Market Wrap: Bitcoin Drifts Lower, Although Analysts Expect Bearish Sentiment to Fade

Bitcoin (BTC) and stocks traded lower on Thursday as geopolitical risks escalated.

The second round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian diplomats ended on Thursday without an agreement. The impasse kept markets on edge, contributing to gains in traditional safe-haven assets such as gold and the U.S. dollar.

In crypto markets, the correction over the past month appears to be stabilizing as bearish sentiment wanes. Some analysts remain optimistic due to persistent long-term demand, especially for bitcoin.

"A larger proportion of investors are becoming long-term holders, which is beneficial for price appreciation as it is clear that more investors are seeking higher prices to sell," Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at the U.K.-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.

"Crypto adoption globally continues to soar and aligns with the thesis that we are in an accumulation phase," Sotiriou wrote.

Still, technical indicators show strong resistance at $46,000, which could create choppy trading conditions over the short term. Improving momentum, however, suggests limited downside, with a tight range of support between $37,000 and $40,000.

Latest prices

●Bitcoin (BTC): $41895, −4.40%

●Ether ETH$3,884.19: $2798, −5.15%

●S&P 500 daily close: $4363, −0.53%

●Gold: $1941 per troy ounce, +1.05%

●Ten-year Treasury yield daily close: 1.84%

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.

Ether underperforms bitcoin

The chart below shows the ether/bitcoin (ETH/BTC) price ratio, which continues to struggle near a key resistance zone. Lower support is seen around 0.05, which is about 20% away from current levels. That suggests continued outperformance for bitcoin, which has a lower risk profile relative to alternative coins.

Typically, bitcoin declines by less than altcoins in a down market. But some investors are still allocating to tokens such as LUNA and ATOM, which increased more than 30% in value over the past week, compared with a 9% gain in BTC over the same period.

Altcoin roundup

• Avalanche users can now buy Polygon or BSC assets in a single transaction: Cross-chain messaging system Router Protocol has integrated Avalanche network’s C-Chain to enable communication between Avalanche and other supported blockchains, such as Polygon and Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The integration gives users the ability to buy digital assets on Polygon or BSC in a single transaction without leaving the Avalanche network. Cross-chain services allow users to transfer data between different blockchains, which otherwise do not interact with each other, according to CoinDesk’s Shaurya Malwa. Read more here.
• Anchor Protocol’s ANC rallies 23%: Anchor Protocol’s governance token, ANC, has gained 23% over the past 24 hours and was trading at $4.95 at the time of publication. Henrik Andersson, co-founder of Australia-based crypto-asset investment firm Apollo Capital, said that the rally is due to a combination of ANC offering a high annual percentage yield (APY) and talks of new tokenomics, according to CoinDesk’s Lyllah Ledesma. Read more here.
• Swiss city of Lugano to make bitcoin and tether 'de facto' legal tender: Lugano, Switzerland, has formed a partnership with stablecoin issuer Tether to establish bitcoin, USDT and Lugano's own LVGA Points token as essentially legal tender in the city. The move goes far beyond the actions of a number of other Swiss localities that for some time have been accepting crypto for tax payments. Somewhat similar to El Salvador, Lugano – in addition to allowing crypto for taxes – is aiming to have all of its businesses seamlessly use crypto for everyday transactions (in El Salvador, only bitcoin qualifies), according to CoinDesk’s Stephen Alpher.

Relevant news

• A16z Investing $70M in Ethereum Staking Provider Lido Finance
• OpenSea Bars Iranian Users as US Sanctions Talk Ramps Up
• MetaMask, Infura Block ‘Certain Areas’ Amid Crypto Sanctions Fury
• Notifi Is Latest Startup Trying to Crack Web 3’s Push Notification Problem
• Bitcoin Miner Mawson to Expand U.S. Mining Facility Capability to 7.5 EH/s

Other markets

Digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 ended the day lower.

Largest gainers:

Asset Ticker Returns Sector Cosmos ATOM +4.6% Smart Contract Platform Internet Computer ICP +0.2% Computing

Largest losers:

Asset Ticker Returns Sector Solana SOL −5.9% Smart Contract Platform Polygon MATIC −5.4% Smart Contract Platform Ethereum ETH −5.2% Smart Contract Platform

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 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges.