The crypto roundup for Friday looks like a dull beat as holidays in Europe, the UK, and Canada join a light calendar in the U.S. to restrict the market moves. Notably, the year-end holiday mood in the West and an absence of major risk news also contribute towards Friday’s inaction on the trading desks.
Still, a dovish bias surrounding the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) and a slight optimism among traders, maybe due to the latest U.S. growth figures and firmer technology shares, seem to be exerting downside pressure on the U.S. dollar.
Despite these moves, the Bitcoin price (BTC) continues to hover around $87,000 as of early Friday morning in New York. Meanwhile, the spot gold price (XAU/USD) surged to a new yearly high near $4,536, reaching as high as $4,525 at the latest. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) faltered after a corrective bounce from an 11-week low on Wednesday, posting modest losses near 97.85 as we write.
While there are no major data/events, and major markets are off, updates surrounding the Ukraine-Russia peace deal might have favored the sentiment, along with the dovish Fed bias and the year-end optimism.
The latest updates suggest that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday. The Ukrainian leader looked slightly optimistic while saying they would aim to “finalize as much as we can.”
Elsewhere, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also up for meeting U.S. President Trump on December 29. The buzz surrounding the U.S.-Israel ties to strike Iran gained attention of late, but there are few details to confirm that risk-negative news.
It’s worth observing that anxiety around Trump’s Fed Chairman announcements ahead of the widely discussed early January deadline and the U.S.-China trade tension failed to gain major attention amid thin market activity due to the year-end holiday mood.
Crypto, Equity Update
Major cryptocurrency coins trade mixed during their final stretch to pare the yearly losses as the U.S. dollar remains under pressure, while the Wall Street benchmarks edge higher.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) both post modest losses, but Binance Coin (BNB), Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) each rise between 0.10% and 1.50% intraday at the latest.
On a broader front, the crypto market capitalization (market cap) rises 1.11% on the day to $2.99 trillion, while the Bitcoin Dominance rises to 59.4% from 59.1% during the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data.
That said, some of the top crypto news are as follows, while more updates like this could be traced to our Coin Bytes.
Uniswap Governance passed the ‘UNIfication’ proposal that will trigger a 100 million token burn following a two-day time lock. That said, the vote activates a “fee switch,” diverting a portion of trading fees from liquidity providers to the protocol to buy and burn UNI.
Read Details: Uniswap Governance Passes Historic ‘UNIfication’ Proposal, Triggers 100M Token Burn
Trust Wallet suffered a $6.0 billion drain due to a hack that exposed a vulnerability in its browser extension (version 2.68). The Binance property wallet witnessed a fake “update” that was made available through the official Chrome Web Store, which allowed the stealing of funds and suggests that there is a malware vulnerability in the wallet’s software release process.
Also Read: Trust Wallet Hack: Extension Flaw Leads to More than $6 Million in Holiday Drains
An AAVE investor since 2022, Wintermute voted against the AAVE Governance Proposal by citing the lack of information. The Evgeny Gaevoy-led firm turned down the AAVE proposal, resulting in its broader rejection.
Talking about equities, Wall Street benchmarks trade mixed during the initial hour of Friday’s trading, lacking momentum of late. The Dow Jones drops 0.10% intraday to around 48,680, and the S&P 500 is down 0.05% intraday, but the Nasdaq Composite posts modest losses of 0.10% by press time.
On Wednesday, the U.S. stock market benchmarks closed with modest gains, despite mixed moves by the major economic sectors. That said, technology stocks like Nvidia and Oracle declined, while Tesla, Walmart, and Costco rose.
- Gold stays firmer at record high, mildly bid near $4,525 after refreshing the all-time high (ATH) at $4,536.
- Bitcoin (BTC) remains lackluster, making rounds to $87,000 at the latest.
- Ethereum (ETH) traces BTC, remains sidelined around $2,910 as we write.
- U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) fades the bounce off an 11-week low, mostly unchanged near 97.90 as we write.
- U.S. equity benchmarks trade mixed, as the Dow Jones drops 0.10% intraday to around 48,680, and the S&P 500 is down 0.05% intraday, but the Nasdaq Composite posts modest losses of 0.10% by press time.
- WTI Crude Oil retreats, extending Wednesday’s pullback from a fortnight high to $57.80 as we write.
A quiet day for cryptocurrencies and stocks
As most global markets are in holiday mode, and with no major data or events, financial traders might see an inactive day for the rest of Friday. This could allow the cryptocurrencies and equities to continue with their latest action, or say, inaction, while gold may stay firm, and crude oil might post modest losses.
