Coin360 Daily Dispatch: Crypto Market Updates & Today's Highlights

US inflation data positively impacts Bitcoin and Ethereum

The US Core PCE rose only 0.3% MoM, less than the 0.4% expected, and the YoY rise in core PCE prices edged down to 4.6% from 4.7%, which is positive in terms of slowing inflation. However, the release of the PCE data showed a slowdown in the economy, which is a negative factor. Bitcoin and Ethereum initially reacted positively to the new inflation data, with Bitcoin increasing from \(27,963 to \)28,450 within one hour after the PCE announcement.

Ethereum has experienced a 1.96% increase and is currently $1,830, following Bitcoin’s lead. Meanwhile, traders are betting on Ethereum’s price ahead of the eagerly awaited Shapella upgrade that is scheduled for April 12th, as evidenced by the surge in open interest for Ethereum options on CME. Although monthly volume lags behind, it appears that traders are accumulating contracts in anticipation of the upgrade.

Bitcoin monthly candlestick close important for a bullish breakout

Bitcoin has printed its first higher highs since November 2021 and first higher low since January 2022. It’s important to preserve the $27,700 key support for bulls, according to popular trader Crypto Tony, as he believes BTC’s monthly candlestick close could potentially lead to a bullish breakout once again.

Filbfilb suggests the 200-week moving average near \(25,500 will be front-run next, and downside targets are \)22,000-$23,000. However, Tedtalksmacro is optimistic that Bitcoin has “truly shifted” its structure to break the bear market in place since the 2021 all-time highs.

XRP leads digital assets in March

XRP has been the top-performing digital asset in March, gaining 42%, as investors await court rulings in a case between the US Securities Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs. Recently, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse has requested swift action from US lawmakers to bring clarity to the SEC’s jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies.

According to crypto data provider Kaiko, the XRP perpetual futures open interest has surpassed \(600 million on five different crypto exchanges, increasing nearly \)400 million over the previous seven days, due to the market’s bet that Ripple’s victory in the legal battle against the SEC could trigger an alt season.

Cardano users to access Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) contracts

Cardano users will soon be able to access Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) contracts using any Cardano wallet, thanks to an upcoming feature on Milkomeda. It would allow Ethereum application developers to build on Cardano’s network using Solidity, without needing to learn a new language or install new toolkits.

This feature would increase the utility for holders as applications could be used solely with ADA. As a result, ADA became one of the biggest gainers among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, marking a 5.66% gain throughout the day.

Single entity sells ARB tokens while another accumulates

A single entity sold 933,375 ARB tokens for 708 ETH, and observers speculate that it could be the Arbitrum hacker offloading ill-gotten gains. Meanwhile, Wu Blockchain reported that another entity, possibly the Korean crypto exchange Upbit, accumulated 59 million ARB tokens worth around $84.4 million, potentially indicating an uptick in demand.

An EOA address has been collecting a massive ARB for the past day. Now it holds 59M ($84.4M) ARB, based on the activity, it might be Upbit ’s hot wallet. This Korea’s largest exchange now holds the second most ARB after binance. According to @ScopeProtocol https://t.co/dcHEXO1i2G

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) March 31, 2023

Summary of Market Events and Price Action

As a summary of today’s events and price action in the market, it is crucial to note the following key points:

• The US Core PCE rose only 0.3% MoM, less than expected, and YoY rise in core PCE prices edged down to 4.6%. Bitcoin and Ethereum initially reacted positively to the news.
• Ethereum has experienced a 1.96% increase and is currently $1,830, following Bitcoin’s lead.
• XRP has been the top-performing digital asset in March, gaining 42%, as investors await court rulings in a case between the SEC and Ripple Labs.
• Cardano users will soon be able to access Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) contracts using any Cardano wallet.
• A single entity sold 933,375 ARB tokens, while another entity accumulated 59 million ARB tokens worth around $84.4 million.

Top altcoin gainers and losers

Gainers:

Hedera Hashgraph HBAR (+11.78%)

Cardano ADA (+6.52%)

Fantom FTM (+6.44%)

Losers:

Flare FLR (-4.79%)

1inch 1INCH (-3.00%)

Stacks STX (-1.79%)

NFT Market Map

The NFT market seems pretty calm today, with no collection in the top 10 projects by trading volume seeing a more than 100% uptick.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (+79.84%) and Otherdeed (+7.39%) keep their top positions. Meanwhile, Nakamigos (-46.80%), currently ranking 3rd, interrupts the Yuga Labs family’s winning streak on the leaderboard: MutantApeYachtClub (-41.37%) and HV-MTL (-78.09%) are left behind with their decreased volume.