First Mover Asia: Crypto prices rise with investors' appetite for risk

Bitcoin and most major altcoins were in the green, although trading was lighter than on Monday.

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Market moves: Bitcoin opened February higher; China’s crypto community remains active after all.

Technician's take: Sideways trading between $35K-$40K BTC could persist this week as long-term momentum fades.

Prices

Bitcoin (BTC): $38,818 +0.9%

Ether (ETH): $2,800 +4.3%

Top Gainers

Asset	Ticker	Returns	Sector
Solana	SOL	+13.5%	Smart Contract Platform
Filecoin	FIL	+11.5%	Computing
Polkadot	DOT	+10.4%	Smart Contract Platform

 

Markets

S&P 500: 4,546 +0.6%

DJIA: 35,405 +0.7%

Nasdaq: 13,346 +0.7%

Gold: $1,801 +0.2%

Market moves

Bitcoin started February, a seasonally strong month for speculative assets, in green, as investors seemed ready to increase their exposure to risk assets.

At the time of publication, the oldest cryptocurrency was trading at a little below $39,000, up about 1% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up to $2,800, a more than 4% gain over the same time period.

According to Danny Chong, co-founder of Binance Smart Chain-based yield-enhancing asset tracker Tranchess, new investors, whether retail or institutional, may have entered the crypto market amid the lower prices in recent weeks.

“Compared to the traditional financial market, the crypto market is significantly smaller in market [capitalizations], enabling modest changes to create a more noticeable impact,” Chong said via a representative. “With rapid support at current levels as well as added liquidity from new and current users, a market rebound can happen relatively quickly as market sentiments turn positive."

Data compiled by CoinDesk shows that bitcoin’s trading volume across major centralized exchanges on Tuesday was slightly lower than a day ago. As mentioned in previous First Mover Asia columns, major Asian markets are expecting a slowdown this week because many traders and investors are taking time off for the Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year celebrations.

(CoinDesk, CryptoCompare)

While crypto trading and mining are banned in China, a well-known actor in China mentioned a random token during China’s Spring Festival Gala – reportedly the world’s most watched television program – and the token’s price rose by as much as 10 times within hours. Its price since then has dropped significantly.

The occurrence shows that despite many crypto observers believing China's market is dead, especially after exchanges such as Huobi removed mainland China users, many people in China are still active in the crypto community.

Technician's take

Bitcoin four-hour chart shows support/resistance with RSI on bottom. (Damanick Dantes/CoinDesk, TradingView)

Bitcoin (BTC) is holding support above $37,000, albeit within a narrow trading range.

The cryptocurrency is up slightly over the past 24 hours, up 3% over the past week.

Buyers will need to make a decisive move above the $40,000 resistance level in order to pause the intermediate-term downtrend from November.

For now, the relative strength index (RSI) on the four-hour chart is approaching overbought territory, which typically precedes a brief pullback in price. Additionally, the downward sloping 100-period moving average on the four-hour chart could limit price gains over the short term.

On the daily chart, however, the RSI continues to rise from oversold levels, which means buyers could remain active above the $35,000-$37,000 support zone. The wide range of support suggests sideways trading could persist this week, especially given weak momentum on longer-term charts.

Important events

9 a.m. HKT/SGT (1 a.m. UTC): OPEC meeting

10 a.m. HKT/SGT (2 a.m. UTC): Eurostate consumer price index (Jan. YoY preliminary)

10 p.m. HKT/SGT (2 p.m. UTC): Australia industry group performance of construction index (Dec.)

10 p.m. HKT/SGT (2 p.m. UTC): Commonwealth Bank of Australia bank services PMI (Jan.)

11:50 p.m. HKT/SGT (3 p.m. UTC) Japan foreign investment in Japan stocks (Jan. 28)

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