Bitcoin Downtrend Intact, Recession Fears May Weigh

Treasury Yield Curve Suggests Fed May Struggle to Engineer a Soft Landing

The latest moves in crypto markets, in context March 18, 2022 Supported by     Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here.  Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here's what's happening this morning: Market Moves:  Bitcoin's post-Fed bounce stalls, the shape of the Treasury yield curve may keep risk appetite under check.  And check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time.    Today's newsletter was edited by Omkar Godbole Market Moves By Omkar Godbole Immediate prospects for risk assets, including bitcoin, look bleak as bond markets question the U.S. central bank's ability to tighten monetary policy without pushing the economy into recession.    "We're still in a downtrend market. Bear market rallies tend to be extreme. Until we break out of the down trendline, it's hard to say the bull market is around the corner," Kevin Kang, founding principal of BKCoin Capital LP, told CoinDesk in an email, citing potential yield curve inversion, geopolitical tensions as key near-term risks to risk assets, including bitcoin.    Treasury yield curve inversion occurs when the 10-year yield drops under the two-year yield. The U.S. curve has inverted before each recession since 1955, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.    The curve was just 20 odd basis points short of inverting at press time, having flattened by 70 basis points since early January. So, recession fears will likely linger, keeping risk appetite under check.    "Look at the massive flattening in the 2y10y – it's signaling that the Fed's ability to engineer a soft landing is quite narrow," David Duong, head of institutional research at Coinbase, said. "Plus, there's still a large risk that inflation could remain high and sticky, even with the base effects that could kick in. It's not immediately clear to me that a terminal rate [peak rate of the tightening cycle] of 2.375% would satisfy that."    On Wednesday, the Fed raised borrowing costs by 25 basis points and signaled six additional rate hikes for the rest of the year. The central bank tried to calm market nerves by assuring that the economy was strong enough to absorb seven rate hikes. However, that didn't help as the 2-, 10-year yield gap broke below 19 basis points right after the Fed statement.    "The dot plot showed seven hikes this year, which isn't a major surprise, but there's a pretty wide dispersion for next year and the year after, suggesting a lot of uncertainty over the future economic scenario," Duong noted.   "Overall, I haven't seen anything that has changed my view that crypto markets will need to see a stabilization period in the next two or three months before a more sustainable recovery can get underway," Duong added.    Bitcoin jumped 4% to $41,700 on Wednesday. However, the follow-through has been anything but bullish so far. "Market was oversold and saw a lot of short covering across the board," BKCoin's Kang said while explaining Wednesday's rise.  U.S. Treasury yield curve (Source: TradingView) Investors, you deserve a Spot Bitcoin ETF.   Since its inception in 2013, Grayscale has never stopped working towards converting Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (symbol: GBTC) to a Bitcoin ETF. If you support the conversion, write to the SEC by clicking here.    Your submission matters because: We can level the playing field. To date, the SEC has only permitted Bitcoin Futures ETFs, while rejecting "physically-backed" or Spot Bitcoin ETFs.   The choice should be yours. If you've been waiting for the familiarity and protections of a Bitcoin ETF, we believe you should not be forced into a Futures-based product simply because it's the only one that exists.   You can help take GBTC to the next level, conversion to an ETF. It's already the world's largest Bitcoin fund and regularly reports to the SEC on a voluntary basis as an SEC-reporting company.   Learn more here. This information should not be relied upon as investment advice or a recommendation regarding any security. Visit here for important disclosures. Crypto Prices Bitcoin (BTC) See the latest price here Ether (ETH)  See the latest price here The following are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 digital assets over the past 24 hours: Biggest Gainers: Asset Ticker Returns Sector Cosmos ATOM +3.9% Smart Contract Platform Solana SOL +3.7% Smart Contract Platform Chainlink LINK +3.5% Computing Biggest Losers:  There are no losers in CoinDesk 20 today. Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive, and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges.  It's never been easier to earn interest on Bitcoin and Tether with BitMEX EARN. Enjoy up to 10% APR on Tether and 4% on Bitcoin, fully backed by the BitMEX Insurance Fund.    With new products, reliable security, and responsive customer service, there's never been a better time to join BitMEX. Start earning interest today by subscribing to EARN here.    BitMEX products and services are not available to US Persons and in other specified jurisdictions. 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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.  First Mover A newsletter from CoinDesk Were you forwarded this newsletter? 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