Cryptos Muted Amidst Sell-off In Equity Markets

Major cryptocurrencies are trading on a subdued note amidst a rout in stock markets worldwide, triggered by concerns about economic growth as well as escalating geopolitical tensions. The sell-off in stock markets came amidst data from the U.S. on Thursday that showed an unexpected decline in manufacturing PMI and a higher-than-expected jump in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.

Wall Street had plunged on Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite shedding 2.30 percent to close at 17,194.15. The S&P 500 slipped 1.4 percent to lose at 5,446.68 whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.2 percent to finish trading at 40,347.97.

Asian markets also tumbled, tracking Wall Street’s performance a day earlier. Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 5.7 percent followed by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 that erased more than 2 percent. Major European benchmarks are also trading with deep cuts.

Thursday’s net inflows of $51 million to Bitcoin Spot ETF products and $27 million to Ethereum Spot ETF products in the U.S. did not suffice to restore positive sentiment in crypto markets.

Markets now await the crucial jobs data from the U.S. on Friday morning for further cues on the monetary policy. Addition to non-farm payrolls during July is seen falling to 175 thousand from 206 thousand in the previous month. The unemployment rate is however seen steady at 4.1 percent.

The Federal Reserve, which is tasked with achieving maximum employment had in its statement on Wednesday acknowledged the moderation in job gains. The Federal Open Markets Committee had also noted that even though the unemployment rate had moved up, it remains low. Markets are awaiting the jobs data to reassess the monetary policy outlook, and the potential impact on the widely expected Fed rate cut in September. Crypto markets mostly react positively to data that implies a greater likelihood of a Fed rate cut as the opportunity cost of holding cryptocurrencies reduces with a decrease in general interest rates.

Overall crypto market capitalization has slipped to $2.3 trillion from $2.31 trillion a day earlier. Market capitalization of the memes category has slipped 2.5 percent overnight to $44.7 billion.

Bitcoin dominates 55.4 percent of the overall crypto market followed by Ethereum that has a 16.5-percent market share. With a market capitalization of $171 billion, the share of stablecoins is currently at 7.5 percent of the overall crypto market.

Bitcoin traded between $62,249 and $65,593 in the past 24 hours. It is currently trading at $64,675 implying overnight addition of 0.3 percent, weekly losses of 3.8 percent and year-to-date rally of 53 percent. At its current price, the leading cryptocurrency is trading 12 percent below the all-time high recorded in March 2024.

Ethereum slipped 1 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at $3,157.66, around 35 percent below the all-time high. Amidst weekly losses of 2.6 percent, the leading altcoin’s year-to-date gains are now just above 38 percent. The leading alternate coin traded between $3,214 and $3,079 in the past 24 hours.

4th ranked BNB (BNB) edged up 0.24 percent overnight to trade at $572.16.

5th ranked Solana (SOL) slipped 2.5 percent overnight and 7.9 percent in the past 7 days. SOL is currently trading at $164.52.

7th ranked XRP (XRP) plunged 5.6 percent overnight amidst unlocking of XRP tokens. Market speculation about the likelihood of a settlement between SEC and Ripple labs also contributed to the volatility. With losses of 6.5 percent, XRP is the highest-ranking cryptocurrency to trade with year-to-date losses.

Dogecoin (DOGE), ranked 8th overall has also shed 2.9 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at $0.1171.

9th ranked Toncoin (TON) recorded an overnight decline of 2.6 percent and a weekly slippage of 1.8 percent to trade at $6.61. TON however tops year-to-date gains among the top 20 cryptocurrencies with an addition of 186 percent.

10th ranked Cardano (ADA) shed 0.8 percent overnight and 7.3 percent over the past week. ADA is currently trading at $0.3832.

14th ranked Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is the highest-ranking crypto to trade with weekly gains.

94th ranked Popcat (POPCAT) topped overnight gains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a gain of close to 11.5 percent. 76th ranked Helium (HNT) and 49th ranked Aave (AAVE) followed with gains of more than 6 percent in the past 24 hours. 68th ranked MANTRA (OM) also added more than 5 percent in the past 24 hours. Only 8 among the top 100 cryptocurrencies recorded overnight gains in excess of a percent.

50th ranked Arweave (AR) topped overnight losses among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a decline of 9.6 percent. 92nd ranked ORDI (ORDI) followed with a slippage of 8.4 percent. 62nd ranked Pyth Network (PYTH), 77th ranked Beam (BEAM) and 71st ranked Sei (SEI) all slipped more than 7 percent in the past 24 hours.

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