Good morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the market:
Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing. We bring you a daily summary of the top news US time, as well as an overview of market movements and analysis. For a detailed overview of the US market, see below. CoinDesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas.
Asian crypto markets are opening up to stable BTC, but the tone is far from bullish. Data shows the market has stopped bleeding, but it’s not ready to accelerate. ETF flows, on-chain metrics, and derivative pricing all indicate ownership patterns.
U.S. ETF flows showed stabilization for the first time in weeks, with $56.5 million inflows on Dec. 9, after more than $1.1 billion in weekly redemptions throughout November, according to data compiled by SoSoValue. Glassnode’s view is that the recovery is serious but shallow. Although momentum has improved, spot CVD (which tracks cumulative buying minus selling pressure) remains significantly negative, derivatives positioning is defensive, and on-chain activity is near the lower end of the range. Short-term holders still dominate supply, leaving the market sensitive to volatility.
As Glassnode writes, mixed signals indicate that the market is stabilizing in price but remains structurally weak. The 14-day RSI, a momentum gauge that measures whether an asset is overbought or oversold, has returned to the midrange, indicating that Bitcoin has recovered from last week’s peak.
Futures open interest is down, volatility spreads are deeply discounted, and options skew shows that traders are still paying for downside protection rather than upside positions.
On-chain activity shows that the number of active addresses is near cycle lows, with a realized cap increase of only 0.7%, providing little support for the strong trend of weak capital inflows. The supply mix is similarly fragile as short-term holders continue to dominate.
Overall, the data suggests that BTC’s rebound has more to do with a lack of heavy selling than strong demand.
Until ETF flows turn consistently positive and on-chain activity strengthens, the market is likely to drift rather than trend. A more directional move would require behavioral changes on the part of both long-term holders and institutional investors, neither of which are yet visible.
market movements
Bitcoin: Bitcoin is trading near $92,214 after a sharp reversal in the US session, but the move is driven by spot demand rather than leverage and is seen as a sign that sellers are running out.
Ethereum: Ether is hovering around $3,296 after rising 6% daily, extending its outperformance as large tokens rally due to short covering and improving sentiment.
gold: Gold is trading comfortably above $4,200, supported by improving US labor data and expectations for Fed interest rate cuts, although momentum remains limited ahead of Wednesday’s policy decision.
Nikkei 225: Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher, with Japan’s Nikkei stock average rising 0.82% as investors awaited China’s inflation data and the Federal Reserve’s widely expected 0.25% interest rate cut.
Elsewhere for cryptocurrencies
- Judge Do Kwon demands answers before sentencing regarding ‘guarantee’ of prison sentence (CoinDesk)
- Securitize hires former PayPal executive as general counsel ahead of initial public offering through SPAC (The Block)
