Crypto markets seemed to stabilize in the past 24 hours following a nearly week-long drop as ongoing geopolitical conflicts seemed to weigh down on prices of riskier assets.
Markets slumped since Monday as traders priced in rising oil prices and a drop in traditional equities as the turmoil could impact international trade, analysts told CoinDesk.
Bitcoin hovered just over the $26,8000 mark after losing 3% in the past week, with ether (ETH) traded over $1,500 after a 5% weekly hit. Other major tokens stabilized after seeing some losses: XRP and Solana’s SOL had dumped as much as 8%, while BNB Chain’s BNB and dogecoin (DOGE) had performed slightly better with a 3% loss.
Some analysts opined the current price action observed in bitcoin markets was not necessarily bullish or bearish, and pointed to an equilibrium among buyers and sellers instead.
“Bitcoin has recently been in a building phase, neither particularly bullish nor bearish,” said Andy Bromberg, CEO of Beam told CoinDesk in an email. “At the moment, there’s a balance, with few newcomers entering into Bitcoin and equally few exiting,”
“This balance creates a relatively stable price. Significant movement is unlikely to happen until after some sort of catalyst, such as the halving or the introduction of spot ETFs,” Bromberg added.
Traders are eagerly awaiting the approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S., expecting the offering to open the floodgates to broader institutional demand and an inflow of new money.
Meanwhile, part of Friday’s stability in the bitcoin-led market may have come from confidence in the long-term “quality” asset after an initial sell-off scare.
“After the exuberance of the last few years, we’ve seen a large flight to quality, both in terms of providers and assets,” said Dan O’Prey, Chief Product Officer of Bakkt in a note to CoinDesk. “Bitcoin, being the most decentralized and secure asset, has also benefited from flows from the riskier, long-tail coins.’
Bobby Zagotta, US CEO of Bitstamp said that bitcoin would “continue to be the most established, understood and trusted cryptocurrency available for the foreseeable future,” adding that the exchange’s active trading clients continued to grow on a week-on-week basis.
