Bitcoin, ether close out rough month amid Fed pivot; crypto stocks nosedive

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In the wake of broader risk asset deleveraging in anticipation of upcoming Fed hikes, bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) finish January on a weak note.

• M/M, bitcoin (BTC-USD) -20% fell even further from its mid-November record high at $69.4K, recently changing hands at $38.5K. Ether (ETH-USD) -30% also extended losses from its November peak at $4.9K on continued selling pressure, recently standing at $2.6K.

Moreover, bitcoin's (BTC-USD) put-call ratio rose to a six-month high of 0.62 on Sunday, CoinDesk reported, citing data from Skew. This compared with 0.42 earlier in January. "The put-call ratio suggests demand for puts is currently high," Patrick Chu, director of institutional sales and trading at Paradigm, told CoinDesk. "We have seen a lot of risk reversal flow recently, where clients were buying puts/ selling calls," he added.

• A chunk of the bearish sentiment evolving around crypto assets can also be seen in the M/M nosedive in publicly-traded "bitcoin proxies." Some of these names include: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC:GBTC) -29%, MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) -40%, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSEARCA:BITO) -21%, Osprey Bitcoin Trust (OTCPK:OBTC) -27%, Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) -37% and Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) -37%. Clearly, if BTC and ETH prices continue to fall, crypto stocks will likely be impacted negatively, and vice versa.

Furthermore, digital asset investment products have seen outflows for the first time since August, with weekly outflows averaging $88M in January, Bloomberg reported, citing a report from CryptoCompare. And total assets under management for BTC products have declined by 23% since December, Bloomberg added. Overall, the crypto market is “a much trickier environment than it was six months ago, 12 months ago, 18 months ago where it was ‘green-light go.’ Now it’s ‘yellow-light caution,” FS Investments Chief Market Strategist Troy Gayeski told Bloomberg.

Earlier in January, Genesis' crypto lending desk got hit with a wave of deleveraging.

Comments

[FrankEllis]

"Overall, the crypto market is “a much trickier environment than it was six months ago..."

Overall, the DOW is a much trickier environment than it was six months ago.

Overall, the S&P is a much trickier environment than it was six months ago.

Overall, the Nasdaq is a much trickier environment than it was six months ago.

Overall, the stock market is “a much trickier environment than it was six months ago.

Overall, the investment market is “a much trickier environment than it was six months ago.

The "news" and analysts have figured it out.

Long and strong, holding long-term, being patient with Mr. Market. It's a Bull market, a Bull trend, a secular Bull cycle with normal and to be expected volatility. When the market grows tired of being down, and the Bull has rested up, consolidated, shaken out the untrusting and unfaithful, then the recovery will complete, a string of new all-time highs will occur, and the next leg of the Bull market will resume the trend.

[Current$ea]

Misleading headline. As usual . One reason (among several) that I can’t subscribe to SA premium service.

Suggest that BIT-C closed out month on a nosedive. Yes, it is down significantly for the month, but it has closed up 7 of the last 9 trading days.

[JMS89]

Things are cyclical. Why all the hate on an asset that makes people money? You're never to old to educate yourself, regardless of what it is...technology, money, investing, hobbies, etc. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean others do. I think elections are a good example of that. Tides change, processes change, and money will eventually change whether you like it or not. I prefer to get educated, even if im not buying the assets, so i know what's going on. Value stocks were terrible last year, now look at them. Cathie Wood was the smartest woman in the room this time last year...now someone has an inverse ETF making money off of her screw ups. Crypto will come around again...it's just waiting its turn gents.

[jack.seeley37]

Crypto...has neither revenues nor income nor sales of a service or product other than that it's a great stock

[King4Coins]

@jack.seeley37 you statement regarding sales and service could not be more wrong. Miners are collecting fees for transferring value across the world. What do you think is happening in El Salvador? Thank you for leaving more bitcoin on the table for me to buy. My future self loves you!

[soral a raison]

@jack.seeley37 Crypto is not an asset, its a solid currency. This fact is currently being eclipsed by the volatility.

[Sleepless in Seattle]

@jack.seeley37: That's nonsense. Chainlink has no service to offer? Polygon MATIC? You can't just refer broadly to "crypto" without being much more specific.

[Mr Briggens]

BTC has been up 7 of the last 8 days. It's rebounding slowly.

Whether it breaks above the trendline from November's high is another question.

As for me, I did buy on the way down under 40k but am sitting out the next few months until after tax time.

[qwerty11]

No comments under a crypto article... Who'd have thought this would be possible 2 months ago?

[Bbender4961]

@qwerty11 The fad is wearing thin. Long steady ride down from here. This is the biggest scam in history.

www.youtube.com/...

[mikefornow]

@Bbender4961 apparently you know absolutely nothing about blockchain technology and its utility

[DogJaw]

@mikefornow Blockchain technology is useful. Crypto currencies are just one use case for blockchain technology. Don't confuse the two.

There's no asset class devaluing itself faster than crypto. 10,000 coins already being traded with thousands more being created every year. If you can create an infinite amount of something, how can it hold value?