The world of cryptocurrencies has been experiencing some interesting movements lately. Bitcoin and Ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, have risen during Asian trading hours on Friday. The top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, closed mixed. The SOL token saw the biggest gain. The global cryptocurrency market capitalization increased by 1.37% to US$1.21 trillion in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, while the total crypto market trading volume decreased by 36.46% to US$45.92 billion.
The rise in Bitcoin and Ether can be attributed to the trouble in the traditional financial system, which has propped up the value proposition of cryptocurrencies. Justin d’Anethan, Institutional Sales Director at Amber Group, has noted that prices needed to go much higher for US$30,000 to become a support line. This means that despite the rise in Bitcoin and Ether, the support line is still quite far from where the prices are now.
Ether, on the other hand, rose 1.33% during the day to trade at US$1,914, but declined 0.48% on the week. According to d’Anethan, when the Shapella upgrade happened, many large Ethereum whales did not sell. They wanted to keep the price up so the narrative on staking capability would be bullish and people would feel optimistic about Ethereum. He also mentioned that Ether’s short-term price trajectory is not bearish.
Solana’s SOL token was the day’s biggest gainer in the top 10 cryptos, rising 3.67% to US$22.52, followed by the XRP token, up 2.63% to US$0.47. This suggests that investors are becoming more interested in the altcoins, rather than just the top two cryptocurrencies.
The Forkast 500 NFT index inched down 0.11% to 3,721.74 points during the day and dropped 5.48% during the week. The index is a proxy measure of the performance of the global NFT market and includes 500 eligible smart contracts. It is managed by CryptoSlam, a sister company of Forkast.News under the Forkast Labs umbrella. Yehudah Petscher, Forkast Labs NFT strategist, has noted that the Forkast 500 is a representation for the market as a whole, but it also reflects traders and what they’re doing or not doing, and there is very low volume on the NFT markets right now. Wash trading remains a problem, he said. However, there is good stuff happening in the NFT space, with communities building and growing. The art is world class, and digital artists can now make a living by selling their NFTs. Sotheby’s and Christie’s are selling NFT art at this point regularly.
Overall, the global financial market is experiencing mixed results. Asian equities strengthened for a second consecutive day, lifted by Thursday’s upbeat session on Wall Street, and easing concerns over geopolitical pressures after China’s President Xi Jinping yesterday made his first phone call to Ukraine’s President Zelensky since the Russian invasion, discussing cooperation towards peace. Market sentiment also received a boost from the People’s Bank of China reportedly stepping up short-term cash injections into the banking system for the 11th consecutive day, the longest streak this year, to ease investor concerns over a potential liquidity squeeze. European bourses weakened, following signals of stagnation from Europe’s largest economy, after Germany’s gross domestic product was flat in the first quarter of 2023, missing preliminary market expectations of a 0.2% expansion. Most U.S. stock futures gained on Friday, besides the S&P 500 Futures that fell 0.47%. Investor concerns over a recession in the world’s largest economy grew, after U.S. GDP rose 1.1%, below an estimate of 2%. Inflation in the first quarter stood at 4.2%, above estimates of 3.7%. Business inventories also declined, typically an indicator of an economic downturn.
In conclusion, the cryptocurrency market is experiencing mixed results, with Bitcoin and Ether rising while the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization closed mixed. The rise in cryptocurrencies can be attributed to the trouble in the traditional financial system. Solana’s SOL token was the day’s biggest gainer in the top 10 cryptos, rising 3.67% to US$22.52, followed by the XRP token, up 2.63% to US$0.47. The Forkast 500 NFT index inched down 0.11% to 3,721.74 points during the day and dropped 5.48% during the week. The global financial market is experiencing mixed results, with Asian equities strengthening and European bourses weakening. Most U.S. stock futures gained on Friday, besides the S&P 500 Futures that fell 0.47%. Investor concerns over a recession in the world’s largest economy grew, after U.S. GDP rose below expectations. However, the NFT space continues to grow, with digital artists making a living by selling their art as NFTs, and major auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s regularly selling NFT art. It will be interesting to see how the cryptocurrency market and the global financial market continue to evolve in the coming weeks and months.
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