Bitcoin (BTC) has been trending down over the weekend while staying steady in the 27.5k to 28.5k trading range favored by the BTC/USDT trading pair in recent weeks.
Bullish ambitions to break above the psychological 30,000 barrier seem to have been put on the back burner for the time being, instead placing hopes of stabilizing around $28,000 in price.
The conversation has now turned to the amount of liquidity in the market, or lack thereof.
As noted in a recent Bloomberg post, insufficient order book strength leads to higher bid-to-ask spreads, causing slippage in order prices and higher volatility.
There are a few clear reasons for bitcoin’s declining market liquidity. First and foremost, most major fiat-to-crypto on-ramps face intense scrutiny from US regulators.
Two of the largest, Binance and Coinbase, have been the subject of enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), causing consternation among would-be traders.
Mark Connors, head of research at digital asset management firm 3iQ, stated that “the tourists are definitely gone”. In other words, many have taken the profits while they could, which has led to selling pressure.
Bitcoin (BTC) fails to regain 30k – Source: currency.com
At the time of writing, BTC/USDT was changing hands at US$27,900, having fallen around 2% overnight.
Binance’s order book shows buy support at USD 27,000 and USD 26,500.
Ethereum (ETH) also lost ground over the weekend, falling 1.5% on Sunday and another 0.2% so far this Monday morning, although there has been some price upside on the one-hour candlestick chart.
At the time of writing, ETH/USDT was trading at USD 1,790.
Cardano (ADA) is leading the way
The Cardano blockchain’s native cryptocurrency ADA (named after renowned English mathematician Ada Lovelace) shot 5% higher on Monday morning, making it the best performer among the top-20 altcoin set.
ADA’s market cap is now around 14% higher week-on-week at $13.8 billion, potentially buoyed by a few upgrades on the horizon related to Ethereum compatibility and decentralized governance.
In terms of overnight rises, Layer-1 blockchain Solar’s SXP token topped the list by adding 6%, bringing the altcoin into the top-100 club at rank #95.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalization fell 0.9% overnight to $1.17 billion, while the total value of all decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols fell 1.4% to $49.45 billion.
