30,800, looking a bit lost in no-man’s land without its $31K support. The second-largest crypto by market cap, Ethereum, was down 4.46% in the past 24 hours, at US$1,823.
What’s bearing out, besides the charts?
Perhaps today’s dip is a delayed reaction to the weekend of considerable Grayscale GBTC shares unlocks we’ve been going on about lately. That said, overall market sentiment has been down for weeks and there are plenty of other negative narratives at play.
Here are a few bearish bits and pieces lumbering about in the crypto woods right now…
• Google searches for “Bitcoin price” are at their lowest ebb for about seven months. Crypto bullruns feed off frothy, retail-induced hype, which simply isn’t happening at present.
• Regulatory concerns abound, with the Binance exchange under scrutiny in various corners of the globe, and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen set to speak about stablecoin risks.
• Ethereum co-founder Anthony Di lorio is reportedly quitting the crypto industry over personal safety concerns due to his high profile.
• Technical analysts are seeing bullish signs for the US dollar. Bitcoin, like most risk assets, has a traditionally inverse correlation to the strength of the greenback.
But… where’s the hopium?
Here, take a hit of some happier thoughts to balance things out.
• ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood and Square’s Jack Dorsey are doing their best PR work to keep bulls happy. “The B Word” virtual conference on July 21 is sure to keep positive news flowing.
• In the latest institutional crypto adoption news, the Bank of America has now approved the trading of Bitcoin futures for some clients. Ethereum is also gaining institutional interest.
• Former US Secretary of the Treasury and Crypto-FUDDER-in-Chief, Steve Mnuchin, has done a backflip. Sorta. The other day he told CNBC he now thinks it’s okay to own Bitcoin.
• Influential Bitcoin on-chain data analyst Willy Woo says retail buyers are still showing plenty of signs of life. And that’s despite any lack of euphoria in the market.
Mooners and shakers
There weren’t many winners of note in the top 100 today, although privacy coin Dash (DASH) had a spike – up 14.7% on the day and changing hands for US$133 at time of writing.
As reported earlier, Axie Infinity (AXS) has had a significant sell-off from its recent highs. It’s doubtful it’s lost any hype or traction for usage as a play-to-earn NFT game in South East Asia, however. It’s currently down 7.1% on the day and sitting at US$18.63, about $10 lower than where it was a week ago.
Other notable losers in the past 24 hours include DeFi protocol THORChain (RUNE), which continues to drop after its unfortunate exploit the other day. It’s down 11.5%, at US$3.73.
At UK press time, Helium (HNT) was losing gas, down 11.8% on the day, Kusama (KSM) was down 9.79%, and Solana (SOL) was 8.85% in the red.