An increase in commodity prices could eat into Indian investors’ skyrocketing appetite for cryptocurrencies; bitcoin, ether is roughly flat for the day.
Markets: Bitcoin’s price slips after the powerful rally earlier in the week appeared to stall.
Insights: Russia-Ukraine war starts to affect Asian economies in ways that could ripple through the crypto industry.
Technician’s take: BTC downside could persist into the Asia trading day.
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Prices
Bitcoin (BTC): $43,835 -0.1%
Ether (ETH): $2,944 -0.1%
Biggest Gainers
| Asset | Ticker | Returns | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos | ATOM | +4.5% | Smart Contract Platform |
| Solana | SOL | +3.3% | Smart Contract Platform |
| Polygon | MATIC | +2.2% | Smart Contract Platform |
Biggest Losers
| Asset | Ticker | Returns | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algorand | ALGO | −3.1% | Smart Contract Platform |
| Stellar | XLM | −1.9% | Smart Contract Platform |
| Bitcoin Cash | BCH | −1.8% | Currency |
The powerful price rally witnessed in bitcoin earlier this week appeared to stall on Wednesday, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the U.S. central bank’s plan to raise interest rates this month for the first time since 2018.
“Continued uncertainty about the proposed U.S. Fed rate hikes in March and growing tensions in Eastern Europe plagued the market for most of February, though prices rebounded at the month’s end,” the crypto exchange Kraken wrote Wednesday in an emailed report.
Katie Stockton at Fairlead Strategies sees prices potentially headed higher, toward the $50,000.
“Our short-term gauges are pointing higher, but the risk is heightened in this environment,” Stockton wrote Wednesday in an email.
The sad saga of the war in Eastern Europe seemed likely to worsen in the days ahead, if not beyond, as Russia escalated its rocket attacks on major Ukraine cities, a 40-mile military convoy barreled toward the capital city Kyiv and Ukrainians continued a desperate and increasingly resourceful defence of the country.
Wednesday also saw the UN General Assembly vote overwhelmingly to condemn Russia’s unprovoked attack with 141 member countries voting in favour of the resolution and just five, including Russia voting against it. China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and India were among 35 countries that abstained.
At the time of publication, bitcoin was roughly flat over the previous 24 hours, just below $44,000. Ether, the second-largest crypto by market cap, was also about where it stood a day ago. Most major cryptos were off slightly.
Markets
S&P 500: 4,386 +1.8%
DJ
IA: 33,891 +1.7%
Nasdaq: 13,752 +1.6%
Gold: $1,927 -0.9%
Insights
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is still in its early days, but it is already starting to affect Asian economies in ways that will likely ripple through the crypto industry.
Commodity prices rose in India, which is one of the biggest importers of Ukrainian sunflower oil. An increase in commodity prices could eat into Indian investors’ skyrocketing appetite for cryptocurrencies. India remains one of the world’s largest crypto markets in the world thanks to a young populace and rising disposable incomes. Some 20 million Indians signed up for trading accounts in 2021, according to a January Economic Times story. CoinSwitch Kuber, India’s largest crypto exchange, saw a 3,500% rise in transaction volumes and reached 14 million users recently.
The country, which relies on Russia for about half its arms and other military equipment, has been cagey in its response to the attack. It was one of just 35 countries on Wednesday to abstain in a UN General Assembly vote to condemn the Russian action. (Five countries, including Russia, voted against the resolution.) Last week, a number of officials even suggested that they might help Russia bypass sanctions by establishing rupee accounts for executing trade transactions.
China, Pakistan and Vietnam, another large importer of Russian military ware, also abstained eight years ago in a vote condemning Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, which some Russian experts have said foreshadowed its Ukraine goals.
Elsewhere, Taiwan, whose native dollar saw further suppression from traders as markets weighed the possibility of a China, emboldened by Russia’s attack, ratcheting up its military presence around the island.
In Malaysia, crypto exchange Binance announced a strategic investment in local exchange MX Global, one of the four recognized market operator-digital asset exchanges that received full approval by the Securities Commission Malaysia in July 2021. Malaysia’s crypto market is in its early stages, but it is also growing, with local startups like analytics service CoinGecko becoming some of the most-used crypto service providers tools in recent years.
Technician’s take
Bitcoin Fades From Resistance; Support at $40K
Bitcoin (BTC) struggled to break above the $44,000 resistance level as overbought conditions appeared on the charts. Momentum is starting to slow, which could point to a deeper pullback into the Asia trading day.
Still, buyers could remain active at lower support levels, particularly at $40,000. At that point, the pullback could stabilize on intraday charts.
On the daily chart, there is stronger resistance at $46,000, which capped the price rally in early February. Buyers will need to make a decisive break above resistance in order to reverse the three-month-long downtrend.
Most indicators are neutral, although there has been a loss of downside momentum on the weekly chart, which could be a positive development this month.
Source: CoinDesk
