Daily News | Crypto Prices in Flux Despite Crypto Stocks Leading Gains on Nasdaq, Traders Eye BoJ Policy and US Earnings Season

2023-01-18, 02:34

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## TL; DR

🥂 Good morning, today is Wednesday**, Jan. 18, 2023.** ****It’s going to be yet another great day. Let’s get after it relentlessly.

**Macro:** Asian stocks had mixed results on Wednesday, with some rising and others falling, as investors awaited any policy changes from the Bank of Japan. Japan's Topix index has been declining and the S&P 500 also experienced a decline. The Bank of Japan may be ready to change its policy and traders are closely watching policymakers.

**Crypto:** The total crypto market cap has remained essentially unchanged since Sunday, and crypto traded mixed on Tuesday despite the Nasdaq leading gains with its listed crypto and mining-related stocks. SHIB was a notable winner among the top 20 coins after its announcement of a layer-2 development.

****Topic of the Day:**** Arbitrum Lags Behind Optimism in Recent Ethereum Transactions

**Notable Headlines:** FTX has identified $5.5 billion in liquid assets; Crypto AI tokens have jumped in price following the news that Microsoft may invest $10 billion into OpenAI; The European Parliament’s final vote on the comprehensive Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation has been postponed to April…

## Macro at a Glance: S&P 500 Cools Off as Investors Eye BOJ Policy and Monetary Tightening

It was a mixed bag for Asian stocks on Wednesday, as investors weighed the potential for monetary tightening and eagerly awaited any policy changes from the Bank of Japan. While stocks in Australia and Japan inched upwards, South Korean shares took a dip and Hong Kong stock futures dipped slightly. Japan's Topix index has been on a downward trend, losing more than 5% since its late November peak, as the yen has gained strength amid speculation of a shift in monetary policy.

The S&P 500 also experienced a decline, following a four-day rally that came to an end on Tuesday, indicating that the strong start to the year for global equities may be cooling off. The dollar remained steady, while the yen dropped in anticipation of the highly-awaited policy meeting in Tokyo, where the central bank may alter its yield curve control program after expanding its trading range last month.

The Bank of Japan may be ready to shake things up, with Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist for Invesco Ltd, stating that "it's clear that in this environment yields are going to go up" and that the bank is likely to "modify or eliminate its yield-curve control policy because it's not sustainable." While economists predict that the BOJ will maintain its current policy, traders are keeping a close eye on policymakers. The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield was just below the BOJ's target ceiling of 0.5% in early trading Wednesday but has surpassed that level multiple times recently.

💡 **Today's Markets at Jan. 18 00:35 UTC**

**BTC** -0.27% at $21,165; **Ether** +0.09% at $1,567

**Asia: Australia** +0.02%**; Japan** +0.38%; **Hong Kong** -0.78%; **China** -0.10%; **India** +0.89%.

**Europe:** **London** -0.15%; **Paris** +0.48%; **Frankfurt** +0.35%.

**US Spot Indices:** **Dow** -1.14%; **S&P** -0.20%; **Nasdaq** +0.14%.

**US Index Futures: Dow** -0.24%; **S&P** -0.26%; **Nasdaq** -0.30%.

**US Two-year Treasury** down 3bps at 4.200%.

**US Ten-year Treasury** up 4bps at 3.542%.

**UK Ten-year Gilt Bond** down 4bp at 3.337%.

**[US Dollar](https://www.gate.io/trade/USD_USDT) Index** +0.16% at 101.97.

**FX in 24hrs:** GBP: +0.80%; EUR: -0.35%; JPY: -0.01%; CNY: -0.60%.

**Gold** -0.62% at 1,908; **Light** **Crude** +1.24% at 80.85.

🧠 **Catalysts this week**

**Monday:** Australia Westpac Consumer Confidence

**Tuesday:** China GDP, China Industrial Production, UK Unemployment, Germany ZEW Economic Sentiment, Canada Inflation Rate

**Wednesday:** Japan BoJ Interest Rate Decision, UK Inflation Rate, US PPI, US Retail Sales, Japan Balance of Trade

**Thursday:** US Building Permits, Japan Inflation Rate

**Friday:** UK Gfk Consumer Confidence, UK Retail Sales

## Crypto Daily Digest: Cryptocurrencies Mostly Stagnant As The US Stock Market Slowed Momentum But Crypto Stocks Rallied

The total crypto market cap is at $946B, per tradingview data, which has been essentially unchanged since Sunday, perhaps due in part to the US markets closing a day for a holiday on Monday.

On Wednesday morning, among the top 20 coins, [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) (BTC) saw a small increase of 0.57% to reach $21,229, up 1.27% since Sunday. Ether (ETH) also saw a small increase of 0.49% to $1,573, up 1.43% since Sunday.

Among the top 20 coins, Shiba Inu (SHIB) stands out as a winner with a 3.2% gain though its price has remained unchanged since Sunday. The biggest loser is Uniswap (UNI) with a 1.91% loss and has fallen 4.2% since Sunday. In related news, Shiba Inu developers are preparing to release the meme token's Layer 2 network, called Shibarium, in beta form.

Despite being a mixed day in the US on Tuesday, the Nasdaq index along with crypto-related stocks continued to pump.

Shares in Silvergate Capital (NYSE:SI) soared as analysts from KBW reassured investors that the business is still strong. The bank's shares jumped 25% at the open, but eventually settled to a 16% increase, trading at around $15.30.

Meanwhile, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) also saw an early boost in their shares, but eventually fell to a 3.3% increase, trading at around $51.50. MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Block (NASDAQ:SQ) also saw positive gains, with MicroStrategy at 4.8% and Block at 1.8%.

Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY) also released their fourth-quarter earnings and saw a 3% increase in their shares, trading at $122. The CEO, Joseph DePaolo, acknowledged digital assets as a significant factor in their future plans, noting they will reduce deposits to a range of $3 billion to $5 billion, with digital asset deposits currently accounting for 20% of the firm's $89 billion deposits.

🌐 **Top 20 Coins Performance**

**BTC** +0.57% at 21,229; **ETH** +0.49% at 1,573.

**BNB** +0.48% at 300; **XRP** +1.04% at 0.388; **DOGE** +0.24% at 0.0836.

**ADA** -0.58% at 0.346; **MATIC** -1.15% at 1.00; **DOT** -1.77% at 5.92.

**TRX** +0.14% at 0.0618; **SHIB** +3.20% at 0.0000108 **LTC** +2.57% at 88.04.

**SOL** -0.69% at 22.99; **UNI** -1.91% at 6.38; **AVAX** +0.98% at 17.14.

**ATOM** -0.16% at 12.22; **GT** -2.20% at 3.845.

## Topic of the Day: Arbitrum Lags Behind Optimism in Recent Ethereum Transactions

Ethereum-based Layer 2 scaling protocols Optimism and Arbitrum have seen a significant difference in transaction activity over the past month, with Optimism surpassing Arbitrum's performance since December.

According to The Block data, both protocols had been on an upward trend since the beginning of 2022, but this is the first time Optimism has outperformed Arbitrum. The increase in transactions on Optimism can be attributed to its token being one of the top performers across Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols.

Additionally, market participants may be seeking new ways to gain exposure to Ethereum as liquid staking derivatives such as Lido and Rocket Pool have also been performing well. Other tokens in the Optimism ecosystem, such as Velo and Sonne, have seen gains of over 200% since the beginning of the year.

The Optimism transaction gains have also occurred as the decentralized perpetual futures exchange GMX, which is built on Arbitrum, saw a 30% drop in use since Dec. 10. Synthetix, a separate perpetual exchange built on Optimism, saw an increase in volume starting around Dec. 20. Protocols such as Kwenta that are built using Synthetix on Optimism also had notable increases in volume, according to Dune Analytics.

### 🌐 Optimism (OP) $1.7684 (+1.94%) - Bullish Outlook 🐂

**OP Overview:**

- ***Closest daily support zone: 1.759 - 1.712***
- ***Closest daily resistance zone: 1.822 - 1.901***
- ***Key Level: 1.9572 (Monthly High of Jul. 2022)***

![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1674009195Untitled0118.png)

Since the beginning of 2023, OP has risen 94% and is slowly closing the margin from its all-time high of 2.679 (Jun. 01, 2022), currently trading at a 33% discount. OP established a breakout pattern on Saturday when it closed above an extended trendline but has since seen some traders take profits.: [Chart Link](https://www.tradingview.com/chart/OPUSDT/72SODglS-OP-Daily-Outlook/)

**OP Daily Resistance zones**

1. 1.822 - 1.901
2. 1.909 - 1.957
3. 2.070 - 2.151

**OP Daily Support zones**

1. 1.759 - 1.712
2. 1.630 - 1.583
3. 1.569 - 1.479

## Further Reading

**[Top 5 Price Prediction Weekly Forecast](https://www.gate.io/blog_detail/2048/top-5-price-prediction-weekly-forecast)** | Across the top ten, a majority of assets have been privy to substantial price increases between 5% and 25% across this past week, thus serving as a testament to the fact that the bear market may finally be coming to a close.

**[5 Things You Need To Know About The Crypto Market This Week](https://www.gate.io/blog_detail/2047/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-crypto-market-this-week)** | Continuing from the previous week’s bullish momentum, the cryptocurrency market has hoisted itself out of the former bear market and is enduring a sharp upwards swing marketwide.

## Notable headlines

**🔹 Roblox’s DAUs grew to 61.5 million in December, an 18% jump from the previous year**. The company generated nearly $440 million in revenue by selling Roblox’s platform currency called Robux, about a 20% increase year-over-year.

**🔹 FTX has identified $5.5 billion in liquid assets, part of what CEO John Ray called a “Herculean effort” to untangle the firm’s finances**. FTX.com and FTX US each face digital asset “shortfalls,” the FTX debtors said in a statement.

**🔹 Experts say a recent charge by the Securities and Exchange Commission over a lending product is a warning shot for similar programs**. The enforcement action against Gemini and Genesis also leaves questions unanswered as to whether the underlying crypto can be considered securities.

**🔹 Coinshares’s assets under management increased 13% thanks to higher crypto prices**. Digital asset investment products saw inflows of $9.2 million, though trading volumes were low at $866 million.

**🔹 Fidelity International-backed OSL, a digital-assets platform, is the latest crypto firm to cut jobs**, Bloomberg News reported. The exact number of positions eliminated was not disclosed. Last week, Crypto.com and Coinbase each cut 20% of staff.

**🔹 Filecoin Foundation is set to deploy a decentralized file system in space**. The deployment will test IPFS for in-space communication.

**🔹 The European Parliament’s final vote on the comprehensive Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation has been postponed to April, stalling the implementation process**. The Transfer of Funds Regulation will also be postponed to the same voting session. The vote was meant to happen in February.

**🔹 Crypto AI tokens have jumped in price following the news that Microsoft may invest $10 billion into OpenAI**. While the rally has cooled slightly since news of the deal first broke last week, nine coins connected to the sector have surged over 50% in the past week.

<div class="blog-details-info">
<div>Author:** Peter L.**, Gate.io Researcher
<div class="info-tips">\*This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
<div>\*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.

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