Crypto markets were stagnating on Friday, Dec. 19, with Bitcoin and other major tokens seeing little change on the day as traders digest November's inflation data, which was cooler than expected.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at roughly $3.06 trillion, little changed over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin (BTC) slipped about 0.4% on the day to trade near $88,000 at press time, extending its pullback after repeated failures to reclaim the $90,000 level.
Ethereum (ETH) continues to trade just below $3,000 also lower, down around half a percent today and over 8% this week. All of the other top-10 tokens are trading flat or slightly in the red. XRP is down the most on the day, losing 1.3%.
Internal Reshuffling
Glassnode analyst Chris Beamish said in a Dec. 18 post on X that long-term Bitcoin holders “continue to distribute and are ramping up their selling with sustained supply hitting the market.”
Senior researcher at glassnode, who’s known as @CryptoVizArt on X, added in a separate Dec. 18 thread that the recent rise in Bitcoin held by so-called “shark” wallets largely reflects internal reshuffling of funds.
The researcher suggested that more than 90% of what looks like recent accumulation appears to be driven by internal wallet reshuffling by large custodial entities, rather than net buying by new holders in that cohort.
By Friday morning, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index was still deep in the “extreme fear” zone, with many traders on the sidelines watching for further downside.
Big Movers and Liquidations
Looking at the top-100 assets by market cap, LEO Token (LEO) led gainers, reversing some of its recent losses with a 10% gain to trade at $7.28, followed by Zcash (ZEC), which climbed about 9.5% on the day.
On the downside, MemeCore (M) fell close to 13%, while Mantle (MNT) declined roughly 6%.
Crypto liquidations totaled approximately $496 million over the past 24 hours, according to Coinglass data. Long positions accounted for about $356 million, while shorts totaled roughly $140 million. Bitcoin liquidations reached around $169 million, followed by Ethereum at approximately $122 million.
ETFs and Macro Conditions
ETF flows turned decisively negative again on Thursday, Dec. 18. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of about $161 million after Wednesday’s inflows, pulling total net assets down to roughly $111 billion, according to SoSoValue. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw even steeper pressure, with net outflows of approximately $96.6 million, leaving total net assets near $17.1 billion.
On the macro side, U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday as investors reacted to recent better-than-expected inflation data and waited for more economic updates, CNBC reports. The 10-year yield climbed to about 4.15%, while the 2-year reached roughly 3.49%, demonstrating ongoing uncertainty about the Fed’s next move.
In contrast to crypto markets, U.S. stocks rose sharply yesterday on the cooler inflation news. Today, the Nasdaq and other indices also moved higher, seemingly driven by gains in Oracle after news that TikTok agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a new joint venture with Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake.
