CV Market Watch™: Weekly Trading Overview (17-24 August)

Bitcoin (BTC) survived another week with relatively lower volatility, following a series of interventions by the Tether treasury wallet. BTC now fights to remain above the $6,000 level, which many see as key for the sustainability of miners. 

Bitcoin (BTC) lost another bout with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as expected, as nine different ETF proposals were shot down. For now, the market seems to have settled into the knowledge that an ETF may not arrive soon. This also means that BTC trading and prices are boosted by internal trades in the crypto market, most notably by the Tether (USDT) dollar-pegged asset.

BTC has a negligible net gain of 0.75% in the past seven days, standing at $6,547.49. Over the past week, BTC had volatile days, on trading volumes depressed toward $3 billion in 24 hours. On August 22, BTC peaked above $6,700, only to sink back again. The probable reason was the tranche of 100 million USDT tokens moved to Bitfinex on August 21. On Friday, the share of USDT trading in Bitcoin had expanded to 58.7%, based on data from CryptoCompare, once again indicating that the funds supporting BTC prices are mostly linked to USDT speculation.

Ethereum (ETH) stood at $277.26, down another 7% net this week, while retaining its volumes of around $1.3 billion in 24 hours. More than 40% of that volume is in the pairing with USDT, showing the influence of the dollar-pegged asset.

XRP (XRP) added a slim 3% this week to $0.32, still down from a temporary weekly peak above $0.37.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH, BCC) was beset by negative news related to a split in the community, as well as criticism against Bitmain, one of the coin’s chief supporters. The market price sank below the 0.1 BTC range, and in dollar terms, BCH lost around 2.5% net to $530.45.

EOS (EOS) lost around 2% net, sinking back below the $5 level, down to $4.92. Despite the ecosystem’s growth, the market price remains weak as both prices and volumes went on a long slide since the peak prices at the end of April.

Stellar (XLM) is back to $0.21, distancing itself from the recent peaks.

Litecoin (LTC) is down to $56.63, showing the usual stability in its new, lowered price levels which recall the prices of last summer, before LTC boomed. Both BTC and dollar prices are seeing a protracted slide.

Cardano (ADA) backed down to $0.09, losing 8.8% this week, as the asset keeps losing attention. ADA has lost the competition to XLM, which is seen as the more promising asset, while the Cardano platform is still behind in its progress and applications. ADA has been displaced from its position by Tether (USDT), which is omitted, but ranks eighth at CoinMarketCap.

Monero (XMR) is at $89.30, sliding by about 6%, but remaining surprisingly resilient as other assets mark steeper losses.

IOTA (MIOTA) recovered slightly to $0.50, for now stemming the losses, and even adding around 2% net this past week.

TRON (TRX) stabilized at $0.021, with a depressed price despite the news of the upcoming launch of the TRON Virtual Machine.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) showed resilience, but still lost a net 9.5% this week, down to $12.38, as the launch of Coinbase trading was quickly dismissed by the markets.

DASH (DASH) is down to $138.52, losing another 12% this week, as the coin is building its network of users, but unable to affect the price as the pessimism grips the markets.

NEO (NEO) recovered to $17.52, but had a rough week as China showed it may not be favorable to crypto projects, banning crypto-themed meetings in some hotels while scouring social media and chat apps to close down cryptocurrency comments and channels.

Binance Coin (BNB) displaced NEM, and even with a price of $9.76 and a weekly net loss of 4%, BNB is one of the coins that for now has managed to survive the bear market, and even appreciate when serving as a hedge against risk.

In the past week, BTC’s dominance expanded a bit to 53.3%, as the losses of the leading coin were lower than those of altcoins. The relative stability of the markets hinges on another round of USDT injections.

Altcoins kept showing even more weakness, as BTC’s price dominance has grown steadily in the past three months, while altcoins as a whole lost their share.

Neither the author nor the publication assumes any responsibility or liability for any investments, profits, or losses made as a result of this information. Cryptocurrency trading and investing are risky propositions, and market participants are advised to always conduct thorough research.