Bitcoin Claims $23k And Heads For Best January In 10 Years; analysts see the return of institutions

Contrary to expectations, yesterday another positive session on Wall Street failed to catapult Bitcoin beyond the $23,000 level, to which the cryptocurrency retreated after an attempt to break through $24,000. As of 7am this Friday (27th), BTC is trading at $22,954, close to stability over the past 24 hours.

However, the digital currency is about to end January with its best performance this month in 10 years. The last gain of more than 40% at the beginning of the year was in 2013, when the asset was up 51% in 30 days.

But, contrary to what happened in the past, according to experts the 2023 rally is mainly driven by buyers from the United States.

“Bitcoin is up 40% year-to-date, with 35% of these returns occurring during US trading hours. This is an 85% contribution from the rally associated with US-based investors,” noted Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at cryptographic services provider Matrixport, said in a note sent to clients today.

“We see this as a clear sign that US institutions are now buyers of Bitcoin,” Thielen added.

Unlike stocks, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general trade 24 hours a day, allowing analysts to monitor order flows across different time zones to estimate where the greatest buying or selling pressure is coming from.

According to Thielen, the optimistic positioning of institutions is also evident with the return of the premium on Bitcoin futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in the US.

“Institutions aren’t just buying Bitcoin spot; rather, we’re also seeing consistently high premiums for perpetual futures (that have no maturity date). We take this as an indication that institutional traders and faster hedge funds were actively buying during the recent crash in the cryptocurrency markets,” Thielen noted.

Deutsche Digital Assets made a similar observation earlier this month, calling attention to the increase in the premium for Bitcoin traded on Coinbase, touted as evidence of greater buying interest from sophisticated US investors than investors retail.

“Traditional and cryptocurrency-focused hedge funds, companies and traditional asset managers have been buying,” David Guong, head of institutional research at Coinbase, wrote in a note published on Jan. 12.

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Another signal seen favorably by analysts is the return of higher volumes in cryptocurrency trading. “An increase in volume coupled with higher prices is usually a bullish sign,” comments CoinDesk crypto markets analyst Glenn Williams.

On the other hand, Bitcoin’s stability this week since it hit $23,000 could be a hint that a more bitter land dispute already exists between buyers and sellers. “Fixed prices signal that optimistic and pessimistic investors are actively expressing their views on the market,” reflects Williamsns.

For now, industry experts are waiting for a new price catalyst for Bitcoin to breach the barrier that has been imposed in the $23,000 range. For now, the higher-than-expected GDP reported by the US and the decline in the number of jobless claims (both signs of persistent inflation) have failed to reach the cryptocurrency market.

Jason Pagoulatos, a market analyst at Delphi Digital, says investors are indeed eyeing the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest rate decision. The American committee equivalent to the Brazilian Copom will publish its decision next Wednesday (1).

“The market knows interest rates will continue to rise, but [esperam que] at a slower rate until it reaches terminal velocity,” he said. “The main problem is that people are trying to clarify how long [os aumentos continuarão] and what that means for things that are still showing signs of strength, like the job market.

Check out the performance of the main cryptocurrencies at 7:00:

Cryptocurrencies with the biggest gains in the last 24 hours:

Cryptocurrencies with the biggest losses in the last 24 hours:

Find out how cryptocurrency ETFs closed in the last trading session:

SEC Rejects Bitcoin ETF Again

For the second time, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) rejected a joint effort by Ark Investment Management and 21Shares to list a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The SEC said the Cboe BZX Exchange – where the ETF is reportedly listed – failed to “demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with requirements” related to the prevention of fraud and other harmful practices.

The US mainstream market has rejected a number of requests to list ETFs that invest directly in Bitcoin, but has approved a number of funds that track the BTC futures market.

One of the companies that had its bid rejected, Grayscale Investments has decided to file a lawsuit against the SEC’s decision, with an oral challenge set to begin on March 7.

The stablecoin Cardano will be available in two DEXs next week

Stablecoin Djed and its governance token Shen will be listed on decentralized exchanges (DEXs, which run on smart contracts) MuesliSwap and MinSwap, which run on Cardano, following their issuance next week.

According to DeFiLlama, MinSwap is currently the largest Cardano DEX with $30 million in deposited tokens, while MuesliSwap has a relatively lower liquidity of $6.5 million.

Djed will be backed by other tokens and will require more than 400% collateral to avoid crashes like what happened to TerraUSD, from the Terra project.

Mynt offers four new cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency investment platform Mynt has added four new assets for trading, all tokens from the Ethereum network: Aave (AAVE), Uniswap (UNI) and Curve (CRV), from the DeFi segment, and Lido (LIDO), issued by a Staking ETH platform (passive income).

With the new addition, Mynt now offers 14 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ehereum, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA), among others.

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