Bitcoin Struggles to Keep $30K Support as Demand Weakens

PLUS: Technicals show sellers haven't capitulated yet

Everything you need to make sense of the crypto markets and beyond By the CoinDesk Markets Team Edited by Lawrence Lewitinn, Managing Editor, Global Capital Markets June 22, 2021 Sponsored by     Bitcoin (BTC) -2.3%  $31,826 Ether (ETH)  -2.9%   $1,901 (Price data as of June 22 @11:00 UTC) If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.  Good morning. Here's what we're writing about: Market Moves: Analysts Divided on Bitcoin's Price Prospects as $30K Beckons Technician's Take: Bitcoin Finds Support at $30K; Faces Resistance at $36K Check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Lawrence Lewitinn and Emily Parker at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today the show will feature guests: Steve Ehrlich, Voyager Digital Co-Founder & CEO Edward Woodford, Seed CX and Zero Hash Co-Founder Michael Wu, Amber Group Founder & CEO Christine Kim, CoinDesk Research Analyst Biggest Movers These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:   Gainers: None of the CoinDesk 20 digital assets is up today.  Losers: Aave (AAVE): -13.6% NuCypher (NU): -13.0% Polkadot (DOT): -12.5% Caradano (ADA): -12.4%   The CoinDesk 20 are 20 digital assets filtered from the larger universe of thousands of cryptocurrencies and constitute roughly 99% of the market by volume at eight of the largest and most trustworthy exchanges. Market Moves by Omkar Godbole Analysts Divided on Bitcoin's Price Prospects as $30K Beckons As bitcoin (BTC) nears support at $30,000, analysts are divided on what happens next. Some see that level holding and a return toward $40,000. Others point to weak demand, and say further declines are likely.   "We believe that there is not much downside in the short term as we trade near the bottom end of the $30,000-$42,000 trading range," Delta Exchange CEO Pankaj Balani said. "In the short term, the macro environment does not look weak, with broader markets continuing to rally and U.S. tech stocks posting all-time weekly highs."   The S&P 500, Wall Street's benchmark equity index, rose 1.4% on Monday, signaling a reevaluation of risk in financial markets following last week's drubbing. Asian shares traded higher early today as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's comments quelled taper fears.   In written remarks prepared for his testimony before the House Select Subcommittee released yesterday, Powell reiterated his view that a recent uptick in inflation would prove short-lived. Stocks, commodities and bitcoin took a hit last week while the dollar rallied on the Federal Reserve's unexpectedly hawkish tone on interest rates.   Balani foresees a bounce to $40,000 in coming weeks. Singapore-based QCP Capital said it expects bitcoin to continue trading in the range of $30,000 to $40,000.   The firm pointed to the recent negative funding rate in perpetual futures listed on FTX, Deribit, and BitMEX as evidence of retailers' short bias. The funding rate is the cost of holding long/short positions. A negative print implies that many traders are bearish, or holding short positions.   Bitcoin funding rate (Source: QCP Capital, Skew) QCP's preferred trade remains a short strangle – an option strategy aimed at benefiting from consolidation/impending drop in price volatility. It involves selling the same expiry call and put options at strikes equidistant from the spot market price.   According to Amber Group, some investors have been selling puts below $30,000 – a sign they are expecting the key support to hold. Selling options or strategies like short strangle are quite risky and better left to big firms and institutions with ample capital supply.   Others are less sanguine, with Stack Funds saying the cryptocurrency could drop below $30,000.   "We are still witnessing moderate incoming flows from family office and high net worth individuals, however, the demand has slightly dampened since May," COO and Co-Founder of Stack Funds Matthew Dibb said.    Crypto finance services provider Amber Funds and OKEx exchange also considered the slowdown in demand.   "There's no direct evidence showing people in China are buying the BTC dip," Matthew Lam, an analyst at crypto exchange OKEx, said.   "There is little evidence of dip demand. People are still sidelined," Amber Funds said in a Telegram chat.   With the demand side weak, sellers may succeed in pushing the cryptocurrency down on the back of consistent negative regulatory news flow out of China.   Dibb said charts also appear bearish. The daily chart MACD histogram, an indicator used to gauge trend strength and trend changes, has fallen below zero, signaling an end to the consolidation and potential for a fresh sell-off.   Bitcoin's daily chart (Source: TradingView) Bitcoin is trading near $31,500 at press time, having dropped by 11.17% on Monday, the biggest single-day decline since May 19, according to CoinDesk 20 data.   "The cryptocurrency needs to reclaim $40,000 for any meaningful recovery," OKEx's Lam said.     Read the original story here: Analysts Divided on Bitcoin's Price Prospects as $30K Beckons A message from Nexo Your digital assets deserve a savings account in their BEST INTEREST. Leading crypto lender Nexo treats you, your crypto and your fiat to industry-best Crypto & Fiat services, featuring:    * Up to 12% interest on digital assets, paid out daily! * Yields available on BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, XRP, XLM, EOS, TRX, LINK, BNB, PAXG, USDT, USDC, TUSD, PAX, DAI, HUSD, GBP and EUR. * No minimum or maximum limits on funds deposited, offering infinite opportunities to earn. * #ZeroFees on all transactions. * Military-grade wallet security and top-tier insurance on all custodial assets with SOC 2 Type 2 certified crypto custodian BitGo. Get started at nexo.io Technician's Take by Damanick Dantes, CMT Bitcoin Finds Support at $30K; Faces Resistance at $36K The sell-off in bitcoin (BTC) has been stabilizing around $30,000 support since Monday, which could attract short-term buyers. Upside appears limited near the $36,000 resistance level given the near three-month downtrend. Bitcoin was trading around $31,700 at press time and is down about 22% over the past seven days. Sellers remain in control, which could cap upside moves this week. Bitcoin daily price chart shows support and resistance levels with RSI (Source: TradingView) The relative strength index (RSI) registered an oversold reading on May 19. Since then, buyers have defended support around $30,000. Upside momentum is weak, evidenced by several weeks of consolidation below $41,000 resistance. The RSI on the weekly chart is not yet oversold, meaning sellers have not yet capitulated. Lower support is seen around $27,000, which is a 61% retracement of the March 2020 low. Read the original story here: Bitcoin Finds Support at $30K; Faces Resistance at $36K A message from Kaiko   Kaiko is the premier cryptocurrency market data provider for professional traders and enterprises.  Highly-granular historical and live data: Tick-level trades, order book snapshots, aggregates, reference rates and more.  Extensive coverage: 100+ spot and derivatives exchanges Flexible data delivery: Downloadable CSV files and robust REST and WebSocket APIs designed for enterprise-use. On-call support: Private slack channels, SLA's and integration assistance.  Request a trial, browse our data dictionary, and subscribe to our weekly research newsletter today!    Learn More BOLO Be on the look out for some of these upcoming events:   18:00 UTC (2:00 p.m. ET): Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell speaks before the Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus Crisis, U.S. House of Representatives (via livestream) on The Federal Reserve's Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic. 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