First Mover Asia: Bitcoin Regains $27K Amid Encouraging Macro, Technical Signs

Good morning.

Here’s what’s happening:

Prices: Bitcoin was trading over $27K to recover some lost ground from its plunge last week.Insights: The stablecoin supply ratio drop of the past 11 days suggests a potential increase in buying power for stablecoins.PricesHopeful Signs for BTC at $27K

After seven days of plunging prices, bitcoin steadied.

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at about $27,165, up 1.1% over the past 24 hours and a little above where it stood when the weekend began. BTC remains down more than 10% since May 5 when it started its most recent swoon, the result of profit-taking and low liquidity against a backdrop of industry-focused and macroeconomic uncertainties.

"Financial markets in general (are) driven by risk, by liquidity, and so, not surprising right now, when people are fearing risk assets as a whole, we're seeing large swaths of selling," Ryan Rasmussen, an analyst for crypto fund manager Bitwise, told CoinDesk TV's "First Mover" program on Friday.

"When there's less liquidity, you're going to have larger swings in price whenever an asset (is) sold." But he added: "There will be more liquidity come into crypto."

Ether, the second largest crypto in market value, was changing hands near $1,800, down a few fractions of a percentage point and about the same level as early Saturday. Other major cryptos moved into green territory as the Asia trading week began with Litecoin recently up more than 5.7%. The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of the crypto market's performance, was up 0.8%.

Leading Asia indexes were mixed with the Nikkei up about 0.5% but the Hang Seng down 0.2%. Rasmussen noted the declining correlation between crypto and traditional asset markets, which were mixed last week with the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite up slightly over the most recent five days but the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) falling 0.2% and 1.1%, respectively.

"Any kind of mistrust in traditional financial systems plays into the hands of crypto," Rasmussen said, adding: "I'm happy to see the correlation fall between traditional risk assets, traditional equities and crypto."

In an email to CoinDesk, Joe DiPasquale, the CEO of crypto fund manager BitBull Capital, noted that the current "macroeconomic situation around the world is creating a conducive environment for crypto assets to thrive."

This week, DiPasquale is looking for bitcoin's price to hold steady in a range between $25,000 and $27,000 "before bouncing toward $30K again."

"We don’t think the market needs a catalyst in the immediate term," he wrote. "It is only a matter of time before we see another major rally."