First Mover Asia: Bitcoin Finds Firm Footing Above $42K

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Market moves: Bitcoin stabilized above $42,000, although investors continued to monitor tensions on the Ukraine border and inflationary data.

Technician's take: BTC upside appears limited as buyers lose momentum.

Catch the latest episodes of CoinDesk TV for insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis.

Bitcoin (BTC): $42,727 +1.1%

Ether (ETH): $2,941 +2.1%

Top Gainers

Top Losers

S&P 500: 4,401 -0.3%

DJIA: 34,566 -0.4%

Nasdaq: 13,790

Gold: $1,871 +0.7%

After dropping sharply Friday, bitcoin found firm footing in the $42,000 to $43,000 range during U.S. trading hours as investors continued to hold their breath about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, particularly the implications for the global energy supply.

At the time of publication, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading just below $42,800, up slightly over the last 24 hours. Ether, the second-largest crypto by market cap, was trading at above $2,900, up more than 2% over the the same time period. Major altcoins were mostly in the red. Trading was light.

Crypto's performance largely mirrored prices on major equity exchanges. The tech-focused Nasdaq composite was flat, the first trading day after it dropped more than 2% on Friday. The S&P 500 and DJIA were off slightly.

Oil prices have risen to $90 a barrel, their highest level since 2014, and a war that could mean sanctions on Russian production could send the price to over $100, a number of analysts have predicted. Natural gas prices jumped 6% on. Monday. "The possibility of war between Ukraine and Russia has put oil prices on a one-way road higher," wrote Edward Moya, senior market analyst for The Americas OANDA.

Moya noted that crypto prices "appears to be stabilizing," despite rising U.S. Treasury bond yields. "Bitcoin has weathered the regulatory storm and China [mining] exit," Moya said. "There's a strong belief that bitcoin is going to do well in a gradually increasing Treasury yield environment.

If tensions on the Ukrainian border decrease in the days ahead, Moya said investors will "focus on U.S. economic data." He said that Tuesday's Producer Price Index (PPI) report, the average change in the selling prices received by domestic producers for their goods and services, will "be closely watched" as a window on inflationary trends.

Bitcoin Weighed Down by $46K Resistance; Support at $35K-$40K

Bitcoin (BTC) was roughly flat over the weekend as price momentum continued to slow.

The cryptocurrency remains stuck below the $46,000 resistance level, although lower support at $35,000 and $40,000 could stabilize pullbacks over the short term.

The 50-day moving average was unable to demonstrate a positive slope over the past week, indicating continued selling strength. Indicators also approached overbought territory, which typically precede pullbacks in price, consistent with the downtrend since November.

For now, BTC upside appears to be limited as momentum signals remain negative on weekly and monthly charts.

Bitcoin was trading around $42,000 at press time and is down 3% over the past week.

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In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

Crypto Goes Mainstream at 2022 Super Bowl, US Figure Skating Team Launches Partnership to Accept Crypto Donations, Bitcoin Holds Above $41K

"First Mover" hosts spoke with Adweek consumer goods reporter Paul Hiebert to review the crypto ads at the 2022 Super Bowl. Mark Clerkin of CoinList shared his crypto markets analysis. Chris Knierim, 2018 Olympic Bronze medalist, and James Lawrence, Engiven co-founder, shared details of the partnership with the U.S. figure skating team to enable crypto donations.

Singapore State Investment Fund Temasek Eliminates Position in Coinbase: The investment giant previously held about 8,168 shares in the U.S.-listed crypto exchange.

Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rangebound as Traders Hedge Risks: Macroeconomic uncertainty and Russia-Ukraine tensions have kept investors on edge.

Crypto Funds Saw Fourth Week of Inflows as Ether Funds Turned Around: Some $75 million went into digital-asset funds last week as ether funds saw their first inflows in 10 weeks.

Russia-Affiliated Addresses Received 74% of Ransomware Revenue Last Year: Chainalysis: Moscow City firms received as much as 48% of their crypto from illicit addresses.

Animoca Brands and Brinc Launch $30M Guild Program for Play-to-Earn Ecosystems: The effort is aimed at enabling users globally to generate income from play-to-earn games via crypto gaming guilds.

BlockFi Will Pay $100M in Settlement With SEC, State Regulators Over High-Yield Accounts: Report: The company has been under investigation since at least November over the lending product, which offers yields as high as 9.5%.

Soccer Fans Need Better Than NFTs: While ticket prices go up and up, Europe's soccer clubs peddle the questionable notion of interaction through fan tokens.

Today's crypto explainer: Crypto Trading 101: Stochastic Oscillators and Price Momentum

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"After evaluating dozens of protocols, I believe that the most desirable form of defensibility is usefulness that cannot be easily forked by a competitive project." (Pillar VC Principal Parker McKee for CoinDesk) ... "Crypto enthusiasts rejoiced, predicting imminent mainstream adoption (this time, surely!). Everyone else cringed (including viewers old enough to remember the 2005 Super Bowl, when the 'winner' of the ad competition was a boiler-room subprime mortgage lender that shut down two years later as the housing bubble burst)." (CoinDesk columnist Will Gottsegen) ... 'Football, supposedly the sport of the working class, appears to have lost its soul. As The Atlantic recently reported, when the aforementioned 'fan token' platform Socios collaborated with Crystal Palace F.C., a London-based Premier [soccer] league club, 'Fans showed up to a game with a banner reading, MORALLY BANKRUPT PARASITES SOCIOS NOT WELCOME.'" (CoinDesk contributor John Mac Ghlionn) ... In a statement, Ken Paxton (Texas attorney general) said the company’s (Meta) capture of facial geometry in photographs that users uploaded from 2010 to late last year resulted in “tens of millions of violations” of Texas law." (The Wall Street Journal)