Market Wrap: Bitcoin Marches Past $20K as Investors Regain Their Appetite for Riskier Assets

Price Action

Bitcoin (BTC) took a rare trip upward on Tuesday. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at about $20,300, up nearly 5% over the past 24 hours as chronically risk-averse investors drew encouragement from a number of big brands’ third-quarter earnings reports. BTC last topped $20,000 on Oct. 5.

Ether (ETH) was even more buoyant, sprinting past $1,500, up more than 11% from Monday, same time, and its highest level since the Merge. The technological overhaul of the Ethereum blockchain on Sept. 15 shifted the protocol from proof-of-work to more energy-efficient proof-of-stake.

Other major altcoins were solidly in the green, with ADA and SOL recently rising more than 13% and 11%, respectively. UNI, the native token of the Uniswap decentralized exchange, recently jumped more than 8%.

The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI), a broad-based market index that measures the performance of a basket of cryptocurrencies, climbed 5.59% over the past 24 hours.

Macro View

In traditional markets, U.S. stocks continued their recent winning ways, rising for a third consecutive day as investors savored the upbeat third-quarter earnings reports from the likes of Coca-Cola and automotive giant GM. The tech-focused Nasdaq jumped 2.2%, while the S&P 500, which has a strong tech component, and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbed 1.6% and 1.1%, respectively.

In commodities, Brent crude oil, a measure of energy markets, continued to trade over $91 per barrel, down slightly over the past 24 hours but up more than 15% from the start of the year. Safe-haven gold was flat at $1,652 per ounce.

The earnings season continues, with beleaguered social media monolith reporting its latest quarterly results on Wednesday. Tech firms have been among the hardest hit in this year’s stock bloodbath.

Following two consecutive monthly gains, the widely watched Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index sank. “Consumers’ expectations regarding the short-term outlook remained dismal,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board. Investors will scrutinize housing starts and durable goods orders on Wednesday and the University of Michigan’s monthly Consumer Sentiment Index on Friday.

Latest Prices

CoinDesk Market Index (CMI): 992.99 +4.9%

Bitcoin (BTC): $20,069 +3.8%

Ether (ETH): $1,461 +8.3%

S&P 500 daily close: 3,859.11 +1.6%

Gold: $1,658 per troy ounce +0.6%

Ten-year Treasury yield daily close: 4.11% −0.1

Bitcoin, ether and gold prices are taken at approximately 4pm New York time. Bitcoin is the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX); Ether is the CoinDesk Ether Price Index (ETX); Gold is the COMEX spot price. Information about CoinDesk Indices can be found at coindesk.com/indices.

Technical Take

Asset Managers Add to Bitcoin Long Positions Ahead of Price Increase

By Glenn Williams Jr

Institutional investor appetite for bitcoin may be rising despite BTC’s persistently flat trading range.

The “Commitment of Traders” report, released each Friday and reflecting data as of the prior Tuesday, shows that asset managers’ open interest in BTC is now 84% long (expectations of a rise) and 16% short (expectations of a decline).

The latest figures represent a slight increase from the prior week’s report where asset managers were 80% long and 20% short. We’ve seen this metric trend moderately higher since Sept. 6, when asset managers were 74% long BTC.

Read the full article by CoinDesk analyst Glenn Williams Jr.

Altcoin Roundup

  • Compound Pauses YFI, ZRX, BAT and MKR Supply to Protect Against Potential Exploits: Decentralized finance (DeFi) application Compound has paused the supply of four prominent tokens to protect users against a potential market manipulation attack. Attackers have recently been exploiting DeFi protocols by manipulating thinly traded tokens and eventually draining liquidity. Read more here.
  • Polygon's MATIC Closes In on $1 Level After Recent Breakout: Chart Analysts: Polygon's MATIC token has cleared daily cloud resistance and its 200-day moving average in a short-term bullish development, one observer said. MATIC recently also broke above a trendline connecting the August and September highs, confirming a bullish breakout. Read more here.
  • Fan Tokens of Peruvian, Spanish and Brazilian National Soccer Teams Rally as FIFA World Cup Nears: In the past seven days, fan tokens of the Peruvian national football team (FPFT), Spain's national team (SNFT) and Brazil's national team (BFT) have rallied 29%, 17% and 12%, respectively, according to data source CoinGecko. While the tokens don't represent ownership of national teams, they provide holders access to several fan-specific perks. Read more here.

Trending posts

CoinDesk Market Index

Biggest Gainers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector
Rally RLY +7.93% Culture & Entertainment
Enzyme MLN +7.07% DeFi
Axie Infinity AXS +6.29% Culture & Entertainment

Biggest Losers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector
Render Token RNDR -6.49% Computing
Polygon MATIC -5.81% Smart Contract Platform
Chiliz CHZ -5.64% Culture & Entertainment

Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) is a broad-based index designed to measure the market capitalization weighted performance of the digital asset market subject to minimum trading and exchange eligibility requirements.