Crypto Market Daily Highlights: MATIC Slides on Reignited Fed Fear

Key Insights:

• It was a bearish Friday session for the crypto top ten, with MATIC and ADA leading the top ten sell-off.
• US economic indicators delivered a blow to Fed disinflationalists, sending the NASDAQ Composite and the broader crypto market into the red.
• The crypto market cap slid by $29.09 billion, ending the day at $1,020 billion.

It was a bearish session for the crypto top ten on Friday. MATIC and ADA led the way down. The bearish saw BTC revisit sub-$23,000 for the first time in nine sessions.

US economic indicators and the NASDAQ Composite Index sent riskier assets reeling. In early February, Fed chair Powell talked about early signs of disinflation. However, the January CPI report showed that inflation remained sticky, leading to hawkish Fed chatter and a marked shift in sentiment toward Fed policy.

On Friday, the Core PCE Price Index shattered hopes of the Fed making progress in taming inflation. The Core PCE Price Index increased by 4.7% year-over-year in January versus an upwardly revised 4.6% in December. Economists forecast a 4.3% increase.

Adding to the market angst was a sharp increase in spending and a rise in personal income.

The latest figures supported the higher-for-longer mantra, though US interest rates could peak at nearer 6%. Fed hawk Loretta Mester spoke on Friday, saying,

“It’s going to take more effort on the part of the Fed to get inflation on that sustainable downward path to 2%.”

The NASDAQ Composite Index responded to the stats and Loretta Mester, falling by 1.69%.

Crypto Market News

It was a quieter day on the crypto news wires, with no crypto events to distract investors.

However, the increasing regulatory risk remains a headwind, with leading exchanges, including Binance, under scrutiny. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) is reportedly investigating Binance’s derivatives business after reporting a misclassification of 500 users.

The Day Ahead

There are no US economic indicators or investors to consider following the US inflation numbers from Friday. However, we expect further fallout from the stats that fueled Fed Fear going into the weekend.

Investors should also monitor the crypto news wires for regulatory activity and US lawmaker chatter. Binance and FTX updates need consideration together with news from the ongoing SEC v Ripple case.

Crypto Market Extends Losing Streak to Four Sessions

It was a bearish Friday session. A bullish start to the day saw the crypto market cap rise to an early morning high of $1,060 billion before hitting reverse. The reversal saw the crypto market cap slide to a late low of $1,003 billion.

However, finding late support, the crypto market cap ended the day at $1,020 billion, marking a $29.09 billion loss on Friday.

The Crypto Market Movers and Shakers from the Top Ten and Beyond

It is a bearish session for the crypto top ten.

MATIC led the way down, sliding by 6.69%, with ADA (-4.44%), BTC (-3.13%), and DOGE (-4.03%) seeing heavy losses.

BNB (-1.98%), ETH (-2.61%), and XRP (-2.57%) saw relatively modest losses.

From the CoinMarketCap top 100, it was a bearish session.

BinaryX (BNX) rallied by 16.22% to lead the way, with singularityNET (AGIX) and optimism (OP) seeing gains of 11.24% and 6.60%, respectively. Only six of the top 100 made gains on Friday.

However, conflux (CFX) slid by 21.07%, with filecoin (FIL) and stacks (STX) seeing losses of 12.71% and 10.81%, respectively.

24-Hour Liquidations Spike on US Inflation-Fueled Sell-Off

Over 24 hours, crypto liquidations rose to above-normal levels. Long positions had a higher share of liquidations, accounting for 87.19% of total crypto liquidations. This morning, 24-hour liquidations stood at $164.11 million, up from $96.91 million on Friday morning (UTC).

Liquidated traders over the last 24 hours were also higher. This morning, liquidated traders stood at 59,928 versus 29,024 on Friday morning. Crypto liquidations were higher over 12 and four hours and over one hour.

According to Coinglass, 12-hour liquidations stood at $146.90 million, up from $46.66 million on Friday morning, with four-hour liquidations rising from $3.50 million to $20.42 million. One-hour liquidations increased from $0.365 million to $1.36 million.

The chart below shows market conditions throughout the session.