Bitcoin (BTC) broke below $16,800 on Dec. 16, reaching its lowest level in more than two weeks. More importantly, the movement was a complete turnaround from the momentary excitement that had led to the $18,370 peak on Dec. 14.
Curiously, Bitcoin dropped 3.8% in seven days, compared to the S&P 500 Index’s 3.5% decline in the same period. So from one side, Bitcoin bulls have some comfort in knowing that correlation played a key role; at the same time, however, it got $206 million of BTC futures contracts liquidated on Dec. 15.
Some troublesome economic data from the auto loan industry has made investors uncomfortable as the rate of defaults from the lowest-income consumers now exceeds 2019 levels. Concerns emerged after the average monthly payment for a new car reached $718, a 26% increase in three years.
Furthermore, alongside the Bank of England, two central banks increased interest rates by 50 basis points to multiyear peaks — highlighting that borrowing costs would likely continue rising for longer than the market had hoped.
Uncertainty in cryptocurrency markets reemerged after two of the most prominent auditors suddenly dropped their services, leaving exchanges hanging. For instance, the website of the French auditing firm Mazars Group is offline. The firm previously worked with several exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin and Crypto.com.
Meanwhile, accounting firm Armanino has also reportedly ended its crypto auditing services. The auditor worked with several crypto trading platforms like OKX, Gate.io and the troubled FTX exchange. Curiously, Armanino was the first accounting firm to establish relationships in the crypto industry, dating back to 2014.
Let’s look at derivatives metrics to better understand how professional traders are positioned in the current market conditions.
The Asia-based stablecoin premium drops to 2-month low
The USD Coin (USDC) premium is a good gauge of China-based crypto retail trader demand. It measures the difference between…
