Good morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the markets:
Welcome to the Asia Morning Briefing, a daily overview of top stories in US hours and an overview of market movements and analysis. For a detailed overview of US markets, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Diary Americas.
Crypto markets in Asia are opening to a more stable BTC, but the tone is far from bullish. The data shows a market that has stopped softening, but not one that is ready to accelerate. ETF flows, on-chain indicators and derivatives pricing all point to a holding pattern.
US ETF flows show first stabilization in weeks with inflows of $56.5m. on Dec. 9 after more than $1.1 billion. in weekly redemptions throughout November, according to data collected by SoSoValue. Glassnode’s reading is that the recovery is real, but shallow. Momentum has improved, but spot CVD – which tracks cumulative buying minus selling pressure – remains deeply negative, derivatives positioning is defensive and on-chain activity is near the low end of its range. Short-term holders still dominate supply, keeping the market sensitive to volatility.
As Glassnode writes, the mix of signals shows a market that is stabilizing in price but remains structurally weak. The 14-day RSI, a momentum gauge that measures whether an asset is overbought or oversold, has moved back into its intermediate range, signaling that bitcoin has recovered from last week’s most stretched conditions.
Open interest on futures has fallen, the volatility spread is heavily discounted, and options skewing shows that traders are still paying for downside protection rather than positioning for the upside.
Activity on the chain offers little confirmation of a stronger trend, with active address counts near cycle lows and realized cap growth of just 0.7 percent, a sign of weak capital inflows. The supply mix is also fragile because short-term owners continue to dominate.
Overall, the data suggests that BTC’s recovery has more to do with the absence of heavy selling than with strong demand.
Until ETF flows become consistently positive and on-chain activity strengthens, the market is likely to drift rather than trend. A clearer directional move will require a shift in behavior from both long-term holders and institutional allocators, neither of which is visible yet.
Market movement
BTC: Bitcoin is trading near $92,214 after a sharp U.S. session reversal, a move driven by spot demand rather than leverage and seen as a sign of seller exhaustion.
ETH: Ether is hovering around $3,296 after a 6% daily gain, extending its outperformance as a short cover and improving sentiment-lifting tokens with majors.
Gold: Gold is trading comfortably above $4,200, supported by improved US labor market data and expectations of a Fed rate cut, although momentum remains limited ahead of Wednesday’s policy decision.
Nikkei 225: Asia-Pacific markets were mostly trading higher as investors awaited China’s inflation data and a widely expected 0.25% Fed rate cut, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 0.82%.
Elsewhere in Crypto
- Judge Kwon demands answers before sentencing over ‘assurance’ he will serve time (CoinDesk)
- Securitize hires ex-PayPal exec as general counsel ahead of company going public via SPAC (The Block)
