Crypto market rebounds but faces uncertain growth
Market picture
The cryptocurrency market has added 3.3% in the last 24 hours. The violent recovery from Monday’s kick-off crash has been losing traction for the past few hours. It seems that while the market has not gone into all-out sell-off mode, a reason for sustained buying is hard to find as threats of surprise tariffs persist.
The sentiment index jumped to 72 after diving to 44. This is a quick return to the norm of recent weeks after a sharp fall on Monday.
Bitcoin went from $98K to $91K on Monday, then reversed to $102K (Saturday’s level), where again, the sellers took the lead. The departure above the 50-day moving average was an important psychological victory for the bulls, but the fight for it continues.
Ethereum is trading near $2700, having fallen under its 200-day moving average and entering the consolidation area from August to October last year. We often view Ethereum as the ‘canary’ of the crypto market, and it’s not feeling great.
News background
According to CoinGlass, the massive price drop resulted in the largest liquidation in the history of the crypto market - about $2.27bn. ByBit estimates the figure to be significantly higher - at least $8bn. On that exchange alone, daily liquidations reached $2.1bn.
According to CoinShares, global investments in crypto funds last week totalled $527 million. Investments in Bitcoin increased by $486 million, in XRP - by $15 million, in Solana - by $5 million, in Ethereum – it decreased by $0.3 million.
XRP is now the second-best performing altcoin, having received YTD inflows of $105 million.
MicroStrategy paused Bitcoin purchases last week, breaking a streak of 12 weeks of continuous buying. The company holds 471,107 BTC on its balance sheet, purchased at an average price of $64,511 per coin.
On 3 February, the ‘kimchi premium’ on Bitcoin - a measure of overpricing on South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges - hit a three-year high above 11.9%. Normally, the figure does not exceed 5%.
According to Reuters, India is reconsidering its attitude towards digital assets amid a transformation in how they are perceived in other countries.
Author
Alexander Kuptsikevich, a senior market analyst at FxPro, has been with the company since its foundation. From time to time, he gives commentaries on radio and television. He publishes in major economic and socio-political media.
