Bitcoin rose in afternoon trading in Asia, leading the gainers in the top 10 cryptocurrencies, fueling a wider market recovery as it returned to the US$26,000 support level. Despite the uptick, market experts warn of another potential drop to US$25,000.
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Bitcoin, Solana leads winners in top 10
Bitcoin was the day’s biggest gainer in the top 10 cryptocurrencies, rising 1.86% in the 24 hours leading up to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, to US$26,208, regaining the US$26,000 support level for the first time since Monday. Despite the bullish momentum, market analysts are warning of another potential drop to US$25,000.
“Bitcoin has been wandering on a steady sideways move since the beginning of September. The lack of liquidity in the market leaves it with no volatility,” Aziz Kenjaev, financial analyst and director of business development at cross-chain liquidity protocol Entangle, told Forkast.
“In the current scenario, Bitcoin must close [the week] above US$26,000 to continue bullish, and closing below US$25,100 might signal another drop, towards US$23,750,” added Kenjaev, referencing the below chart.
Ether remained flat during afternoon trading in Asia at US$1,644, despite Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest filing for a spot Ether ETF in the U.S.
Solana’s SOL token was the day’s second-biggest gainer, rising 1.46% in the past 24 hours to US$19.78, but still remaining near its two-month low.
The total crypto market capitalization over the past 24 hours rose 1.08% to US$1.05 trillion while market volume decreased 0.94% to US$26.07 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Solana becomes second-largest network by 24-hour NFT sales volume
The Forkast 500 NFT index fell 0.28% to 2,138.62 points in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong and fell 2.50% during the week.
Solana became the second-largest blockchain network by 24-hour NFT sales volume, rising 9.37% to US$1.17 million, boosted by a 90% surge in the Taiyo Pilots collection that generated US$74,533 in sales for the network.
Mirroring the sales surge, The Forkast SOL NFT Composite rose 0.7% to 643.56 points.
Ethereum’s 24-hour NFT sales rose 9.14% to US$6.5 million, as sales for the Bored Ape Yacht Club increased 40.83% to US$1.25 million, making it the largest NFT collection across all blockchains by 24-hour sales volume.
Over on Polygon, 24-hour sales for the DraftKings collection slumped 61.92% to US$529,173, as Polygon fell to become the fifth-largest blockchain by daily NFT sales volume.
Asian, U.S. equities fall; STOXX 600 sees biggest losing streak since 2016
Major Asian equities fell for a second consecutive day as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, including the Shanghai Composite, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and the Shenzhen Component.
Hong Kong exchanges canceled all trading on Friday after an extreme weather alert from the city’s meteorological authority.
Investors remained concerned about China’s lagging economic recovery, after yesterday’s customs data showed that Chinese exports and imports marked the fourth consecutive month of declines.
Major U.S. stock futures also fell, including the S&P 500 futures index, the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 futures and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures.
The declines came despite investors betting on a pause in interest rate hikes at the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for Sept. 19-20. The CME FedWatch Tool predicts a 95% chance the central bank will maintain the current rate unchanged in September, up from 93% on Thursday. It gives a 57.4% chance for another pause in November.
Over in Europe, the benchmark STOXX 600 fell 0.5%, marking its biggest losing streak since October 2016. Frankfurt’s DAX 40 declined 0.64%, in its sixth consecutive session of losses.
Investors remained uncertain about the European Central Bank’s next interest rate decision scheduled for next Thursday.
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