Bitcoin tests the strength of support

Market picture 

Bitcoin has lost 4% in the past 24 hours, once again testing the strength of the $16K area. Ethereum is down 7.8% overnight to $1120. Other leading altcoins in the top 10 were down 5.5% (BNB) to 10.6% (Dogecoin).

Total cryptocurrency market capitalisation, according to CoinMarketCap, sank to $795bn, losing 4.9% overnight and 5.6% for the week. The cryptocurrency fear and greed index is down to 21 points by Monday versus 24 just over a week ago.

Bitcoin failed to develop a rebound last week, facing an intensified sell-off near $17K and about 23.6% of the move down from 5 to 10 November. Such a weak rebound indicates solid bearish pressure, forcing us to expect another move towards the lower boundary at $15.8K. A consolidation below that level could start a new downside wave with a potential target of $12K. However, this is a very distant target, while round levels of $15K and $14K could be the intermediate ones.

News background 

Bitcoin's mining difficulty continues to increase, rewriting an all-time high. The falling price has resulted in the first cryptocurrency being mined at a loss on average. The falling price and high interest rates make us expect miner activity to drop and a subsequent decrease in difficulty. However, there could likely be a brief struggle for market share amongst miners: with bankruptcies and takeovers. This will be interesting.

According to the Nansen report, the collapse of FTX was directly linked to Terra's failure in May. The unrealised loss of the "average" long-term bitcoin investor reached 33%, according to Glassnode's calculations.

The impact of the FTX collapse will still be evident for the foreseeable future, according to a statement to investors from venture capital firm Multicoin Capital. Many players will cease to exist, putting pressure on the liquidity of the crypto market.

Some major crypto exchanges have suspended accepting deposits and withdrawals in Stablecoins, which are hosted on the Solana blockchain. The decision was made due to Solana's association with the collapsed FTX exchange, which used the blockchain's power.

The Australian unit of consultancy firm KPMG has said that meta-universes have the real potential to change many areas of life. In doing so, large companies will contribute to the technology's adoption.