First Mover Americas: BTC, ETH Rise in Muted Trading to Start the Week

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CoinDesk 20 Index: 1992.83 +1.03% Bitcoin (BTC): $63,453.28 +1.27% Ether (ETH): $2,645.83 +2.62% S&P 500: 5,702.55 +0.19% Gold: $2,622.99 +0.1% Nikkei 225: 37,723.91 +1.53%

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Major cryptocurrencies made cautious gains to start the week, with BTC around 1.3% higher over 24 hours at just under $63,500. Ether outperformed bitcoin, rising 2.7% to $2,650, while the broader digital asset market is up just under 1.1%, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index. Data from CoinGlass shows that in the last 12 hours, slightly more short positions than longs have been liquidated, with $64.23 million in short positions and $54.42 million in longs being liquidated. Trading is likely light in the aftermath of last week's 50 basis-point interest-rate cut in the U.S. BTC is up 9.5% in the past seven days while ETH is up over 16%.

Digital asset investment products experienced a second straight week of inflows, adding a net $321 million, according to CoinShares. The crypto asset manager attributes the performance to the 50 basis-point interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Bitcoin-linked products led the inflows with $284 million, while their ether equivalents saw outflows of $29 million. This was the fifth consecutive week that ETH products registered outflows, even as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value led gains after the Fed's rate cut. "This is due to persistent outflows from the incumbent Grayscale Trust and scant inflows from the newly issued ETFs," CoinShares wrote.

Core Scientific is on the cusp of becoming a major force in AI hosting, broker Canaccord has said in a report. Canaccord started coverage of the crypto mining company with a buy rating and a $16 price target. The shares were 1.4% higher at $12.15 in early trading. Canaccord identified three positive drivers for the stock: "Ramping revenue in AI hosting, better cash flow and potentially more site acquisitions on the way," analysts led by Joseph Vafi wrote.The company also has potential upside from mining. It still has about 230 megawatts (MW) of power that can be used for bitcoin mining, even after repurposing almost 500MW for AI hosting, the report noted.

Chart of the Day

• The chart shows notional open interest, or the dollar value locked, in the active solana call and put options trading on Deribit.
• At $47.52 million, open interest in call options is 2.5 times bigger than puts, a sign of bullish positioning in the market.
• Source: Amberdata

- Omkar Godbole

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