The cryptocurrency market continues to experience a massive downtrend. The global crypto market cap fell over 11% to $809 billion the previous day, sending major cryptocurrencies into the red on early November 10.
Over the last 24 hours, the entire crypto market volume plummeted 11% to $189 billion.
Bitcoin dropped to nearly $16,010, while Ethereum was on the verge of a significant drop, trading just above $1,100.
The overall volume in DeFi was $8.57 billion, accounting for more than 4% of the total 24-hour volume in the crypto market. The overall volume of all stablecoins was $180 billion, accounting for 95% of the total 24-hour volume of the crypto market.
Let’s take a look at the top altcoin gainers and losers over the last 24 hours.
Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers
Chain (XCN), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), and Fei USD (FEI) are three of the top 100 coins that have gained value in the last 24 hours. The chain price increased by more than 7% to $0.043, while the Gemini Dollar increased by more than 0.18% to $0.9964.
On Wednesday, Binance announced that it would no longer be acquiring FTX, leaving Sam Bankman-Crypto Fried’s empire in jeopardy.
Binance said in a tweet on Wednesday,
“In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help.”
The turnaround comes after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated the previous day that the largest cryptocurrency exchange had reached a non-binding agreement to purchase FTX’s non-US businesses for an unknown value, saving the company from a liquidity problem.
Private investors put FTX’s value at $32 billion earlier this year.
The crypto market suffered significant losses as a result of this revelation. Between Monday and Tuesday, FTT lost 80% of its value, plummeting to $5 and wiping out over $2 billion.
FTT Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
On Wednesday, it dropped by over half to around $2.30, reducing the value of all tokens in circulation to about $308 million.
Bitcoin Price
The current Bitcoin price is $16,015 and the 24-hour trading volume is $100 billion. Bitcoin lost over 12% during the Asian session and over 20% in the last seven days. CoinMarketCap currently ranks it first, with a live market cap of $314 billion, down from $351 billion yesterday.
On the technical front, Bitcoin has broken through a triple bottom support level of $18,244; closing candles below this level may lead to a drop to $16,000.
On the daily timeframe, Bitcoin has also formed a “three black crows” pattern, indicating the likelihood of a downtrend continuation. As a result of increased selling pressure, Bitcoin’s price could fall to $14,500.
Bitcoin Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
As leading technical indicators like the RSI and MACD have entered the oversold zone, closing candles above $16,000 may signal the start of a bullish correction. On the plus side, the immediate resistance level for Bitcoin remains at $18,244.
Ethereum Price
On Thursday, the second most valuable cryptocurrency, Ethereum, fell roughly 14% in the previous 24 hours and over 25% in the last seven days to trade at $1,118. On CoinMarketCap, it is now ranked second, with a live market capitalization of $142 billion, down from $159 billion yesterday.
On the daily chart, Ethereum has broken through a symmetrical triangle pattern that had been supporting ETH near $1,227. A bearish engulfing candle closing outside of a symmetrical triangle pattern confirms a bearish breakout and may lead ETH to the $1,000 or $810 support zone.
The 50-day moving average at $1,400 also indicates the possibility of a continuation of the selling trend. The ETH/USD pair may encounter significant resistance on its way to $1,400 at the $1,227 level.
Ethereum Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
The RSI and MACD are also oversold, and ETH may bounce back to retest the $1,300 level before dropping further in the market.
New Crypto Presale With Huge Potential
Dash 2 Trade (D2T)
Dash 2 Trade is an Ethereum-based trading intelligence platform that provides traders of all skill levels with real-time analytics and social data, allowing them to make more informed decisions.
It began its token sale three weeks ago and has now raised more than $5.8 million, while also confirming its first CEX listing on the LBank Exchange.
1 D2T currently equals 0.0513 USDT, but this will soon increase to $0.0533 in the next stage of the sale and $0.0662 in the final stage.
The market is currently in a news-driven environment where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agenda rather than fundamentals.
Bitfinex analysts have warned crypto investors to be cautious as bitcoin’s (BTC) recovery over the weekend is not a sign that its correction is over; the asset could witness more bloodshed in the near term.
In the latest Bitfinex Alpha report, experts deemed the market’s reaction this week critical, especially as supply alleviated over the weekend could return when traditional markets open.
“No Man’s Land”
Since Saturday, bitcoin has risen almost 10% from $57,600 to $63,000, closing last week in the green. The asset has surged above the 125-day range low of $60,200, which it broke through earlier this month after news of the German government’s massive BTC selling hit the market.
Market sentiment began to improve after reports that wallets linked to the German government were almost empty. However, the positive sentiment may not be sustained for long as the BTC the German authorities moved to trading desks and exchanges are yet to be sold.
While the supply from Germany appears to have been factored into bitcoin’s market price, Bitfinex analysts believe the end of selling pressure depends on how the involved trading desks execute their trades in the coming days.
Although the shift in sentiment underscores the market’s capacity to integrate new information and adjust expectations quickly, analysts think the market’s reaction over the first two trading days of the week cannot be overlooked for two reasons.
First, the low support level in the $60,200 range has now become a potential resistance line. Second, trading patterns over the past three months suggest that weekends are usually favorable for markets, especially on Saturdays when supply pressure seems to subside.
“We are now in no man’s land until we get clear resolution above or below this level,” the analysts said.
A News-Driven Environment
Besides the potential resistance level and three-month weekend trading pattern, the market is currently in a news-driven environment, where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agendas rather than fundamentals.
Since selling pressure concerns are not yet completely obsolete due to upcoming Mt Gox creditor distributions, Bitfinex analysts expect such headlines to continue to have some impact on price movements. As such, the analysts urged investors to exercise caution in their trading strategies.
BlackRock’s IBIT led with $117.25 million in inflows on July 15, also being the most traded Bitcoin ETF.
The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily net inflow of $301 million on July 15th. This extended their winning streak to seven consecutive days amidst a broader market recovery.
None of the ETFs recorded outflows for the day.
Bitcoin ETFs Rake in $16.11B in Net Inflows Since Jan
According to the data compiled by SoSoValue, BlackRock’s IBIT, the top spot Bitcoin ETF by net asset value, recorded the largest net inflows of the day at $117.25 million. IBIT was also the most actively traded Bitcoin ETF on Monday, with a volume of $1.24 billion. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB came in close behind with net inflows of $117.19 million.
Fidelity’s FBTC experienced net inflows of $36.15 million on Monday, while Bitwise’s BITB saw $15.24 million in inflows. VanEck’s HODL, Invesco and Galaxy Digital’s BTCO, and Franklin Templeton’s EZBC funds also recorded net inflows. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC and other ETFs, such as Valkyrie’s BRRR, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Hashdex’s DEFI, registered no flows for the day.
A total of $2.26 billion was traded on Monday. The trading volume for these ETFs was less than in March when it exceeded $8 billion on some days. Meanwhile, these funds have collectively attracted $16.11 billion in net inflow since their January launch.
What’s Next For Bitcoin?
Earlier this month, bitcoin’s price decline was mainly due to fears of massive selling pressure from Mt. Gox and the German government’s BTC sales.
But the assassination attempt on pro-crypto former US President and presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump at Saturday’s rally seemed to spark a recovery in the world’s largest digital asset, and experts are bullish on the asset’s price trajectory going forward. Bitcoin surged more than 9% over the past week and was currently trading slightly below $64,000.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed bitcoin’s price outlook, suggesting a potential major rally. He referred to a pattern he terms “Hump->Slump->Bump->Dump->Pump” and highlighted that the July 5 double top attempt was a bear trap, confirmed by the July 13 close. He sees a likely continued upward trend but warned that a close below $56,000 would negate this bullish view.
“Bitcoin $BTC could be unfolding its often-repeated Hump…Slump…Bump…Dump…Pump chart construction. Jul 5 attempt at the double top was a bear trap, confirmed by Jul 13 close. Most likely scenario now is that bears are trapped. Close below $56k negates this interpretation”
PeckShield alert reveals LI.FI’s protocol vulnerability is similar to a March 2022 attack, with the same bug recurring.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform LI.FI protocol has suffered an exploit amounting to over $8 million.
Cyvers Alerts reported detecting suspicious transactions within the LI.FI cross-chain transaction aggregator.
LI.FI Issues Warning After $8 Million Exploit
LI.FI confirmed the breach in a statement on July 16 via X: “Please do not interact with any http://LI.FI powered applications for now! We’re investigating a potential exploit.” The team clarified that users who did not set infinite approval are not at risk, emphasizing that only those who manually set infinite approvals seem to be affected.
According to Cyvers Alerts, more than $8 million in user funds have been stolen, with the majority being stablecoins. According to on-chain data, the hacker’s wallet holds 1,715 Ether (ETH) valued at $5.8 million and USDC, USDT, and DAI stablecoins.
Cyvers Alerts advised users to revoke relevant authorizations immediately, noting that the attacker is actively converting USDC and USDT into ETH.
Crypto security firm Decurity provided insights into the exploit, stating that it involves the LI.FI bridge. “The root cause is a possibility of an arbitrary call with user-controlled data via depositToGasZipERC20() in GasZipFacet, which was deployed 5 days ago,” Decurity explained on X.
“In general, the risks behind routers, cross-chain swaps, etc. are about token approvals. Raw native assets like (unwrapped) ETH are safe from these kinds of hacks b/c they don’t have approvals as an option. Most users & wallets also no longer do “infinite approvals” which gives a smart contract total control on removing any amount of their tokens. It’s important to understand which tokens you’re approving to which contracts.
This dashboard looks for all transactions of a user that intersects Lifi. Not all of these transactions indicate risk- but you can see how, broadly, integrations & layers of tech (like how Metamask bridge uses Lifi on BSC) can complicate how users do or don’t put their assets at risk. Revoke Cash is the most well known approval manager app.
But it’s also good security practice to simply rotate your address. New addresses start with 0 approvals, so starting fresh by moving your tokens to a fresh address is another good security practice.” – commented Carlos Mercado, Data Scientist at Flipside Crypto.
Recent Exploit Mirrors March 2022 Attack
Further analysis by PeckShield alert revealed that the vulnerability is similar to a previous attack on LI.FI’s protocol that occurred on March 20, 2022. That incident saw a bad actor exploit LI.FI’s smart contract, specifically the swapping feature, before bridging.
The attacker manipulated the system to call token contracts directly within their contract’s context, making users who had given infinite approval vulnerable. This exploit resulted in the theft of approximately 205 ETH from 29 wallets, affecting tokens such as USDC, MATIC, RPL, GNO, USDT, MVI, AUDIO, AAVE, JRT, and DAI.
“The bug is basically the same. Are we learning anything from the past lesson(s)?” PeckShield Alert said in a July 16 X post.
Following the 2022 incident, LI.FI disabled all swap methods in its smart contract and worked on developing a fix to prevent future vulnerabilities. However, the recurrence of a similar exploit raises concerns about the platform’s security measures and whether adequate steps were taken to address the vulnerabilities identified in the previous breach.
LI.FI is a liquidity aggregation protocol that allows users to trade across various blockchains, venues, and bridges.
