Key ideas:
- It was a bullish Wednesday session for the top ten crypto, with BTC leading the way.
- The regulatory risk easing sparked a working session, with US lawmakers showing their support for cryptocurrencies this week.
- The crypto market capitalization increased by $78.82 billion to end the day at $1.061 billion.
It was a bullish session for the crypto top ten on Wednesday. ADA, BNB and ETH found strong support. However, BTC led the way, closing the day at $24,000 for the first time since August 2023.
Better-than-expected US retail sales figures failed to spook investors. The crypto market fell briefly in response to a 3.0% increase in retail sales in January. Economists forecast an increase of 1.8%. Retail sales had fallen for two consecutive months before the sharp increase in consumption in January.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill held a crypto rally
Regulatory risk easing supported the bullish midweek session. Following the SEC does it move against kraken and Binance USD (BUSD), the SEC took a different tack.
The second proposed amendments to its custody rules to incorporate cryptocurrency on Wednesday. In addition to the custody rules, the changes would also include amendments related to reporting, accounting, and investment adviser registration obligations.
SEC Gary Gensler said:
"I support this proposal because, by using important powers Congress gave us after the financial crisis, it would help ensure that advisers do not inappropriately use, lose, or abuse investor assets."
Gensler added,
"In particular, Congress has given us authority to expand the adviser custody rule to apply to all assets, not just funds or securities."
Activity on Capitol Hill also drew attention, with lawmakers reintroducing a bill to make it easier to invest in cryptocurrency in retirement accounts. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted,
โSen. Tuberfille (R) plans to reintroduce the โFinancial Freedoms Lawโ.
adding,
โTheir goal is to prevent the Department of Labor from restricting people from investing their 401ks in crypto. All Americans should have the right to invest their retirement money however they see fit."
The news on Wednesday followed the legislator scrutiny from the SEC on Tuesday, which may have forced the SEC to take a more measured approach towards the digital asset space.
From an investor perspective, the fact that not all US legislators are against cryptocurrencies was a positive.
the day ahead
Investors should continue to monitor crypto news wires for updates from FTX, Genesis, and Silvergate Bank. However, SEC activity and talk from US lawmakers will continue to be the focal points.
In the afternoon session, the NASDAQ Composite Index will also weigh in as markets respond to US wholesale inflation and jobless claims numbers. On Wednesday, the NASDAQ Composite Index rose 0.92%. The NASDAQ mini is up 33 points this morning.
Crypto market surges as lawmakers rein in the SEC
It was a bullish session on Wednesday. A mixed start to the day saw the crypto market fall to an early morning low of $977.40 billion. However, finding support in the late morning, the crypto market capitalization surged to a past hour high of $1.064 billion before pulling back.
Despite the late pullback, the crypto market capitalization ended the session at $1.061 billion, marking a gain of $78.82 billion for the day.
The top ten crypto market movers and shakers and beyond
It was a bullish session for the top ten crypto.
BTC led the way, rising 9.55%, with ADA (+8.27%), bnb (+7.12%), and ETH (+7.59%) very close.
DOGE (+6.95%), MATIC (+5.59%), and XRP (+4.95%) fell behind the favourites.
From the CoinMarketCap top 100, it was a bullish session.
processing token (RNDR) rallied 16.21% to lead the way, with optimism (OP) and mine (MINE) with gains of 16.16% and 15.38%, respectively.
None of the top 100 cryptos saw red on Wednesday.
24-hour sales increased in short sales
For 24 hours, cryptocurrency selloffs moved at higher than normal levels. Short positions had a higher proportion of settlements, representing 91.46% of total settlements. At the time of writing, 24-hour settlements stood at $169.81 million, up from $79.35 million on Wednesday morning.
Traders liquidated in the last 24 hours were also higher. At the time of writing, traders liquidated stood at 44,349, up from 25,938 on Wednesday morning. Crypto settlements were highest for 12 and four hours and over one hour.
According purse, 12-hour sales stood at $150.12 million, up from $69.48 million on Wednesday morning, and four-hour sales increased from $3.08 million to 82.81 million. One-hour settlements increased from $0.918 million to $4.37 million.
The following chart shows the market conditions throughout the session.
