First Mover Asia: Bitcoin, Ether Prices Stuck in ‘Wind Tunnel’

Good morning. Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Bitcoin was stable around $27,300.

Insights: Funding rates on bitcoin and ether perpetual futures, often an indication of sentiment, remain positive.

Quiet market translates to less bullish energy

As CoinDesk markets analyst Glenn Williams Jr. wrote, trading volumes will be key to watch, since they could amplify or mute the sentiment behind any directional move.

According to Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at the digital-asset manager Arca, so-called bid/ask spreads – the difference between the price a buyer is willing to pay and what a seller will accept – is wide, especially after some market makers quit crypto.

“The prices of most digital assets are stuck in a wind tunnel,” Dorman in a newsletter.

In traditional finance, stock-market action was muted as traders try to handicap the odds of whether U.S. lawmakers can agree on a plan to avoid a default by the federal government, with the Treasury’s borrowings moving closer to the official limit.

Funding rates remain positive in crypto markets

Perpetual futures funding rates remain positive for both bitcoin and ether, a sign that sentiment in the market remains positive for the moment.

Perpetual funding rates represent payments within the futures markets between participants who are long or short the asset. When funding rates are positive, holders of long positions pay a fee to holders of short positions. When funding rates are negative, the opposite is the case.

The interpretation is that funding rates can often indicate bullish or bearish sentiment, with the former represented by positive rates, and the latter represented by negative ones.

For bitcoin funding rates have been positive in 8 of the most recent 10 trading days. Ether by comparison has shown positive funding rates in 7 of the most recent days, declining to zero 3 times, but not falling below zero since April 6.

Bitcoin (BTC) was trading over $27,000, recovering some lost ground after its plunge last week. This came as crypto exchange Binance announced that it would cease operations in Canada, citing the challenging regulatory environment. Dunleavy Investment Research crypto strategist Tom Dunleavy shared his markets analysis. Separately, EY Global blockchain leader Paul Brody discussed the professional services giant starting an Ethereum-based platform for enterprises to track their carbon emissions and carbon credit traceability. Christoph Jentzsch, corpus.ventures CEO and Slock.it founder, also joined the conversation.

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