Daily News | Weekend Ends In Red As Equities Down, Crypto Mixed, But DOGE Rose

TL; DR

🥂 Good morning, today is Friday, Dec. 23, 2022.

Macro: In Asia, equities are expected to have a negative end to the week following a decrease in US technology stocks and economic data supporting the Federal Reserve's decision to continue raising interest rates. Trading volumes for the Nasdaq 100 have also soared 14% above their 30-day average, with more than 10% of the benchmark hitting 52-week lows.

Crypto: Bitcoin was trading around $16,807 at 00:00 UTC and Ether tracked Bitcoin's flat performance. Dogecoin, on the other hand, rose 4.5% over the past day, possibly indicating selling fatigue after a recent sell-off. The correlation between the Nasdaq and Ether was at 0.45, up from 0.17 a week ago. The rapid increase has shown its effects as a rift between the performance of BTC and ETH, albeit slightly.

Topic of the Day: Sun & Valkyrie

Notable Headlines: Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang are facing the possibility of spending decades in prison; The EU’s report for bespoke NFT policy has been scrapped; Immunefi rewarded ethical hackers with $52 million; The Argentine Football Association has partnered with metaverse startup Upland…

Macro at a Glance

In the US, technology stocks are experiencing their worst December in twenty years, with the Nasdaq 100 Index dropping 8.93% this month. This is due to a lack of optimism about relief from Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and reports indicating that US jobless claims remain near historically low levels, leading to the belief that the Fed will continue to tighten policy. Weak results from chipmaker Micron Technologies Inc (-3.44%). have also increased concerns about a potential recession. Tech stocks, including Apple Inc. (-2.38%) and Microsoft Corp. (-2.55%), have suffered the most this year due to rising inflation and sensitivity to higher interest rates.

The economic figures and earnings reports have led to a risk-off market, with the S&P 500 dropping 1.5% on Thursday and down 6% this month. Tech stocks, including Tesla Inc. (-8.88%) and Marvell Technology Inc. (-4.63%), have seen significant drops this month, with short interest in the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 ETF (-2.45%) reaching levels last seen in 2012. Trading volumes for the Nasdaq 100 have also soared 14% above their 30-day average, with more than 10% of the benchmark hitting 52-week lows. A further selloff could increase pressure on long-position investors to sell, according to Citigroup Inc. (-1.83%) strategists.

In Asia, equities are expected to have a negative end to the week following a decrease in US technology stocks and economic data supporting the Federal Reserve's decision to continue raising interest rates. Australian shares opened lower while futures for Hong Kong and Japan fell, along with an index of US-listed Chinese companies. Japan's annual inflation rate increased to 3.8% in November 2022, the highest since January 1991, due to high prices for imported raw materials and a weak yen. Core consumer prices also rose 3.7% year-on-year, exceeding the Bank of Japan's 2% target for the eighth consecutive month.

There are also growing concerns that Japanese investors could bring back some of the trillions of dollars they have invested in foreign stocks and bonds as the yen and local bond yields increase following the Bank of Japan's sudden shift towards a hawkish stance. This could further increase global borrowing costs and hinder economic growth, with eurozone bonds seen as particularly vulnerable.

💡 Today's Markets at Dec. 22 23:26 UTC

BTC -0.09% at $16,809; Ether +0.16% at $1,215.

Asia: Japan +0.46%; Hong Kong +2.71%; China -0.46%; India -0.39%.

Europe: London -0.04%; Paris -0.95%; Frankfurt -1.30%.

US Spot Indices: Dow -1.05%; S&P -1.45%; Nasdaq -2.18%.

US Index Futures: Dow -0.01%; S&P -0.03%; Nasdaq -0.05%.

US Two-year Treasury up 6bps at 4.280%.

US Ten-year Treasury down 1bps at 3.686%.

UK Ten-year Government up 2bps at 3.595%.

US Dollar Index +0.15% at 104.02.

FX in 24hrs: GBP: -0.08%; EUR: -0.09%; JPY: -0.05%; CNY: -0.03%.

Gold -1.15% at 1,793; Brent Crude +2.16% at 81.67.

🧠 Catalysts this week

• Friday: Japan Inflation Rate, US Personal Income & Personal Spending, US Durable Goods Orders

Crypto Daily Digest

Cryptocurrency prices remain mostly unchanged, with Bitcoin trading around $16,807 at 00:00 UTC and Ether tracking Bitcoin's flat performance.

Binance's BNB fell slightly to about 0.24%, while Ripple's XRP added 1.2%. Dogecoin, on the other hand, rose 4.5% over the past day, possibly indicating selling fatigue after a recent sell-off. The Open Network’s TONCOIN fell 6.5% after rising about the same a day earlier, indicating signs of a top as traders begin to rein in profits.

Coinbase (-1.59%) shares traded lower and shares of Block (-3.18%), MicroStrategy (-1.53%), and Silvergate (-0.89) were also muted.

US equity futures fell slightly, with the S&P 500 dropping 0.01% and the Nasdaq 100 dipping 0.05%, possibly pointing to a red open in Asia which would drag down crypto prices. The correlation between the Nasdaq and Ether was at 0.45, up from 0.36 a day ago, and 0.17 a week ago. The rapid increase has shown its effects as a rift between the performance of BTC and ETH, albeit slightly.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index (DXY) and BTC stood inversely correlated at -0.7, down from -0.77 yesterday, and -0.89 a week ago. The correlation between US Oil Fund and BTC also began rising exponentially from -0.34 a week ago to -0.15 yesterday. The relationships between gold, oil, the dollar, and BTC will be worth watching as the Q4 earnings season proceeds in the US.

🌐 Top 20 Coins Performance

BTC -0.10% at 16,817; ETH +0.21% at 1,216.

BNB -0.24% at 245; XRP +1.20% at 0.349; DOGE +4.57% at 0.0771.

ADA +1.08% at 0.256; MATIC -0.08% at 0.794; DOT -0.29% at 4.50.

TRX +1.07% at 0.0555; SHIB +0.75% at 0.00000832; LTC +0.93% at 66.09.

SOL -3.47% at 11.13; UNI +0.10% at 5.32; AVAX +0.91% at 11.81.

TONCOIN -6.50% at 2.40; GT +0.02% at 3.418.

Topic of the Day: Sun & Valkyrie

It seems that Justin Sun, the controversial crypto billionaire and founder of Tron, has been keeping a large stash of Bitcoin with none other than Wall Street-targeting crypto asset manager Valkyrie Investments. In fact, CoinDesk reports that at one point in August 2021, Sun had over $580 million worth of BTC stored with Valkyrie, making up a whopping 90% of the assets at the company's largest division, Valkyrie Digital Assets LLC.

But wait, it gets even more interesting! Not only is Sun one of Valkyrie's biggest shareholders, but the company has also been busy building investment products for "Justin tokens" like Tron's TRX and BitTorrent BTT, which some other crypto asset managers would rather avoid. And let's not forget the time when Tron was allowed to share Valkyrie's spotlight on Wall Street, with someone sporting a Tron T-shirt joining the Nasdaq bell-ringing ceremony in September.

So, to summarize: it looks like Justin Sun has a pretty cozy relationship with Valkyrie Investments, and a good chunk of his Bitcoin is stored with the company. But hey, at least he's not the only whale in town – for a few months this year, Valkyrie also signed a $700 million partnership to manage treasury funds for crypto protocol NEM/Symbol. However, that deal fell through and NEM/Symbol took back its tokens. But Steve McClurg, CIO of Valkyrie Investments, assures investors that the company is still partnering with NEM/Symbol.

🔽 VALKYRIE Bitcoin STRATEGY ETF (NASDAQ: BTF): $6.60 (0.00%)

Since Nov. 04, the ETF has fallen 20% by value.

🔽 TRON (TRX): $0.05545 (-0.14%)

If you’d like us to cover any specific token or macro data, feel free to reach out to us by dropping a message in our Reddit community.

Meanwhile, for a full analysis of Bitcoin (BTC), click here.

TRX Overview:

• Closest daily support zone: 0.05498 - 0.05253
• Closest daily resistance zone: 0.05530 - 0.05686
• Daily Key Level: 0.04422 (Weekly Close of Dec. 25, 2017 - Jan. 01, 2018)

TRX Daily Resistance zones

1. 0.05530 - 0.05686
2. 0.05670 - 0.05790
3. 0.05870 - 0.05890

TRX Daily Support zones

1. 0.05498 - 0.05253
2. 0.05250 - 0.05205
3. 0.05106 - 0.04927

Further Reading

SBF Escapes One Prison Into Another, Avatar Visuals Crashed Japanese Cinemas | Zoom out and discover this week’s major world events. Crypto is interconnected to the real world after all.

The crypto market forecast 2023 | Bitcoin‘s halving history shows some signs of recovery in 2023.

****Market Trend｜**Crypto Market Revealed a Mixed Bag, SBF Arrested In The Bahamas, ETH Gas Fees Has a Moderate Increase

Gate Charity Wraps Up NFT Charity Fundraiser and Christmas Gift Donations for Child Welfare Center | Gate Charity collected donations through the Christmas Seal NFT collection and hosted a Christmas event for children at the Dongmyeong Child Welfare Center in South Korea.

Gate Group Exchanged Viewpoints With Hong Kong Government Representatives On Digital Asset Industry Development | The meeting aimed to address the questions and concerns of industry leaders about the policy and regulations, as well as encourage virtual exchanges to look into license requirements.

Notable headlines

🔹 Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder and former CTO Gary Wang are facing the possibility of spending decades in prison after the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed guilty pleas from the pair. Ellison pled guilty to seven charges of fraud, which carry a maximum penalty of 110 years in prison, although a judge will determine actual sentences, which are often more lenient for cooperating defendants.

🔹 The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission labelled FTX’s exchange token, FTT, as a security. The regulator’s complaint specifically noted that FTX used proceeds from the token’s sale to fund its business efforts. The prices for other exchange tokens haven’t reacted negatively to the news.

🔹 The European Parliament’s report for bespoke NFT policy has been scrapped after MEP Eva Kaili was charged with corruption over alleged bribes from Qatari officials. The EU’s crypto industry may need to find a new ally in the institution, sources say. A Belgian federal court ruled on Thursday that Kaili will remain imprisoned until another evaluation in a month, unless she appeals.

🔹 Immunefi rewarded ethical hackers with $52 million for finding bugs in crypto projects in 2022. The largest bounty paid via Immunefi was worth $10 million for a vulnerability discovered in Wormhole.

🔹 Avalanche rolled out the “Banff 5″ software upgrade to introduce Avalanche Warp Messaging. The upgrade will let Avalanche subnets to easily communicate and share data with each other.

🔹 The Argentine Football Association has partnered with metaverse startup Upland. The move marks the AFA’s first entry into the metaverse, offering fans digital meetups and collectible opportunities.