As the CoinDesk Indices Ethereum Trend Indicator turned negative, indicating a bearish change in momentum, the price of Ether ({{ETH}}) was trading at slightly more than $3,000 in the early hours of the Asian trading day. Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC) is now trading slightly higher than $64,000, a level it has challenged for the most of the trading morning in Asia.
"Unexpected higher U.S. treasury yields, a stronger dollar, and geopolitical risks in the Middle East weighed down on crypto markets," discussed Jun-young Heo, a Derivatives Trader at Singapore-based Presto, in a Telegram chat with CoinDesk.
Negative financing rates on several exchanges and three-month basis yields "plunging" to 10% are indications of risk-off attitude, according to Yeo, who also noted it in the derivatives market. "Short-term put options are more expensive than call options for both BTC and ETH,
In the past 12 hours, there has been a about equal amount of money pulled out of long positions ($31.1 million) and short positions ($36.49 million) in futures betting, reflecting both optimistic and negative sentiment.
It seems investors have been unable to break all-time highs but remain unwilling to completely turn bearish either," wrote Justin d'Anethan, head of business development at Keyrock, a crypto market maker in Hong Kong, in a note to CoinDesk.
Trading at 2,174, the CoinDesk 20 index—which tracks the performance of the top digital assets in the world—is essentially unchanged.
"It is a difficult environment to navigate with a series of positive crypto-centric catalysts," said he. Alternatively, all risk assets appear to be dominated by the macro side of things, with more hawkish rate expectations due to unexpectedly higher inflation and, naturally, the rise in tensions in the Middle East.
Additionally, d'Anethan pointed out that a period of range-bound price action in cryptocurrencies might pave the way for more explosive moves; when the dust settles, leveraged traders who took a position could face severe liquidation events, causing markets to make a definitive shift.
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