Little movement in cryptos; macro data eliminates risk appetite

There have been timid rises in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin (BTC) has barely moved up or down in the last 24 hours and remains at $25,700, while Ethereum (ETH) has risen around 0.4% in the last day and consolidates at $1,630.

The market remains in low spirits due to the latest move by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has extended the deadline to rule on spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of several companies following their court defeat against Grayscale. Most experts believe that the regulator will eventually give in, although they also expect it to delay the process as long as possible and not give an answer until well into the first quarter of next year.

Samer Hasn, market analyst and member of the XS.com research team, stressed that this decision has clearly had a negative effect, as risk appetite has plunged. "While we have witnessed a slight increase in the number of open interests for Bitcoin over the past two days, reaching approximately 7.132 million positions, this level remains near the lowest levels that we have not seen since last May, after the sharp decline that we witnessed last August, according to CryptoQuant," he explained.

"It seems as though most of the speculative money has already fled the crypto space and the market participants are waiting for the Fed’s next move," commented Yuya Hasegawa, cryptocurrency analyst at Bitbank.

On the other hand, Hasn added that cryptocurrencies could face further pressure as concerns about the health of the global economy returned once again. In this regard, the services PMI compiled by ISM reflected that the sector grew more than expected in August (54.5 points versus the expected 52.5) and was clearly above the previous month's reading (52.7 points.) The data, which reflects a stronger U.S. economy, was seen by investors as a further argument in favor of the Fed hawks.

Similarly, the latest data coming out of China did not please the consensus either. Exports from the Asian giant fell by 8.8% last month, compared to an expected 9.5% drop and a 14.5% decline in July. Imports, meanwhile, fell 7.3%, down from the expected 9.4% decline and July's 12.4% drop. "While this is encouraging, demand for Chinese goods was still weak from an international, as well as domestic perspective," stated Michael Hewson, chief analyst at CMC Markets UK.

In parallel, the market is also pricing in the news that ARK Invest, the asset manager led by Cathie Wood, and 21Shares have teamed up to launch the first spot ETH ETF. In this regard, research firm K33 believes Ethereum will outperform Bitcoin over the next two months, driven by the possible approval of the first ETH futures ETF in October and the SEC's procrastination with spot BTC ETFs.

In other market news, the major altcoins are mixed. Binance coin (BNB) and Cardano (ADA) rise 0.4% and 0.2%, while Ripple (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana (SOL) fall 0.4%, 0.8% and 1.1%, respectively.