Crypto Markets Dither Despite Dip In Consumer Prices

An unexpected decline in consumer prices in the U.S. during June failed to cheer crypto markets that appeared to be weighed down by the potential turbulence ahead from Bitcoin sales by Mt. Gox creditors and German Government. Overall crypto market capitalization has declined to $2.11 trillion from the level of $2.14 trillion a day ago.

Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday showed month-on-month CPI at -0.1 percent. Markets had expected the same to edge up to 0.1 percent from 0 percent in the previous month. The core component thereof which was seen steady at 0.2 percent also surprisingly dropped to 0.1 percent.

Data also showed the headline annual inflation declining to 3 percent, surpassing expectations of a drop to 3.1 percent from 3.3 percent in May. The core component thereof which was seen steady at 3.4 percent also dropped to 3.3 percent, providing a positive surprise.

Meanwhile, data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday showed initial jobless claims declining to 222 thousand during the week ended July 6 versus 239 thousand a week earlier. The indicator of emerging unemployment falling below market expectations of 236 thousand however portended the underlying strength of the labor market and potential price pressures emanating therefrom.

Despite the sobering effect of the labor market update, rate cut expectations jumped emphatically. The CME FedWatch tool that that tracks rate cut expectations of interest rate traders shows probability of a rate cut in September jumping to 93 percent from 73 percent a day earlier. Likewise, the probability of a rate cut in November increased to 96 percent, from 86 percent a day earlier.

Renewed rate cut expectations however have not triggered a bullish momentum in crypto markets as the looming Bitcoin offloads related to the Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange dampened sentiment. Mt. Gox, a Japan-based Bitcoin exchange that ceased operations in 2014 and commenced liquidation proceedings, had in the last week of June announced the commencement of repayments. Mt Gox is expected to return over 140,000 Bitcoin to its creditors, the fear of which has been haunting the crypto market.

At its current trading price of $57,143.63, which is 23 percent below the all-time high, Bitcoin has slipped 1.8 percent overnight. Given the weekly gains of 5.3 percent, year-to-date gains exceed 35 percent. The top-ranked cryptocurrency ranged between $59,387 and $56,561 in the past 24 hours.

Data from Farside Investors on Bitcoin Spot ETF products in the U.S. showed a net inflow of $79 million on Thursday as compared with net inflows of $147 million a day earlier.

Ethereum which is trading at $3,082.42, around 37 percent below its all-time high has slipped 1.1 percent overnight. Gains of 7.5 percent over the past week have lifted gains in 2024 to a little more than 35 percent. The top-ranked altcoin ranged between $3,209 and $3,059 in the past 24 hours.

4th ranked BNB (BNB) is trading 1 percent lower at $522.68. The native token of the Binance.com cryptocurrency exchange has however added close to 11 percent in the past week and more than 67 percent in 2024.

5th ranked Solana (SOL) plunged 4.3 percent overnight. At its current price of $135.90, SOL has gained 8 percent in the past week. Year-to-date gains are close to 34 percent.

7th ranked XRP (XRP) rallied 2.5 percent at its current trading price of $0.4561. The price movement comes amidst the CME Group adding new CME CF reference rates and real time indices in respect of the XRP cryptocurrency.

The CME CF Reference Rates aggregate trade flow of major cryptocurrency spot exchanges during specific calculation windows into a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of the cryptocurrency. CME CF Cryptocurrency Real-Time Indices aggregate global demand to buy and sell specific cryptocurrencies into a separate consolidated order book that reflects the fair, instantaneous U.S. dollar price of the cryptocurrency. The non-tradable benchmarks in respect of XRP are being launched on July 29.

8th ranked Toncoin (TON) added 2.3 percent overnight at its current price of $7.34. TON has also recorded weekly gains of close to 11 percent. TON’s year-to-date gain of 217 percent is the best among the top 20 cryptocurrencies.

Dogecoin (DOGE), ranked 9th rank overall and highest among all meme coins is currently changing hands at $0.1062, implying overnight losses of 2.5 percent, weekly gains of 10.7 percent and year-to-date gains of more than 18 percent.

10th ranked Cardano (ADA) gained 1.3 percent overnight to trade at $0.3978. Weekly gains of more than 20 have restricted year to-date-losses to close to 33 percent. The positive move is attributed to the anticipated CIP-1694 update and hopes of a broader adoption of the Cardano blockchain.

71st ranked MANTRA (OM) topped overnight gains with a surge of 7.6 percent. 39th ranked Maker (MKR) and 18th ranked NEAR Protocol (NEAR) followed with overnight gains of more than 5 percent.

49th ranked Bonk (BONK) topped overnight losses among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a decline of 10.9 percent. 36th ranked Render (RNDR) followed with losses of more than 8 percent in the past 24 hours.

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