Bitcoin and Ether rallied in Thursday morning trading in Asia amid broad gains in the top 10 non-stable cryptocurrencies after a series of profit-taking and mixed economic indicators sent prices lower on Wednesday. Solana, Polygon and Cardano led gains among the top 10 by market capitalization. US stocks were mixed overnight. Tesla beat earnings forecasts, but a poor outlook for Microsoft on Wednesday and an expected interest rate hike next week kept trading in check.
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Fast facts
- Bitcoin was up 2% at $23,096 in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. in Hong Kong. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is up 11.66% in the seven days to date and has resumed a strong rally since the beginning of the year after hitting a patch on Wednesday. Ether added 3.43% to US$1,610, up 6.36% in the same week, according to CoinMarketCap data.
- Solana jumped 7.78% to US$24.56 to post 17.9% growth so far this week. Solana recently opened pre-orders for its blockchain-focused Solana Saga mobile phone, which is expected to launch in the first quarter of this year.
- Polygon added 3.85% to US$0.99 after the Fractal NFT Game Site on Wednesday it said it was expanding to the Polygon network. Cardano was up 3.91% at $0.37.
- Total crypto market capitalization grew 2.72% to $1.05 trillion, while trading volume increased 12% to $61.86 billion.
- US stock markets had a mixed day on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down nearly 0.2%.
- More US economic indicators will be released on Thursday, including GDP, durable goods orders and jobless claims, which could provide direction for stocks through the end of the week.
- Members of the US Federal Reserve are in a so-called lockup period before meeting next week, from January 31 to February 1, to decide the next move in interest rates. CME Group analysts predict a 99.8% chance of a 25 basis point rise.
- Last month, the Fed raised interest rates by 50 basis points to 4.25-4.5%, the highest level in 15 years, to try to slow the pace of inflation, and several indicators suggest that it is causing a slowdown. However, some investors remain concerned that the US economy, the world's largest, is tipping toward recession.
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