Why It Matters: Bitcoin and Ethereum were up even as U.S. stock futures opened largely flat as the weekend drew to a close. S&P futures were unchanged, while Nasdaq futures inched down 0.2% at the time of writing.
Investors will look forward to November ISM services data, which is expected Monday morning EST.
Investor sentiment was largely unchanged going into the fresh trading week. Alternative.Me’s “Crypto Fear & Greed Index” flashed “Fear” at the time of writing, while last week the Index was at “Fear” as well.
Michaël van de Poppe noted that some so-called altcoins are on the move up. The trader pointed to Fantom (FTM), Avalanche (AVAX), and Polkadot (DOT) as examples of coins that are starting to “look pretty good.”
As $FTM made a significant run, now also $AVAX and $DOT start to look pretty good.
FTM has shot up 28.2%, AVAX has risen 7.3%, and DOT is up 6.2% over a seven-day period.
“Slowly, but surely, some [altcoins] are showing strength and especially [Decentralized Finance or DeFi] is waking up,” said Van De Poppe in a separate tweet.
Slowly, but surely, some #altcoins are showing strength and especially #DeFi is waking up.
Meanwhile, on the apex coin side, CryptoQuant analyst Jan Wüstenfeld said that since this cycle monetary policy has “become relevant for Bitcoin.”
“We have seen more widespread adoption of Bitcoin over the last years. Futures markets being introduced, institutional interest rising etc. So naturally, Bitcoin has become more connected to the traditional financial markets and is not only driven by retail investing anymore.”
Wüstenfeld said that with the latest price moves multiple parties have “declared Bitcoin dead” again but given the monetary conditions it is pertinent to ask if the “federal funds rate will continue to rise indefinitely or that, ultimately, it has to come down? There you have your answer.”
Bitcoin and monetary policy
"With the latest price moves, media and even the ECB have declared #Bitcoin dead AGAIN. Is Bitcoin dead? Ask yourself this."
by @JanWues
— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) December 4, 2022Screenshot From The CME Group's Fed Watch Tool
The last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting for the year is scheduled for next week. At the time of writing, CME’s Fed Watch tool indicated a 78.2% probability for a 50 basis points rate hike.