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As we head into the US holiday weekend (Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating!), let's take a look at the state of the crypto market. As Bitcoin struggles to sustain its meteoric rise towards $100,000, we see signs of an “alternative season,” renewed interest in NFTs, and record growth in the stablecoin sector. You can
Bitcoin $100,000 Rejection and Market Volatility
The Thanksgiving holiday typically sees crypto markets undergo a cooling period as volatility drops in the 3-4% range.
Bitcoin briefly reached $99,500 last week, but retreated back to around $91,000, highlighting the asset's historical pattern of rapid gains followed by small corrections. While a $9,000 drop in one week feels like a lot, it's still relatively small in percentage terms.
Maintaining the top of the previous consolidation range since the beginning of the month is definitely constructive price action.
James Toledano, Unity Wallet's chief operating officer, believes the pullback is due to profit taking and the impact of put options at significant resistance levels.
“Cryptocurrency markets often see large fluctuations due to the lack of fundamental valuation infrastructure,” Toledano told Blockworks. “When there are too many gains in a painfully short period of time, there is usually a pattern of too much correction, and history tends to repeat itself often,” he said, adding that Bitcoin is likely to rise by 50% or 50%. He cited past cycles where stocks spiked dramatically before correcting. more.
Despite the current downturn, optimism remains high, supported by shifting political winds such as pro-crypto nominations to the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments, as well as increased interest from institutional investors.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin-related Google searches skyrocketed after the election, reflecting increased retailer interest.
NFTs, stablecoins, and the long tail of cryptocurrencies
And it wasn't just the rise of Bitcoin. The NFT market is experiencing a resurgence. According to NFT-powered concierge service Drunken Monkey Members Club, the lowest prices for the top 100 NFT collections have increased an average of 28% so far in November, with some collections seeing increases of up to 146%. That's what it means.
This resurgence is being driven by a pivot to NFTs, which have real-world utility such as tokenized assets and memberships, but the bottom line is that, like other markets, interest in Bitcoin is The increase is often correlated with the rise in NFT prices.
Stablecoins have strengthened their role as the backbone of cryptocurrencies, with market capitalization reaching an all-time high of $190 billion in November, surpassing its peak before the TerraUSD collapse. Trading volume of stablecoin pairs on centralized exchanges rose 77.5% to $1.81 trillion, marking the sector's highest month-on-month growth since 2021, according to CCData.
Main highlights:
* Tether (USDT): Market capitalization rose to $135 billion and maintained dominance with nearly 70% market share.
* USD Coin (USDC): rose 11% to nearly $38 billion, its highest price since February 2023.
* Ethena Labs' USDe: Soared nearly 40% due to competitive APY and ecosystem expansion.
Regulatory developments are also shaping the stablecoin landscape. MiCA-compliant Euro stablecoins are attracting attention.
With Bitcoin entering a correction phase, attention shifted this week to other big names like Solana (SOL) and smaller crypto assets. Bitcoin Dominance has fallen about 5% over the past seven days.
Solana reached an all-time high of $264 (not accounting for inflation) last week, reflecting a 160% year-to-date gain.
Anmol Singh of Zeta Markets cited several reasons for this. “Solana dominates user engagement with 6.2 million daily active addresses, compared to 500,000 for Ethereum,” he told Blockworks, adding, “Currently, Solana-based applications outnumber Ethereum applications. , with revenues of $311 million,” he added. Just the influx of stablecoins [on] On November 20th, the momentum is clear. ”
However, Ether also rose, halting the decline in the ETH/BTC ratio, which rose 15% this week.
Additionally, emerging Layer 1 networks like Sui are gaining traction, leveraging features such as liquid BTC staking to drive adoption and potentially challenge Solana's market position .
For now, all eyes are on Bitcoin's next move, further clues to the evolving regulatory landscape, and further signs of mainstream adoption. The crypto market thrives on cycles of growth, correction, and reinvention, and if history is our guide, this bull run is far from over.
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