When it came to news this week, things were not eventful. The market continues to be freighted with the fact that the era of free money is coming to an end, and that an escalation in the Ukraine could possibly have global consequences.
Last weekend’s down move continued at the beginning of this week, and $BTC touched another important support level: $33,000. Implied volatilities spiked over the weekend, but as the overall market started to recover, implied volatilities started to ease again. The recovery in $BTC reached towards $37,500, and we are definitively going to need some positive impulses to expand the weekly gains again.
$ETH hinted at the same patterns, and currently the spread is trading at 0.066.
The funding in BTC and ETH is still negative, whereas some altcoins are showing the opposite. We can expect further market unsteadiness since tighter money means financial volatility and economic uncertainty, as does a geopolitical realignment (Ukraine).
Crypto regulation in South East Asia also continues to tighten. Indonesia’s regulator warned that financial firms are not allowed to offer and facilitate sales of crypto assets. Thailand plans to ban digital asset operators from facilitating use of crypto as a means of payment for goods and services. All of these warnings follow similar concerns as we have already saw in Singapore. The global central banks repeatedly stress that trading in cryptocurrencies is highly risky and not suitable for the general public. I leave this decision up to you!
The SEC case against Ripple is still pending and could eventually (depending on the verdict) have an affect on the entire market. I recommend following the case closely, as it contains all the important facets involved when it comes to regulation and mass adoption.