Top 3 Trending Coins: QNT Surges Above $100, AAVE Eyes $100, UNI Probes $7.0

Key Points

• Stronger than expected US Retail Sales and Consumer Sentiment data has boosted macro risk appetite on Friday, helping crypto.
• Quant has continued its surge higher after breaking above a short-term pennant structure on Thursday.
• AAVE and UNI are also both strong performers.

Market Update

Macro risk appetite has taken a turn for the better in wake of US Retail Sales and University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey data that was significantly stronger than expected, easing fears about the US economy having already or being close to recession. This has lifted stocks and crypto in tandem with one another, despite the fact that some may argue, that strong US data boosts the outlook for rapid Fed tightening in the coming quarters.

This may not be playing too heavily on the market’s mind right now because Fed policymakers in recent days have not called for a 100 bps rate hike at the meeting later this month, as many analysts had thought they might. Rather, they have doubled down on their support for a second successive 75 bps rate hike. This, speculative risk assets such as crypto and US tech stocks are getting a boost from the “goldilocks” combination of stronger economic data and a Fed that isn’t being quite as hawkish as feared.

But whether this upbeat take can continue to support risk assets next week is another question. This week’s US inflation data was alarmingly high. If inflation continues to worsen in the months ahead, then we may soon be talking about the Fed taking interest rates as high as 4.0% in 2023 once again. Of course, the pullback in global commodity prices in recent weeks will help inflation ease in the months ahead.

But other factors that have been keeping it artificially high, like stop-start Chinese lockdowns, remain a threat. Indeed, dozens of Chinese cities have this week been reimposing restrictions with the highly transmissible Covid-19 variant Omicron still present in the nation.

Core inflation does seem to have peaked, which might be contributing to some of the optimism being seen in risk assets over the last few days. But it’s a long road back to the Fed’s 2.0% inflation target.

Looking quickly at crypto markets; Bitcoin was last trading 1.7% on Friday just below $21,000 while Ethereum was last changing hands in the $1,230s, up over 3.0% on the day. The two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization are up over 10% and 20% respectively versus Wednesday’s lows.

Here is a list of Friday’s three top trending coins.

Quant (QNT)

Quant’s July surge accelerated on Friday, with the cryptocurrency briefly surpassing the $110 mark and its 200-Day Moving Average at $105. QNT has since slipped back to trade around $102, around $10 down from earlier session highs. But the cryptocurrency still trades higher by about 5% on the day on Friday and is up around 20% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap, making it the best performing cryptocurrency in the top 50 by market cap.

Quant’s recent bullish momentum was triggered by a breakout of a short-term pennant structure on Thursday. Prior to Thursday, the cryptocurrency had been consolidating for a few sessions with markets awaiting important US macro events.

If QNT is able to hold above the psychologically important $100 level and make it back above its 200DMA, then the bulls may remain in control and it stands a reasonably good chance of hitting March highs in the $150s. This is a key balance area going all the way back to late 2021.

Aave (AAVE)

Aave is the second-best performing cryptocurrency in the top 50 by market cap as per CoinMarketCap over the last 24 hours. Over this time period, the cryptocurrency has gained about 16% and hit fresh one-month highs. At current levels around $92.50, AAVE is up around 40% since its Tuesday lows where it bounced from the 21DMA at $68.

On Thursday, the cryptocurrency broke above a key trend channel that prices had been consolidating within over the last few weeks. The next level that the Aave bulls will have their sights set on is the $100 per token mark. Above that, $120 has been an important level of support.

While recent price action will have some bulls hoping that the worst of the 2022 bear market might be over for AAVE, that is probably a premature call. Looking at the cryptocurrency over a longer time frame, it remains very much locked within a long-term downtrend that began in H1 2021.

Uniswap (UNI)

Uniswap was sent flying higher on Thursday on the news that popular retail trading platform Robinhood has listed it for trading. That opens the door for a lot of retail traders to buy the token.

UNI was last changing hands just below $7.0, having been as high as $7.25 earlier in the day, its highest level since early May. The cryptocurrency has been in an uptrend since mid-June and recent price action suggests that it is likely to continue trending higher in the near future.

The next target area for the bulls will be around $8.0. This was an important area of support/resistance between February and May. Then there is the 200DMA just above that in the $9.0 per token area.

UNI’s longer-term technical momentum also looks to have improved in recent weeks. At the end of June, the cryptocurrency broke out of a downtrend that had been in play since the start of 2022.