Are the Bears in Town

Chart of the Day

Although the price of BTC saw a brief uptick to the $60k handle after U.S. President Biden announced the nomination of Jerome Powell as the returning U.S. Federal Reserve chair, it has since plunged back down below the $57.5k resistance zone and continues to test its support at the $56k level. While there are those who believe that the recent correction is a healthy one, and was long overdue after such a prolonged rally, many short-term holders have taken drastic actions in response to BTC's volatile price actions. This is partially due to their relatively high cost basis after entering the market near the top. When BTC's price was at its peak last week, the SOPR for short-term holders spiked to 1.1, a value commonly associated with profit-taking activities. The value has since dived below 1 alongside the recent price correction, indicating the capitulation of top buyers and suggesting that the short-term holders' cost basis are being tested. However, it is not all bad news for BTC. On a macro scale, the SOPR value remains relatively flat, suggesting that the market has not yet reached its top.

Talk of the Town

After declaring a new initiative to integrate digital assets into its institutional business, banking giant Citi has a hundred new digital assets-related roles to fill. The firm has also appointed Puneet Singhvi to oversee the formation of this new digital assets team for the institutional clients group (ICG) at Citi. Citi's pivot into the digital assets space hints at how the top banks in the world are starting to look for ways to dig for gold in the land of crypto. Other big names in the banking industry, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, are also looking to expand on their crypto research capacities in order to satisfy the growing appetite for crypto exposure.