First Mover Asia: Bitcoin rebound continues into third day amid lessening Omicron fears

Ether and all but one other altcoin ranked among CoinDesk’s top 20 by market cap also rose.

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening this morning:

Market moves: Bitcoin led the crypto market to its third straight day of recovery from a “Black Friday” sell-off amid diminishing fears

Technician’s take: Short-term momentum is improving, although buyers will need to clear $60K to sustain the uptrend.

Prices

Bitcoin (BTC): $57,990

Ether (ETH): $4,445

Markets

S&P 500: $4,655 +1.3%

Dow Jones Industrial Average: $35,135 +0.6%

Nasdaq: $15,782 +1.8%

Gold: $1,782 -0.5%

Market moves

Bitcoin led the crypto market to its third straight day of gains, after a steep drop by more than 8% on “Black Friday.” The No. 1 cryptocurrency by market capitalization rose to nearly $59,000 on Monday before it sank toward the $58,000 level again.

But bitcoin’s trading volume was much lower compared with last Monday across major centralized exchanges. As discussed in Monday’s Asia First Mover, investors are waiting for the latest updates about the omicron coronavirus strain and its potential impact on the global markets, crypto included.

(CoinDesk/CryptoCompare)

One analyst, however, said investors in Asia, especially in China, are less affected by Omicron’s developments.

“During the past few days ... it is not so [panicky] for Asia market,” Rachel Lin, CEO of DeFi derivatives platform SynFutures, said, pointing out that China’s major A-share market closed with few changes on Friday.

A report by Bloomberg says that China’s COVID-zero strategy may have helped its equity market from any potential hurt from the Omicron strain.

Technician’s take

Bitcoin daily price chart (Damanick Dantes/CoinDesk, TradingView)

Bitcoin (BTC) is holding support above its 100-day moving average, currently around $54,200, as last week’s sell-off stabilizes.

The cryptocurrency was trading around $58,000 at press time and could face initial resistance at $60,000-$63,000.

Price momentum is starting to recover on the daily chart, which suggests buyers could remain active into the Asia trading day. Additionally, the relative strength index (RSI) on the daily chart is near oversold levels similar to what occurred in late September, which preceded a price rally.

For now, buyers will need to clear resistance in order to yield further upside targets. Longer-term indicators have shifted neutral as buyers failed to sustain an all-time high near $69,000 over the past month.

Important events

8 a.m. HKT/SGT (12 a.m. UTC): New Zealand business confidence (Nov.)

8:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 a.m. UTC): Australia building permits (Oct. MoM/YoY)

9 a.m. HKT/SGT (1 a.m. UTC): China manufacturing purchasing managers index (Nov.)