There is little to be surprised about on the crypto markets this morning.
Bitcoin remains trapped in a sideways trading channel, having closed Monday’s session at US$29,400.
This marks the 21st day that the BTC/USDT pair has closed between the 29k to 30k range, indicating a true lack of momentum on either side of the buy-sell market.
Price action on the world’s largest cryptocurrency remained subdued in this morning’s Asia trading session, dipping 0.2% to US$29,370.
Most metrics point to a sustained lack of excitement in the bitcoin markets.
Barring brief spikes, exchange-traded volumes have been on a consistent downward trend over the past six months, while low volatility has seen little price discovery opportunity on the futures market.
Indicative of the malaise in the market, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which tracks bitcoin volumes, volatility and dominance, has been stuck in the neutral zone since mid-July.
As has been the running theme for months, bitcoin bulls are salivating over the prospect of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) bagging approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
US brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein just released a research paper suggesting that ETFs could account for as much as 10% of bitcoin’s market value within three years if the securities watchdog gives them the regulatory nod.
That, however, is a big if.
For a while, optimism seemed to be growing around the prospect of a slot bitcoin ETF, through former SEC attorney John Reed Stark recently threw cold water on that optimism “for a range of compelling reasons”.
For now, bitcoin remains rangebound with support lined up around US$28,900 mark, per Binance’s order book.
Bitcoin at home on the rangebound – Source: currency.com
The second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH) remains firmly planted in its own sideways channel between US$1,800 and US$1,900.
The ETH/USD pair closed Monday 0.3% higher at US$1,845, where it has remained this morning.
Solana (SOL) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) are the best performers among the top-20 altcoins, adding 7% and 13% week on week respectively.
Meanwhile, Binance’s BNB token, Cardano (ADA) and Litecoin (LTC) have sustained low-single-digit losses over the past week.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at US$1.17 trillion, with bitcoin dominance sitting strong and 49.74%.
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