Bitcoin capped the week weaker while DeFi crypto locked dipped.
The price of bitcoin was able to muster a rise to as high as $13,663 Friday, according to CoinDesk 20 data. However, the worldâs oldest cryptocurrency subsequently lost some steam and settled to $13,354 as of press time.
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Michaeal Gord, chief executive officer for trading firm Global Digital Assets, said he expects the bitcoin market to cool ahead of uncertain fundamentals next week. âI think weâll probably stay sideways until the [Nov. 3 U.S. presidential] election, with most investors taking a wait-and-see approach,â he said.
However, Gord said he anticipates things will pick up amid coronavirus concerns on the global economy.Â
âAs more countries enter a second lockdown, governments will need to print more fiat currency to keep their economies afloat, which I expect to result in an increasing demand for alternative assets over the next few weeks,â he said.Â
Volumes on major USD/BTC spot exchanges are shaping up to be higher than average the past month Friday. Daily average volume has been $494,925.493 the past 30 days, while Friday was at $700,217,632 as of press time.
While higher than average volumes might indicate a potential price move upward, itâs possible equities will be taking the front seat in how bitcoin performs in the near term.Â
âFor most of the pandemic, BTC remained correlated with equities,â noted Andrew Ballinger, an investment analyst at crypto-focused firm Wave Financial. Indeed, correlations between bitcoin and the S&P 500 seem to be rising as stock sell-offs or tepid days had an impact on the cryptocurrency market.
âI wouldnât be fully honest if I said I didnât believe a major downturn in equities would have no effect on the still-nascent digital asset economy,â Ballinger added. Major stocks indices are in the red on Friday.
Despite the possibly negative influence of stocks on crypto, Ballinger has a bullish forecast. âShort of a significant and swift hit to the equity markets, I still stand by my prediction of bitcoin hitting $14,000 before year end,â Ballinger said. âWith continued uncertainty surrounding the economic recovery, investors may turn to digital currencies over equities, and test the âdigital goldâ thesis of bitcoin further.â
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ether (ETH), was down Friday trading around $383 and slipping 1.9% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).Â
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The amount of cryptocurrency âlockedâ in decentralized finance (DeFi), known as total value locked, or TVL, is trending downward. On Friday, the amount of crypto TVL dipped below $11 billion. The last time TVL was at this level was back on Oct. 8.
Over-the-counter crypto trader Alessandro Andreotti said the DeFi TVL decline is only temporary because of bitcoinâs price closing in on 2020 highs. âI think itâs only a momentary downtrend since bitcoin is on the spotlight for now. Weâre gonna see new highs for DeFi and crypto in general after the U.S. election,â he said.
Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are mixed, mostly red Friday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
Notable losers:
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Commodities:
Treasurys: