CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,258 −0.9 ▼ 0.1% Bitcoin (BTC) $29,809 −101.1 ▼ 0.3% Ethereum (ETH) $1,892 +2.9 ▲ 0.2% S&P 500 4,534.87 −30.9 ▼ 0.7% Gold $1,975 −3.0 ▼ 0.2% Nikkei 225 32,490.52 −405.5 ▼ 1.2% BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,258 −0.9 ▼ 0.1% Bitcoin (BTC) $29,809 −101.1 ▼ 0.3% Ethereum (ETH) $1,892 +2.9 ▲ 0.2% S&P 500 4,534.87 −30.9 ▼ 0.7% Gold $1,975 −3.0 ▼ 0.2% Nikkei 225 32,490.52 −405.5 ▼ 1.2% BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)

Markets Remain Sluggish, but Not LINK

A tumbling tech sector and rising dollar on Thursday kept crypto investors in their recent, rangebound trance.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was recently trading at $29,809, down slightly over the past 24 hours. At one point during the day, BTC dipped perilously near a one-month low set earlier this week near $29,500. More than five weeks after spiking following multiple spot bitcoin ETF filings, bitcoin has been unable to escape the $30,000 to $31,000 range – at least for long.

“There’s a lot of bearish sentiment on Crypto Twitter about this pullback, but I think the factors behind it are pretty simple," Anthony Georgiades, co-founder of NFT and Web3 blockchain Pastel Network, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.

Georgiades noted that the tech sell-off that was at least partly spurred by comments from Tesla founder Elon Musk that the electric car maker might have to reduce prices, and the strengthening dollar, had weighed on "bitcoin and the broader crypto market."

Ether, the second largest crypto in market value, was recently changing hands at $1,892, up a smidgen from Wednesday, same time. Most other major cryptos by market cap spent Thursday slogging into the red with XRP losing some of its big gains from the day before to trade below 80 cents – recently off more than 4%, and ADA and SOL, the tokens of smart contract platforms Cardano and Solana, down nearly as much.

The big exception was LINK, the native currency of the Chainlink software platform that connects blockchains with external data. It recently soared by more than 20% to trade above $8 after whales acquired more than $6 million of the token, an apparent reaction to Chainlink's release of an interoperability protocol.

The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of crypto markets performance was recently down 0.1%.

Equity markets were mixed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average continuing a recent winning streak but the Nasdaq plummeting more than 2% on the Tesla news and soft earnings by streaming service Netflix. In a note to CoinDesk, Mark Connors, head of research at Canadian digital asset manager 3iQ, also highlighted missed results by Taiwan Semiconductor, which put "an extra hit on AI stocks." The dollar index tipped downward to continue a recent trend.

Still, Pastel Network's Georgiades was cautiously upbeat about crypto markets. "The underlying sentiment hasn’t changed much since yesterday or the preceding days," he wrote. I know the permabears have been calling for a major selloff, but it seems less likely that this is in the cards.

He added: "Monetary conditions are likely to loosen here soon, and that will help serve as a catalyst for risk-on assets.”

Biggest Gainers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector Gala GALA +2.4% Entertainment Ethereum ETH +0.4% Smart Contract Platform Cosmos ATOM +0.3% Smart Contract Platform

Biggest Losers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector Stellar XLM −17.4% Smart Contract Platform XRP XRP −6.6% Currency Cardano ADA −6.2% Smart Contract Platform

Insights

Fear and Greed Turns Neutral

The Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index has fallen into neutral territory, indicating that investor sentiment for the asset has cooled recently.

The metric, derived by Alternative.me, gauges investor sentiment across five distinct factors, and distills them into one number ranging from 0-100. Readings close to 0 indicate extreme fear, while readings closer to 100 indicate extreme greed.

Often, extreme fear coincides with buying opportunities, as investors are likely behaving too cautiously. Extreme greed can coincide with a market that is overheated.

The most recent reading indicates a market that is in flux, with neither bulls or bears willing to take a strong stance in either direction.

All told, the reading adds evidence that BTC is poised to trade in a range for the foreseeable future.

This article was written and edited by CoinDesk journalists with the sole purpose of informing the reader with accurate information. If you click on a link from Glassnode, CoinDesk may earn a commission. For more, see our Ethics Policy.

Important events.

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CoinDesk TV

In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

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Headlines

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James Rubin

James Rubin was CoinDesk's Co-Managing Editor, Markets team based on the West Coast. He has written and edited for the Milken Institute, TheStreet.com and the Economist Intelligence Unit, among other organizations. He is also the co-author of the Urban Cyclist's Survival Guide. He owns a small amount of bitcoin.

Glenn Williams Jr.

Glenn C Williams Jr, CMT is a Crypto Markets Analyst with an initial background in traditional finance. His experience includes research and analysis of individual cryptocurrencies, defi protocols, and crypto-based funds. He has worked in conjunction with crypto trading desks both in the identification of opportunities, and evaluation of performance. He previously spent 6 years publishing research on small cap oil and gas (Exploration and Production) stocks, and believes in using a combination of fundamental, technical, and quantitative analysis. Glenn also holds the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation along with the Series 3 (National Commodities Futures) license. He earned a Bachelor of Science from The Pennsylvania State University, along with an MBA in Finance from Temple University. He owns BTC, ETH, UNI, DOT, MATIC, and AVAX