Ethereum eclipses 3,000 for the first time since April 2022.
Bitcoin order books are the most liquid since October, according to data from Kaiko.
Altcoin momentum is still not in frothy condition, with a mere 20% of our cryptocurrency universe registering overbought conditions.
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The dollar is still a significant theme to monitor in this tape; the correlations that exist between crypto markets and equities are still present. Risk markets have largely ignored this recent strength out of the greenback, but should the dollar continue creeping higher, it would place additional pressures on Bitcoin and crypto assets.
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR
We’re monitoring whether this recent momentum in ETHBTC can continue, which would be a sign that the Bitcoin leadership is coming to an end,
Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have surpassed psychological levels of $50,000 and $3,000, respectively, following impressive rallies. Now, the risk versus reward scenario tilts towards the speculative end, as indicated by our breadth metrics, which highlight increasing activity within the altcoin space. Simultaneously, equity markets confront a challenging seasonal period amidst a backdrop of a strong dollar.
Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the week ended February 16, 2024. This report is published bi-weekly, in rotation with The Minor Leaguers.
What we do here is analyze the most popular stocks during the week and find opportunities to either join in and ride these momentum names higher, or fade the crowd and bet against them.
We use a variety of sources to generate the list of most popular names.
There are so many new data sources available that all we need to do is organize and curate them in a way that shows us exactly what we want: a list of stocks that are seeing an unusual increase in investor interest.
Click here for a behind-the-scenes look at our process.
Whether we’re measuring increasing interest based on large institutional purchases, unusual...
The new all-time highs in the S&P500 and Nasdaq100 earlier this month have been well documented.
What they don't tell you is that the equally-weighted versions of those market-cap weighted indexes are just now getting back to their late 2021 highs.
They never even broke out. In fact, they're finally just getting back to where they started.
Ethereum seems to be following through on last week's momentum, with the ETHBTC ratio closing up +2.91% on Monday.
The Worldcoin token has seen an impressive, almost tripling as the platform surpassed 1 million daily users on its World App.
Ethereum staking deposits hit $85B, or 25% of the circulating supply.
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By all means, this is a Bitcoin-driven market, both in market returns and the prevailing narrative. Much of this has been centered around the recent Bitcoin spot ETFs, which for the first bring Bitcoin into the realm of traditional finance. But now, there are talks of a similar ETF for the second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum. Financial services firm Bernstein said Ethereum is "probably the only other digital asset likely to get a spot ETF approval by the SEC", giving an approval a 50% chance by May and a 100% chance by year's end.
Bitcoin's trend is unequivocally higher, with prices lingering around 50,000.
Last week saw the greatest net aggregate flow across all products, averaging just under half a billion dollars worth of inflows each day.
Microstrategy is up $4B on their Bitcoin bet.
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Open interest on Binance, the largest crypto derivatives marketplace, for both Bitcoin and Ethereum hit all time highs denominated in US dollars. As open interest rises, it points to growing attention from market participants in the derivatives market as new positions and contracts are continuously opened. As more positions are being opened, notable rises in open interest tends to proceed elevated volatility.
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR
The seasonal trend for equity markets, with which crypto is closely correlated, is entering a tumultuous few weeks.
In recent weeks, we've pointed to the strength in the flows supporting the crypto market. Nothing has changed, and the trend remains unequivocally higher.
Our International Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs.
We've also sprinkled in some of the largest ADRs from countries that did not make the market cap cut.
These stocks range from some well-known mega-cap multinationals such as Toyota Motor and Royal Dutch Shell to some large-cap global disruptors such as Sea Ltd and Shopify.
It's got all the big names and more–but only those that are based outside the US. You can find all the largest US stocks on our original Hall of Famers list.
The beauty of these scans is really in their simplicity.
We take the largest names each week and then apply technical filters in a way that the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.
Based on the market environment, we can also flip the scan on its head and filter for weakness.
Let's dive in and take a look at some of the most important stocks from around the world.