Major cryptocurrencies dipped on Sunday evening, fueled by market anxiety over how Bitcoin would react to the potential approval or denial of the United States’ inaugural spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF).
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded 9:30 p.m. EST) |
| Bitcoin BTC/USD | -0.63% | $43,804 |
| Ethereum ETH/USD | -1.69% | $2,207 |
| Dogecoin DOGE/USD | -3.36% | $0.078 |
What Happened: According to senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, most applicants are expected to receive approval within the week, provided they have met the regulator’s requirements before Dec. 29.
On Jan. 5, key players in the Bitcoin Spot ETF race, such as BlackRock, Grayscale, 21Shares, and others, submitted 19b-4 amendments in response to the SEC’s request. The 19b-4 filing represents one of the last stages in the SEC’s approval process. This step could potentially pave the way for the first-time approval of the funds in the U.S. this week, as Reuters reported, citing sources.
Balchunas notes that the final S-1 documents from the asset managers are due at 8 am on Monday.
Top Gainer (24 Hour)
| Cryptocurrency | Gains +/- | Price (Recorded 9:30 p.m. EDT) |
| Siacoin SC/USD | +21.04% | $0.009752 |
| Bitget Token BGB/USD | +0.69% | $0.61 |
| Stacks STX/USD | +0.64% | $1.62 |
The global crypto market cap has reached $1.66 trillion, marking a 4.80% decrease in the last 24 hours.
U.S. stock futures showed little change Sunday night following a down week for the major averages in 2024. Traders are anticipating inflation data and big bank earnings in the week ahead. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped by 35 points, or 0.1%. Meanwhile, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures saw increases of 0.14% and 0.21%, respectively.
Congressional leaders announced a deal on Sunday, agreeing on a $1.59 trillion top-line spending to prevent a potential government shutdown.
These developments come after the year-end rally, during which a dovish pivot from the Federal Reserve raised concerns among investors about equities being overbought. Additionally, a strong December jobs report and Fed meeting minutes indicating uncertainty about the future of rate cuts added to these worries.
The December consumer price index is scheduled for release on Thursday, and the producer price index is due on Friday. These reports will provide insight into whether the Fed’s efforts to bring inflation down to its 2% target are succeeding.
See More: Best Cryptocurrency Scanners
Analyst Notes: Cryptocurrency analyst Michael Van de Poppe predicts a significant impact on the crypto markets due to the Bitcoin ETF. "Approx. $30-60 billion in liquidity flowing into the markets, through which Bitcoin will face a bull cycle comparable to the http://Dot.com bubble or Gold in 2004-2011."
Analyst PlanB predicts a 10x price surge for Bitcoin (BTC), citing multiple bullish indicators.
"Bitcoin's growth used to be 100x in the first couple of bull markets, but lately that has slowed down a little bit to 10x, a little bit under 10x. I don't expect diminishing returns because we're at 2 or 3% adoption, and if we follow the logistic S-curve and Metcalfe's law, we can't have diminishing returns below 50% adoption, so we'll have exponential growth for a couple more years. I expect a nice 10x that brings it to somewhere in the $100,000 to $1 million range."
As we near ETF week, brace for significant volatility in the Bitcoin market, with alternative cryptocurrencies being influenced by its movements. This prediction comes from CrediBull Crypto, another pseudonymous analyst.
"For ETH- something like this seems most plausible and should coincide with the local breakdown on ETH/BTC mentioned in my post below. It would make sense for BTC to break local highs following ETF approval while alts led by ETH lag a bit and then ultimately follow BTC up."
Data from Santiment, a blockchain analytics firm, has indicated, “Bitcoin is mildly declining as the weekend kicks off, and there may be some volatility ahead with whale transactions hitting their highest level since June 12, 2022. When whale activity spikes, prices often foreshadow a breaking cycle.”
Read Next: Jim Cramer Advises Against Using Binance, Provokes Strong Reactions From Twitter Users
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