Markets Weekly is a weekly column analyzing price movements in the global digital currency markets, and the technology’s use case as an asset class
Bitcoin prices fluctuated largely within a tight range between $415 and $425 during the seven days ending 15th April, while the value of ether, the native token on the Ethereum blockchain, declined sharply after weeks of advances.
Bitcoin’s lack of volatility largely mirrored the last several weeks, when the digital currency was stable across international markets.
This stability again took place amid modest volume, as market participants traded just over 11m BTC during the seven days through 9:45 EST on 15th April, according to figures from Bitcoinity.
Transaction volume was similar during the week through 8th April, far below the robust trading activity that had existed in preceding weeks. Ether’s descent
While bitcoin has seen range-bound prices, ether plunged more than 56% during the week ending 15th April at 12:00 UTC, according to Poloniex figures .
George Samman, blockchain advisor and consultant, described the development as one that had been foreshadowed by changes in market fundamentals.
"Ether has fallen back to earth for sure," Samman told CoinDesk. "Its technicals were deteriorating for a while and finally price fell with them."
Christopher Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at investment management firm ARK Invest , spoke to the currency’s selloff, noting that exchange data signaled a shift was forthcoming as well."The sell order book on [digital currency exchange] Poloniex has consistently been 30-50% deeper than the buy order book," he told CoinDesk.But while ether has been suffering sharp price volatility, it has also been experiencing robust transaction activity.The currency’s daily trades neared 35,000 on 14th April and remained above 30,000 during the several days prior. Since mid-March, these daily transactions have almost always stayed above 30,000.In comparison, the digital currency did not […]
