Bitcoin, Ether tread water; U.S. equities slide with mega-cap tech giants leading the declines

Bitcoin dipped on Wednesday morning in Asia to trade range-bound below US$26,300. Ether edged higher but failed to reclaim the US$1,600 mark. Other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies traded mixed in the past 24 hours, with Binance’s BNB token leading the winners. The Open Network’s (TON) Toncoin led the losers. U.S. stock futures were up during early morning trading in Asia after Wall Street recorded losses of over 1% on Tuesday. More key inflation data is expected Thursday as investors look out for signs of a U.S. recession and further interest rate hikes. Mega-cap tech giants including Amazon, Apple and Tesla led the Wall Street declines.

Bitcoin ‘firm within September trading range’

Bitcoin edged 0.28% lower to US$26,209.51 in the 24 hours to 07:40 a.m. in Hong Kong for a weekly loss of 3.70%, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to US$26,090.71 on Tuesday evening. But it managed to stay above the US$26,000 support level maintained for the past 14 days.

With Bitcoin staying “firm within its September trading range,” blockchain analytics firm K33 Research wrote in an emailed note, “a narrowing trading range accompanied by a slow news cycle has provided traders with few reasons to participate actively in the market.”

The options pricing of Bitcoin derivatives on the CME market “shows a more positive longer term than short-term outlook but has become slightly more bearish in tandem with BTC’s price decline over the last week,” the K33 report added.

Ether was also trading flat. It edged up 0.33% to US$1,592.60 over the past 24 hours but lost 3.10% for the week. The token hit US$1,598.10 on Tuesday evening. But it failed to rise above the US$1,600 level it gave up on Sunday.

While Ether is trading near a 14-month low against Bitcoin (0.061 BTC per ETH), that trend could be about to change, K33 report.

“We reiterate our stance that rotating towards ETH is a sound play for the coming months, as futures-based ETFs can turn the trend. The first half of October will be pivotal in that regard, as the final deadlines for the ongoing futures ETH ETFs are coming up in this period,” wrote K33.

Most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies booked losses for the past 24 hours. The exceptions were Ether, Binance’s BNB and Tron’s TRX. Toncoin continued to lead the losses. It dropped 1.66% in the past 24 hours to US$2.12 for a weekly decline of 17.75%.

BNB, the native token of cryptocurrency exchange Binance Holdings Ltd, led the winners. The coin gained 1.06% to US$212.17, but it recorded a weekly loss of 2.30%. 

BNB’s daily rise coincided with the announcement Tuesday that Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is collaborating with Japan’s largest banking group Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation to issue fiat-pegged stablecoins in 2024.

The total crypto market capitalization dipped 0.28% in the past 24 hours to US$1.04 trillion, while trading volume dropped 10.02% to US$22.56 billion.

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