First Mover Americas: Bitcoin, Ether Slip as UK Inflation Hits 40-Year High

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Price Point

Bitcoin (BTC) lost ground on Wednesday, trading down 2%, as U.S. stock futures inched up ahead of earnings reports from major companies. The British pound fell after the release of a report that showed U.K. inflation in September rose faster than what economists had expected and hit a new 40-year high.

Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, was also down on the day by around 1.6%. Altcoins Aave’s AAVE and Uniswap’s UNI each rose about 5%, while the rest of the market was weaker.

After launching on mainnet on Monday,Aptos’ cryptocurrency has plunged in value. The highly anticipated layer 1 token was listed in the $9 range and is trading down 40% on the day, according to data from CoinGecko.

CoinDesk Market Index

Biggest Gainers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector Balancer BAL +3.99% DeFi IDEX IDEX +3.38% DeFi XYO XYO +2.69% Computing

Biggest Losers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector Ankr ANKR -9.88% Computing Celsius CEL -6.84% Currency Polymath POLY -6.59% DeFi

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.

Chart of the Day

Coinbase Registers Biggest Daily BTC Outflow Since June

By Omkar Godbole

• A pickup in exchange outflows is often taken to represent renewed accumulation.
• In the past, Coinbase has brokered institutional bitcoin investments.
• That said, on-chain data has its limitations and drawing definite conclusions is difficult. The bitcoin net exchange flows metric doesn't adjust for internal reshuffling of coins into new wallets by an exchange.

Market Moves

Bitcoin Futures ‘Backwardation’ Could Signal Bullish Mood

By Lyllah Ledesma

Bitcoin futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange slipped into prolonged backwardation during September, according to a weekly report from crypto platform Luno.

Backwardation is an unusual condition in futures markets when contracts for maturity or delivery many months in the future are trading at lower prices than near-term contracts.

This hasn't happened since May 2019, according to Luno.

“A steeper futures curve (i.e. a high next-month premium over front-month expiry) indicates bullish sentiment,” the report stated. “A flat futures curve or a downward trending curve implies the opposite – longs require compensation for the risk of exposure in further dated and less liquid BTC contracts.”

Laurent Kssis, a crypto trading adviser at CEC Capital, said the constant selling isn’t helping change this pattern in the near future. “As impetus for a rally and any further good news in crypto unlikely before next year, the best strategy is calendar spreads i.e. selling puts and buying calls,” he said.