First Mover Asia: Bitcoin Sees Little Movement After Light Weekend Trading

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Market moves: Bitcoin moved little on light weekend volume, while prices of gaming tokens spiked.

Technician's take: Bitcoin attempts to break downtrend; faces resistance toward $45K.

Catch the latest episodes of CoinDesk TV for insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis.

Prices

Bitcoin (BTC): $42,420 +2.04%

Ether (ETH): $3,036 +0.64%

Top Gainers

Asset Ticker Returns Sector Cosmos ATOM +13.1% Smart Contract Platform Ethereum Classic ETC +5.1% Smart Contract Platform Cardano ADA +2.0% Smart Contract Platform

Top Losers

Asset Ticker Returns Sector Internet Computer ICP −5.3% Computing Solana SOL −1.3% Smart Contract Platform Ethereum ETH −0.9% Smart Contract Platform

Markets

S&P 500: 4,500 +0.5%

DJIA: 35,089 -.06%

Nasdaq: 14,089 +1.5%

Gold: $1,807 +0.1%

Market moves

BTC$107,305.13 moved little on Sunday after another weekend with light volume, while tokens associated with gaming saw a price bump.

At the press time, the oldest cryptocurrency is changing hands at $42,420, up 2.04% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is up 0.64% to $3,036 in the same time period.

According to data compiled by CoinDesk, bitcoin’s trading volume across major centralized exchanges on the weekend was down significantly from Friday, but in line with most weekdays in the past week. Spot trading volume was reduced over the past week, as major crypto markets in Asia were off for the Lunar New Year holidays.

In the broader cryptocurrency market, gaming tokens rallied over the weekend, while the majority of the market remained quiet. At the time of writing, data from Messari shows the price of GALA$0.01056, axie infinity (AXS) and MANA$0.2299 were up by double-digit percentages in the past 24 hours.

Technician's take

Bitcoin Attempts to Break Downtrend; Faces Resistance Toward $45K

BTC$107,305.13 buyers were active over the past 24 hours as the cryptocurrency topped $40,000 for the first time in two weeks. Upside momentum is improving after technical indicators reached the most oversold levels since March 2020.

Buyers will need to make a decisive move above $40,000 in order to reverse the price downtrend since the November peak around $69,000. Over the past few months, brief rallies have been capped below resistance levels, which means sellers have been in control.

Over the short term, however, bitcoin could see additional upside, especially because the relative strength index (RSI) is not overbought on the daily chart. The next level of resistance is around $45,000, which could stall the current rally.

Bitcoin's price will need to remain above $37,000 over the weekend in order to signal the start of a recovery phase. Still, significant price gains are unlikely if negative momentum signals are confirmed on the monthly chart.

Technical confirmation requires at least two consecutive daily or weekly price closes above or below a major support/resistance level. When gains or losses are carried over into the following trading session it may reflect conviction among buyers and sellers, leading to more reliable price targets.

Important events

8 a.m. HKT/SGT (12 a.m. UTC): Australia TD Securities estimated inflation (Dec. YoY)

9:45 a.m. HKT/SGT (1:45 a.m. UTC): China (Caixin) purchasing managers index (Jan.)

1 p.m. HKT/SGT (5 a.m. UTC): Japan leading economic index (Dec. prel.)

3 p.m. HKT/SGT (7 a.m. UTC): U.K. Halifax home prices (Jan./3 mos./YoY)

CoinDesk TV

In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

US Economy Added 467,000 Jobs in January, ‘Trust Machines’ Wants to Unlock Potentials of Bitcoin for Web3

"First Mover" hosts spoke with Stacks Protocol contributor Muneeb Ali as he launches Trust Machines, an ecosystem of applications to unlock potential of bitcoin for Web 3. Former National Basketball Association all-star and serial entrepreneur Baron Davis is launching "More Than Us Venture Studio" to develop, drop new non-fungible token (NFT) collections to empower underrepresented communities. Plus, market insights from Peter Marber, chief investment officer and head of emerging markets at Aperture Investors.

Headlines

Tron’s Justin Sun Accused of ‘Governance Attack’ on DeFi Lender Compound: Crypto think tank GFX Labs says a prominent whale may be attempting to swing a vote in his favor.

Crypto Miner Merkle Among First to Get Bitmain’s Newest Liquid Cooling Mining Rigs:Merkle will receive 4,449 S19 Pro+ Hydro’s from Bitmain in May.

US Treasury Department Warns of NFT Risk in Art-Related Money Laundering:High-value art is particularly vulnerable to money laundering. The rapid growth of the NFT market presents new issues, according to a new study.

Nike and Hermès File Lawsuits for Trademark Infringement as Fashion Collides With NFTs:The sportswear brand says online sneaker reseller StockX is “blatantly freeriding” on its trademark. The luxury brand wants to stop the sale of MetaBirkins.

Myanmar's Military Government Plans Digital Currency Launch: Report:The country's shadow government said in December it will accept tether as official currency.

Longer reads

Calling a Hack an Exploit Minimizes Human Error: After the Wormhole event, it's worth asking about crypto's reliance on and trust in code.

Today's crypto explainer: What Is a Perpetual Swap Contract?

Other voices: Why are there now so many bitcoin trading firms?(The Times of London)

Said and heard

"Our high level philosophy is that, in a democratic society, the people and their elected officials should decide what behavior is allowed and not allowed by setting laws. We think it sets a dangerous precedent when tech companies, such as Coinbase, or their executives start making judgment calls on difficult societal issues, acting as judge and jury. This approach sounds simple in theory, but in practice it is anything but." (Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong) ... "That is, in betting on a digital monetary future, the financial authorities of the world’s second-most populous nation are joining those of other nations to hasten the arrival of a multi-currency international monetary system – whether they want that outcome or not. In that world, cryptocurrencies will inevitably occupy a key place." (CoinDesk Chief Content Officer Michael Casey) ... "It’s a massive theft by any sane standard – if it had been an old-fashioned bank robbery, it would have been the second largest of all time. But in crypto, it’s only the fourth-largest hack in a single brief decade. Some argue these recurring hacks are part of a learning process on the way to better security, though at this point it’s starting to feel more like an inevitable risk, just the cost of doing crypto business." (CoinDesk columnist David Z. Morris) ... "But overall the job market is strong, particularly in the face of omicron. It's hard to find a weak spot in this report." (Charles Schwab Chief Fixed Income Strategist Kathy Jones to CNBC).