Crypto markets saw a muted weekend as large-cap assets traded in a tight range and liquidation remained below average, data from sources shows.
The biggest gainers are memecoin Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Ethereum rival Polkadot (DOT), which saw gains of 7% and 5% in the past day respectively. Shiba Inu’s buoyed by news of its upcoming official NFTs, while Polkadot’s much-awaited auction goes live later next month—both developments that increase fundamental utility for traders.
Top losers of Monday morning included payments currency XRP (-3.5%), Ethereum rival Solana (-1.2%), and Cardano (-0.9%). Layer-1 protocol Avalanche (-3.5%), oracle platform Chainlink (-3.9%), and Algorand (-2.7%) saw similar declines.
Bitcoin growth muted ahead of ETF
Bitcoin trades at $62,200 at press time, up 1% since last week. The asset has met ‘resistance’ at this price level—meaning traders stepping in to take profits and causing prices to not increase further.
Meanwhile, the upcoming Bitcoin futures ETF development was heralded by traders. A futures ETF tracks the prices of Bitcoin futures on the open market, allowing traders and investors to make bets on the price movements of Bitcoin.
Institutional investors see upside for Bitcoin ahead of the futures ETF launch. “The approval of a Bitcoin ETF is a positive development. Whatever the case may be, a progressive step from the regulator is good for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market at large,” stated Singapore-based crypto fund QCP Capital in a Telegram message.
“An ETF based on futures contracts would likely sideline institutional players and end up becoming a largely retail product,” it added.
