Bitcoin and Ether fell during afternoon trading hours in Asia on Thursday, while most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization strengthened. Crypto investors were cautious ahead of Europe’s vote on the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill. Asian equities were mixed while U.S. futures declined as global market concerns over inflation persisted.
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Fast facts
- Bitcoin fell 1.31% to US$28,934 in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong. The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell 3.88% on the week, after US$262 million worth of long positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass.
- Bitcoin at US$25,000-38,000 is a “pre-bull run range,” according to pseudonymous crypto trader Doctor Profit, who expects Bitcoin to stay in this range before rising after next year’s halving.
- Ether fell 2.01% to trade at US$1,956 but rose 1.53% during the week. Traders remained cautious ahead of the European Parliament’s upcoming vote on the landmark MiCA bill, scheduled for today’s plenary session.
- Dogecoin, the day’s biggest gainer, rose 4.99% to US$0.091. Litecoin fell 4.58% to US$91.34 to be the day’s biggest loser.
- The global cryptocurrency market capitalization decreased by 1.93% to US$1.22 trillion in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, with total crypto market trading volume rising by 24.53% to US$60.26 billion.
- The Forkast 500 NFT index dropped 1.82% to 3,983.81 points on the day while inching up 0.07% on the week. The index is a proxy measure of the performance of the global NFT market and includes 500 eligible smart contracts on any given day. It is managed by CryptoSlam, a sister company of Forkast.News under the Forkast.Labs umbrella.
- Asian equities closed mixed on Thursday, with the Shanghai Composite inching down 0.092% and the Shenzhen Component Index sliding 0.37%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.18% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.14% after the Chinese central bank held its key interest rate steady for an eighth consecutive month, trying to speed up economic recovery.
- European bourses declined for a second consecutive session on Thursday. The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.39% while remaining close to its 14-month peak and Germany’s DAX 40 lost 0.49%.
- U.S. stock futures declined on Thursday amid global inflation concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.42%, the S&P 500 Futures lost 0.74% and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.12%.
- The U.S. dollar slid 0.11% to 101.8 points, driven by expectations that the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy further. The euro regained some ground, rising 0.13% to US$1.09.
- Gold rose 0.21% to US$1,997 per ounce on Thursday, after dipping below US$1,975 yesterday to its lowest this month.
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